MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell took a swipe at White House national security communications adviser John Kirby, who repeatedly dodged her questions about whether President Biden believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is an "obstacle to peace."
Biden expressed support for the speech made Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who called for Netanyahu's ouster through a snap election in Israel, referring to him as an "obstacle to peace."
"He made a good speech, and I think he expressed serious concern shared not only by him, but by many Americans," Biden said Friday.
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In an interview on MSNBC, Mitchell told Kirby that Biden "appeared to endorse" Schumer's speech, to which Kirby responded by saying Biden has "great respect" for Schumer and his "passion," but insisted the president will continue working with Netanyahu in order to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.
"The president had a choice about the words he would use by calling it a ‘good speech,'" Mitchell said. "Does he agree with those views that Prime Minister Netanyahu is an 'obstacle to peace?'"
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"The president knows that the Israeli people get to determine who their elected government representatives are. That's what democracy is all about and he respects that," Kirby responded. "And he has been nothing but candid and forthright with the prime minister about ways in which we think things can be done differently, things can be done better, things can be done a little bit more stridently to get more assistance into the people of Gaza to and to reduce the number of civilian casualties. I mean, my goodness, these are two guys that have no problem being honest with one another and I can assure you that the president has done that."
The MSNBC anchor attempted to press Kirby on Schumer's "obstacle to peace" comment again, something he continued to sidestep.
"The president will continue to work with Prime Minister Netanyahu and his war cabinet, again, to do everything we can to alleviate that humanitarian suffering in Gaza," Kirby said. "Now look, we've been honest, Andrea, that there have been times in not too distant past here in recent days, where we don't believe that the Israelis have done as much as they can do and should do to increase the level of trucks getting into Gaza, that there have been some obstacles to moving forward in terms of getting them the food, the water, medicine, the fuel that they need. And we've been very, very frank about that."
"Let me just say that answer - that question was not answered three times. That's alright. That was your answer," Mitchell responded before moving on.
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Schumer made a stunning speech from the Senate floor on Thursday calling for Israel to hold an election to remove Netanyahu from office.
"I have known Prime Minister Netanyahu for a long time. While we have vehemently disagreed on many occasions, I will always respect his extraordinary bravery for Israel on the battlefield as a younger man. I believe in his heart his highest priority is the security of Israel. However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel," Schumer said.
His comments sparked intense backlash among Republicans and the majority leader was scolded by Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog, who reacted, "Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals."
