Moments after Donald Trump finished a more than hour-long speech before the Knesset in Jerusalem, MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire called it “rambling” — and the former president of the Council on Foreign Relations cast doubt on the president's Gaza peace plan.
Appearing on “Morning Joe,” Richard Haas claimed that declaring victory is one thing, but seeing it through and getting it to stick is unlikely.
Speaking with Lemire, Haas soberly ticked off what was not said as Trump soaked up the adoration from most of the Knesset members — with a few exceptions.
"The president is talking so much about how all this is behind us and I look at the Middle East and I look at Hamas still in the streets — I think disarming Hamas is going to be an impossibility,” he predicted. “I see Israel continuing its settlement programs and so forth.”
“I think the chance of this ceasefire breaking down are real,“ the former diplomat warned. “There's such a sense that peace is at hand and what has been accomplished, and what was missing from this was a sense of the difficulty to come and the clear commitment of the United States. “
“At one point he even talked about his principal negotiator, Steve Witkoff, returning to focus on Russia and Ukraine,” he pointed out. “I’m not against the focus on Russia and Ukraine. But that didn't signal a real sense of just what has to be done here.”
“So again, this is more of a victory lap speech for the president,” he remarked. “And again, a clear political, if you will, endorsement of Bibi Netanyahu. But I don't think there was a lot here that showed that he and his administration are aware already of what needs to be done.”