Gavin Newsom regrets calling Israel 'apartheid state,' but sounds alarm on 'legitimate' concern in region

Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., said he regretted describing Israel as an "apartheid state" during an interview with Politico published Tuesday, after the governor made the suggestion during a stop on his book tour.

Newsom spoke to "Pod Save America" co-hosts Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor in early March, where he was pressed about the U.S. relationship with Israel and the prime minister of the country, Benjamim (Bibi) Netanyahu.

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Newsom said, "Let’s talk about that. But the issue of Bibi is interesting because he’s got his own domestic issues. He’s trying to stay out of jail. He’s got an election coming up. He’s potentially on the ropes. He’s got folks, the hard line, that [want to] annex the West Bank. I mean, [Tom] Friedman and others are talking about it appropriately — sort of an apartheid state."

In the interview with Politico, which included questions about President Donald Trump, Newsom was asked if he regretted his description of Israel.

"I do in this context. I said it, and I referenced why I used it — a Tom Friedman article — in that same sentence where Tom used it in the context of the direction that Bibi is going," he said.

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When asked if he meant, "not the current state," Newsom said that was correct.

"Correct. And that is a legitimate concern I have, that I share with Tom — that that direction, if that vision and that direction of the far right that Bibi is indulging, that if they see the full annexation of the West Bank, then that’s not something — that’s a word you may hear others use," Newsom continued. 

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman wrote that Israel could become an "apartheid state" if Netanyahu wins Israeli elections this year as a result of the war in Iran, in a column in March.

"If the war in Iran enables Netanyahu to win the Israeli elections planned for this year, it will be a major propellant to his efforts to annex the West Bank, cripple the Israeli Supreme Court and make Israel an apartheid state, which would be a major blow to American interests in the region beyond Iran," Friedman wrote.

Newsom was also asked if he considered himself a Zionist during the interview with Politico.

"Do I consider myself Zionist? I revere the state of Israel. I’m proud to support the state of Israel. I deeply, deeply oppose Bibi Netanyahu’s leadership, his opposition to the two-state solution and deeply oppose how he is indulging the far right as it relates to what’s going on in the West Bank," the California governor responded.