Scarborough: $3 Billion a Year in US Aid Entitles Him to Be Critical of Israel

Over the last week, “Morning Joe” anchor Joe Scarborough has been very critical of Israel for its role in taking Hamas for what the Israeli government has insisted is necessary for its national security.

Scarborough has questioned Israel for civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, for which he placed the blame squarely on Israel and said that is cause to question the United States’ support of Israel.

On his Monday broadcast of “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, Scarborough offered his latest iteration of that critique and argued Americans, in particular himself, were entitled to be critical of the Israeli government.

“[L]ook at the numbers up on the screen,” Scarborough said. “You know what? I voted for support for Israel every year. And I would continue to vote for support for Israel every year. But we pay $3.1 billion a year in foreign aid to Israel. We pay $504 million for the Iron Dome, $121 billion since World War II. And, of course we are their biggest supporter. And I will tell you we need to be, with the anti-Semitism sweeping across Europe right now, which is absolutely revolting, even coming out of Germany, of all countries, out of France. It is disgusting. It is revolting. The anti-Semitism is sickening and we are going to talk about that later on. I’m glad the United States of America is there to be Israel’s staunchest defender. But, hey, we should be able to have a dialogue with a country we pay over $3 billion a year to every year. Don’t tell us not to give our opinion. That’s something we like to do on ‘Morning Joe.’”

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