"Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough Friday morning set out to correct "simpleminded people" who didn't understand his criticism of Israel's military action in Gaza, saying that he didn't expect the "usual suspects" of being intelligent enough to get what he meant by his statements.
"I didn't expect the usual suspects to have the intellectual capacity to actually grasp a statement that didn't neatly line up with their political punch list for the do's and don'ts of mindless political posturing," Scarborough said at the beginning of his show on Friday. "So let me start with simple talk that even simpleminded people can understand."
Story continues below video.
On Thursday, the former Florida GOP congressman-turned-news-host
spoke out on his show about the recent Palestinian civilian deaths, calling calling Israel's most recent attacks "asinine."
Further, pundits are roundly criticizing Scarborough for calling Palestinian death toll "tragic" and harmful for both Israel and the United States, and for suggesting the United States should keep its distance from Israel if the violence continues.
On Friday, Scarborough said that while he believes the United States should continue to stand with Israel as its ally, but the large numbers of Palestinian civilians that are being killed are hurting Israel's position.
"The prolonged killing of children and women in Palestinian territories will only serve to weaken Israel and strengthen Hamas," he said.
"Every day that goes by with images of children being pulled out of the rubble of bombed out schools, bombed out hospitals, and bombed out marketplaces, is a day that only makes Hamas stronger and threatens Israel's long-term security," said Scarborough.
Hamas began attacking Israeli targets, Scarborough said, because it was "on the verge of political destruction in Gaza," not strength, as the organization was opposed by most of Israel's neighboring countries.
"Israel's Arab neighbors in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Jordan support the Jewish state over the Islamic terror outfit," Scarborough said Friday.
"Turkey and Qatar, of course, are backers of Hamas but they are practically alone in the region."
But even so, the former congressman said, Americans who support Israel should not back everything the country does.
"Blindly supporting Israel and Israeli politicians, when their actions may action be strengthening their enemies and our enemies, like Hamas, is no way to show your support and no way to show your friendship," he said.