[ The Daily Beast, Newsweek, John Oliver]
“On Sunday night, John Oliver dedicated the opening portion of his late-night program Last Week Tonight to the ongoing crisis in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.”
“After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to establish a new government—and thus was at risk of losing power—Israel’s Supreme Court planned to deliver a ruling on the expulsion of 13 Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, a heavily Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. (The so-called evictions are a legal remnant of the Nakba, or the 1948 ethnic cleansing of 700,000 Palestinians, who were forcibly removed from their homeland, and the U.N. has said they “would violate Israel’s obligations under international law.”)”
“In anticipation of the expulsions, as well as Israeli security forces targeting the Al-Aqsa Mosque (one of the holiest sites in Islam) during Ramadan, Israel and Hamas have exchanged heavy rocket fire—with much of the damage affecting Palestinians, who have far less firepower. As Al Jazeera reported, “At least 192 people, including 58 children and 34 women, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the latest violence began a week ago. Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children.””
““One side has suffered over 10 times the casualties, something which speaks to both the severe power imbalance at play here and how that often gets obscured by how we choose to talk about it,” said Oliver on his program.”
“Those on the ground, like Palestinian writer and Sheikh Jarrah resident Mohammed El-Kurd, have called it “forced ethnic displacement” conducted by “heavily armed police.” And then there’s the matter of the Iron Dome, Israel’s air defense system that intercepts missiles—and is largely funded by the U.S.”
““Israel has a so-called Iron Dome,” explained Oliver, “so the point is, this isn’t tit-for-tat. There is a massive imbalance when it comes to the two sides’ weaponry and capabilities. While most of the rockets aimed toward Israeli citizens this week were intercepted, Israel’s airstrikes were not. They hit their targets, including a house in a refugee camp, a building housing the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, and [a] 13-story office and apartment building. And while Israel insisted that there were military targets in that building and they destroyed it as humanely as possible, even warning people to evacuate it beforehand, destroying a civilian residence sure seems like a war crime, regardless of whether you send a courtesy heads-up text.””
“To add insult to considerable injury, the Israel Defense Forces turned the apartment bombing into an online meme, posting before and after photos of the building and a pile of rubble.”
““In general, you should probably never meme a war crime,” said Oliver. “The fact is, the citizens of Gaza don’t have an Iron Dome to protect them the way the citizens of Israel do. It’s one of many ways they’re at a significant disadvantage.””
““They’ve been living under a suffocating blockade for 14 years, and in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Palestinians are essentially being governed by a form of apartheid—an assessment echoed by both international and Israeli human rights groups,” said Oliver. “Life in Gaza is hard even when they’re not being bombed, and the U.S. government has implicitly co-signed on the brutally hard line Israel’s been taking.””
Read more and see full video in article: The “Last Week Tonight” host didn’t mince words in a segment on the crisis in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories
Short clips from video:
“The TV host made it clear that he thought not taking sides was the morally corrupt thing to do in a situation where “both sides are firing rockets, but one side has one of the most advanced militaries in the world. Both sides are suffering heartbreaking casualties, but one side is suffering them exponentially,” referring to Israel’s military strength, and Palestinian casualties.”
“”Falling back on, convenient sanitized terms like ‘real estate disputes’ and ‘airstrikes on militants’ feels a little disingenuous when what you’re describing is forcing people from the homes they’ve lived in for decades and killing civilians, and children,” he continued. “And again, none of this frees Hamas from responsibility. But Hamas doesn’t represent all Palestinians just as what Israel is doing right now doesn’t represent all Israelis, or indeed Jewish people.””
“Oliver ended his monologue by calling for American leaders to re-consider the U.S.’s long-held official positions when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
“”For decades, the backbone of America’s policy in the Middle East has been that America is an unwavering friend to Israel, which is a great thing to try and be but at the end of the day, I would hope that our real friend would tell me when I’m being an asshole. And definitely, when I’m committing a f***ing war crime,” he said.”
By Monday, “John Oliver” was a trending term on Twitter, with fans and critics alike, who were shocked that he “said it out loud.”
“Oliver’s remarks drew both support and criticism online.”
Read more: Video of John Oliver Accusing Israel of ‘War Crimes’ on Last Week Tonight Goes Viral (archived)
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