 Biden was in Israel on a Wednesday meeting with the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu And he made some remarks after that meeting. Let's play those remarks and get your analysis of what he's saying I come to Israel with a single message You're not alone We're going to make sure we have what you have what you need to protect your people to defend your nation for decades We've ensured israel's qualitative military edge And later this week I'm going to ask the united states congress for unprecedented support package for israel's defense. I understand and many americans understand You can't look at what has happened here To your mothers your fathers or grandparents sons daughters children even babies And not scream out for justice Justice must be done But I caution this while you feel that rage Don't be consumed by it After 9 11, we were in rage in the united states While we saw justice and got justice. We also made mistakes the vast majority of palestinians are not hamas Hamas does not represent the palestinian people Palestinian people are suffering greatly as well We mourn the loss of innocent palestinian lives like the entire world I was outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life yesterday in the hospital in gaza Based on the information we've seen today It appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in gaza today I asked the israeli cabinet i met with for some time this morning To agree to the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian assistance to civilians in gaza Today i'm also announcing $100 million of new u.s funding for humanitarian assistance in both gaza and the west bank This money will support more than 1 million displaced in conflict affected palestinians including emergency needs in gaza Must keep pursuing peace Must keep pursuing a path so that israeli and palestinian people can both live safely In security and dignity and in peace For me that means a two-state solution So there's a lot packed into that montage of highlights But what i hear biden saying is that america will keep funding israel's military defense That he's working to provide aid to palestinians Telling israel not to let rage cloud their wartime judgment And that he still believes in a two-state solution What are your reactions to biden's comments and What are your critiques of his overall diplomatic approach? I Think that biden says a lot of very valid things in this interview. I think it is quite helpful That he has raised the example of our own conduct after 9 11 and acknowledge mistakes And missteps that were taken and excesses that were taken Uh, I think it's also valid for him, of course to Validate that they're suffering on both sides. Here's where I have a problem On a rhetorical level, many of the things that biden is saying in my view are correct and are the right things to say On a practical level, are we actually doing those things? He says that he believes in the two-state solution The united states is long abandoned actually putting any pressure to make sure that there's an achievement towards that It was quite interesting in the new york times article that tom freedman wrote When the biden administration was trying to get a normalization deal between israel and the saudi's and what was in it For the palestinians was not a compromise that would give them the state that they've been seeking for more than 70 years now But rather a pathway to keep the option the dream a lot So we've gone from actually promising To achieve a two-state solution to promising to achieve the survival of the dream Of a two-state solution So we're not doing those things that the president is saying and again the the normalization deal Was premised on the idea that you can just ignore the palestinians That you can as jared kushner Said because this is all built on what trump's abram accord was that you can move beyond the palestinian issue Not even a desire and ambition to resolve it But you can move beyond it because that conflict has now become so contained That we don't have to bother trying to resolve it In essence and in practice that has been us policy The rhetoric has been that we still believe in a two-state solution, etc Part of the reason why we still say that we do is because it sounds good And the minute we say that we don't when we recognize that we have also helped kill the pathway for a two-state solution That's when we would have a very active Uh crisis even short of what hamas did here So we keep on saying but it's a pretense game We really do have to shift to being serious about this Particularly mindful of the fact that that instability has a significant likelihood Of sucking the united states into a conflict that we should not be involved in military So say a two-state solution gets pursued. What indication do we have that hamas would in any way Agree to that play this out for me a little bit Well, first of all, hamas is not in control of the west bank. They're in control of gaza. So Agree in terms of like like the way tensions are right now. Why do we think that that is what would be happening? Well, you're saying that right now, but why didn't we do it three four weeks ago? Why didn't we do it during this entire period in which we didn't have this instead? We just gave lip service to the two-state solution and continue to pursue a policy that essentially Buried it in the ground You're quite right that under the current circumstances, it's going to be extremely difficult to just get any diplomacy going But that is nevertheless ultimately where we have to end up And that in these moments are the extremely difficult moments in which you have to set your ambitions a little bit more realistically It has to be about the escalation Cease fire once you have that it creates a bit of a pause that creates political momentum to escalate it towards A bigger political agenda and then move towards a real negotiation to actually end this conflict It's not so that tomorrow there can be a meeting with all of these parties at the table and they would actually talk about this issue There's several preliminary steps that need to be taken if we don't take them However, we will never get to the point of actually having the real diplomacy and we will also not have the de-escalation that can keep the united states out of this world I have to assume that this such a negotiation would involve the Palestinian Authority cooperating with Israel and partners to facilitate the complete expulsion of Hamas because there's no way that We're coming out of this on the heels of a brutal terrorist attack giving With you know, giving a two-state salute giving an independent Palestine that that would just send the message I would assume that terrorism Works and is the acceptable method of negotiation I think the pathway here is to first recognize that there needs to be Uh a negotiation Uh with the Palestinian Authority who by the way incidentally is lacking significant legitimacy amongst Palestinians as well The majority of Palestinians in the west bank tend to see the Palestinian Authority essentially having taken over the management of the occupation and collaborating with Israelis in that kind So it's not as if you know There's a partner there that has the backing of its population unit and that further complicates matters but I can see a pathway in which there is first a negotiation that I actually get serious about a two-state solution With such a two-state solution has to deal with what the united states used to call illegal Settlements on Palestinian territory We have significantly soft in our language and in our opposition to that even though those are violations of international law And even though they have made Prospects of a two-state solution far far less likely we have green lighted that which again is in practice We're moving in a direction of making a two-state solution Next to impossible but rhetorically we still talk about it as if that is our goal But that that sort of dodges the question that's uh, that's act just asked right like There would be this problem of if you know, ultimately There there was a two-state solution that was pursued and and granted and gotten That would send the message. I mean you you have to fully stamp out Hamas before that. No, no Hold on. Let me let me get clarification. What do you mean that there was a two-state solution and um, that was there No, no, no, I'm saying if if there were to be a two-state solution In the aftermath of this Surely one of the stipulations would have to be that Hamas can in no way exercise any power within this region because otherwise There is this message sent of you know, you commit terroristic acts and get rewarded for your efforts, right? Like Yeah, no, I I'm sorry. I better understand the question now. Thank you So, uh, first of all, let's let's recognize that in the past negotiations the west bank and Gaza oftentimes have been separated Let's also recognize that if there actually is a valid process that it's genuinely moving towards a two-state solution Guess what that does it delegitimizes Hamas Hamas is managing to get a degree of support precisely because there is no diplomacy precisely because there is no The implementation of the measures that Israel was supposed to do Or never implemented and instead we've seen an increase of settlement activity and the de facto annexation Of Palestinian territory. So there's a clear perception in the region that that diplomacy did not yield What it was supposed to do and then that Further gives legitimacy and support for a rejectionist organization like Hamas who was opposed to that process from the outside If you actually truly want to get rid of that type of radicalism By being able to have an a genuine process that is genuinely seeking a solution That's the best way of weakening Hamas and then after that then, you know, that dynamic in and of itself can create new opportunities in uh in Gaza That can help get the Palestinian population themselves there get rid of Hamas and get a leadership that is willing to participate in the process, but right now given the track record of How negotiations have been used to expand settlements That is right now not not something that has a lot of buyers amongst the Apostates and this is what i'm saying. We have to completely reverse this if we truly want to get a resolution The assumption had been This is okay. There's never going to be a major amount of violence and destabilization here because we have managed to contain Um, the Palestinians we have managed to contain their aspirations. We have ai and all of this technology They can never do anything else So the cost of just going on with the status quo and the occupation is manageable and that was fundamentally disproven Hey, thanks for watching that clip from our conversation with Trita Parsey about whether the u.s Can and should de-escalate things in the middle east you can watch another clip right here or the full conversation over here