MSNBC’s Reid: ‘From the River to the Sea’ Has Been Used in Ways That ‘Could Be Arguably’ Anti-Israel

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The ReidOut,” host Joy Reid stated that the phrase “From the river to the sea,” “has been used in ways that I think could be arguably negative toward Israel or wanting Israel not to exist anymore. But not everyone agrees that that’s what it is.”

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) stated that “when they [Hamas] say, ‘From the river to the sea,’ it has a very specific meaning. And that meaning needed to be called out.”

Reid then asked, “Well, let me ask you this question, because this phrase has had many meanings over the many years, and it has been used in ways that I think could be arguably negative toward Israel or wanting Israel not to exist anymore. But not everyone agrees that that’s what it is. Are you aware that the Likud Party — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party — used in its original party platform, between the Sea and the Jordan there will be only Israeli sovereignty? So others have used the phrase as well.”

Schneider cut in to respond, “And are just as wrong. … I’m one of the founders and co-chairs of the Abraham Accords Caucus in Congress, bipartisan, bicameral, and the idea of the Abraham Accords, the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab states is that Jews and Arabs belong to the same land, both have legitimate claims to that land, and both need to learn how to live on that land. And the Abraham Accords [recognize] Israel, but also [recognize] that, by embracing each other, Arabs and Jews together, can not only lift up the land, but can lift up each other, the people of the region, and give all their kids the future and prosperity that they deserve.”

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