"Well, the right-wing policy with regard to Israel - the people who don't want to deal with Arafat, who don't want a Palestinian state - the whole sort of right-wing view is consistent with the view toward Iraq. It's the same policy and the same people"
About this Quote
The pivot is the claim of consistency: Israel hawkishness and Iraq interventionism are presented as one continuum, “the same policy and the same people.” That’s both analysis and indictment. Analysis, because there really was a post-9/11 overlap in personnel and argument: faith in military leverage, suspicion of negotiated settlements, and a preference for maximal security outcomes. Indictment, because it suggests these positions aren’t situational responses to different conflicts but an ideological template applied everywhere, regardless of consequence.
The subtext is about political accountability. Matthews is warning viewers not to treat Iraq as a one-off “war on terror” question; he’s asking them to recognize an ecosystem of assumptions - about diplomacy being weakness, about adversaries being illegitimate, about force as clarity - and to judge it across cases. Naming Arafat anchors the quote in its time, when he functioned in U.S. media as shorthand for the impossibility of peace. Matthews uses that shorthand to argue: if you know who someone is on Israel/Palestine, you already know how they’ll act on Iraq. That’s meant to be clarifying, and it’s meant to be damning.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Matthews, Chris. (2026, January 16). Well, the right-wing policy with regard to Israel - the people who don't want to deal with Arafat, who don't want a Palestinian state - the whole sort of right-wing view is consistent with the view toward Iraq. It's the same policy and the same people. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-the-right-wing-policy-with-regard-to-israel-87444/
Chicago Style
Matthews, Chris. "Well, the right-wing policy with regard to Israel - the people who don't want to deal with Arafat, who don't want a Palestinian state - the whole sort of right-wing view is consistent with the view toward Iraq. It's the same policy and the same people." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-the-right-wing-policy-with-regard-to-israel-87444/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Well, the right-wing policy with regard to Israel - the people who don't want to deal with Arafat, who don't want a Palestinian state - the whole sort of right-wing view is consistent with the view toward Iraq. It's the same policy and the same people." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/well-the-right-wing-policy-with-regard-to-israel-87444/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
