John Oliver didn’t hold back Sunday as he tore into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the chorus of right-wing commentators who are downplaying the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The “Last Week Tonight” host first slammed Netanyahu’s claim of “no starvation” in Gaza.
“Are you sure about that, though?” Oliver asked. “Because we can all see it right in front of us, and it’s frankly insulting to think that you can deflect our attention with all the skill of a shitty magician.”
“Oh, fuck off,” he added.
Oliver then turned his focus to conservative figures ― like Fox News’ Mark Levin, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and former Fox personality Megyn Kelly ― who have questioned images of starvation in Gaza after The New York Times amended a story to note that the starving child they had pictured had a pre-existing health condition.
“Oh, fuck that shit,” said Oliver. “For what it’s worth, a child can have a pre-existing condition and be starving. Sick children — and this is true — need food to live.”
“I kind of hoped we were done with Megyn Kelly as a society,” he added.
Oliver also pushed back on the scrutiny of photos depicting famine, noting the overwhelming evidence from international aid organizations, Israeli human rights groups and firsthand accounts.
“What’s happening in Gaza right now is a famine,” Oliver said. “All the information we have points to that — except for this fucking guy [Netanyahu] and a few adult junior detectives squinting at each photo of a skeletal child to figure out if they’re the right kind of dying.”