Morning Joe Crew Tears Apart Netanyahu’s ‘Fanciful’ Idea to Move Gazans Elsewhere: ‘Preposterous!’

MSNBC’s Morning Joe crew tore apart an idea supposedly floated by President Donald Trump and touted to reporters by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a dinner on Monday that other countries take in Palestinians who want to leave Gaza.

Trump and Netanyahu met for dinner in the White House’s Blue Room on Monday as ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar gained tentative traction. The indirect talks, backed by the US, focus on securing a 60-day halt to hostilities in the 21-month Gaza war.

Speaking to reporters during the meeting, Netanyahu floated the controversial idea of encouraging Gazans to emigrate, suggesting cooperation with the US and unnamed third countries to facilitate such a move.

“If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a prison. It should be an open place and give people a free choice.”

He added, “We’re working with the United States very closely about finding countries that will seek to realize what they always say, that they wanted to give the Palestinians a better future. I think we’re getting close to finding several countries.”

Responding to the comments on Tuesday’s Morning Joe as commentary turned to Israel’s war in Gaza, host Joe Scarborough panned the idea as “preposterous” and a “non-starter” in conversation with contributor and former Bush diplomat Richard Haass.

“Why don’t we begin with Bibi Netanyahu’s preposterous statement that other neighbors of Israel and Gaza want more Palestinians in their homeland? I know you’ve spoken with Arab leaders and ambassadors and diplomats across the region, and the appetite, at least with those leaders in the region that I’ve talked to, is nonexistent,” Scarborough said.

He continued: “And the idea that somehow the answer to the Palestinian problem is pushing Palestinians off of land they have considered their own for thousands of years seems, at best, to be a non-starter.”

Haass agreed: “Well, it’s interesting, the prime minister of Israel, Joe, talked about giving Palestinians the freedom of choice. I didn’t see, on his menu, the idea of a Palestinian state. So, look, you’ve got 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, three more million in the West Bank, and the idea that you’re going to find homes for them outside of these areas, I think is fanciful. There’s a word for this, it’s called transfer.”

He added: “It’s long been a deeply held hope for particularly right-wing Israelis who want to settle or even annex these areas. So I think other than a tiny number of Palestinians who might make their way to Egypt or something, the idea that this is, quote unquote, a solution to the Palestinian issue is, again, is simply drilling a dry hole.”

“It’s not a serious proposition. It’s not serious. And you can’t talk about peace in the Middle East without talking about a two-state solution. And people that claim that you can have their heads stuck in the sand and history will always come back. They cannot escape the history that they keep trying to escape.”

Watch above via MSNBC.