Guess how many topics MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' covered before mentioning rockets hitting Israel

Image: Facebook MSNBC's "Morning Joe?"

Hundreds of rockets have been launched into Israel by Hamas in the past few days. With that in mind, how did MSNBC's "Morning Joe" deal with the very real and dangerous situation unfolding in the Middle East?

First, let us consider what kind of program we are talking about. According to the cable show's Facebook page, "Morning Joe features interviews with top newsmakers and politicians, in-depth analysis of the day’s biggest stories."

Based on that self-definition, I set out to see what "Morning Joe" considered to be the "day's biggest stories" and how they would be analyzed by the show.

During the program's first half-hour on Wednesday morning, here are the stories, in order, that were covered by the program:

• Germany's lopsided 7-1 win over Brazil in the World Cup semi-final match.
• President Obama's visit to Texas and the controversy surrounding Governor Rick Perry's request to meet with Mr. Obama to discuss the humanitarian crisis on the border.
• Renewed talk about impeaching President Obama nearly brought Mika Brzezinski to tears.

Image: MSNBC.com

The panel also briefly discussed:

• "Beers and Billiards" -- President Obama's swing through Colorado on his way to Texas.
• The Frontier Airlines pilot who treated a plane filled with delayed passengers to free pizza.
• The world's longest waterslide opening at a theme park.
• NBA Owner Donald Sterling's battle to keep his team.
• Small pox vials improperly stored in an FDA facility.
• Washington State and the first days of legalized marijuana.
• The release of a new Harry Potter short story by J.K. Rowling.
• A couple of teases for stories about Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign problems and Alex Rodriguez's steroid use.

The tense and deadly situation in Israel received no coverage in the first half hour of "Morning Joe."

However, in the second half hour, the Israel story was mentioned, but only in a tease.

Here are the topics Joe, Mika and company covered between 6:30 and 7:00am.

• More World Cup talk.
• Baseball highlights from the night before.
• Hillary Clinton's latest quote about "political dynasties" and a prolonged dissection of her book tour and potential campaign.
• A reading of the Washington Post's Dana Milbank's op-ed piece slamming Chris McDaniel's efforts to protest Thad Cochran's primary runoff election.
• Video of a comic dressed as a soccer ref, pulling a street stunt in New York
• Mika announced that she wants someone to punch the people dressed as "Elmo" in Times Square.

From 7am to 7:30 the show rehashed the topic of the crisis at the border and why President Obama should or should not visit the region during his trip to Texas.

Eventually, just after 7:30 a.m. ET, the Morning Joe panel discussed the situation in the Israel and the West Bank.

The segment lasted nearly twelve minutes and featured an interview with Israel's Ido Aharoni, the country's counsel general in New York:

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