Lawyer and political commentator Van Jones took things a little too far with recent comments about dying children in Gaza. Expectedly, he was called out by several political leaders and activists for being “insensitive.” Now, Jones is walking back his remarks and taking full accountability.
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During an episode of HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” the CNN commentator accused countries like Iran and Qatar of using disinformation campaigns to flood social media. Jones said his intentions were to “raise awareness,” but he ended up cracking a questionable joke that didn’t go over anyone’s head.
“If you open your phone, and all you see is dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, Diddy,” said Jones on the show. “Dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby,” he continued. “That’s basically your whole feed.”
Folks in the audience responded with quite a few laughs and applause, but people online quickly called out Jones for the distasteful analogy.
“I still can’t get my mind off this and how depraved this is. It’s like laughing about photos of children who suffered during the holocaust,” @Terrilltf wrote on X. “They’re normalizing and whitewashing the extermination of tens of thousands of children.”
It’s been two years since Hamas — the terrorist organization based in the Gaza Strip — targeted and killed over 1,000 Israel civilians on Oct. 7, 2023. Since then, Israel and Hamas have been at war, and thousands of civilians in Gaza have paid the price: According to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, over 60,000 people have died in Gaza, and nearly 90 percent of the population has been displaced since 2023.
British author and CEO Mehdi Hasan chimed in saying, “I’m trying to think what would have happened to a public figure in America if they had joked about the horrific images of dead Israeli victims of the Oct 7th attack on a TV show in the days after Oct 7th.”
After seeing the criticism, Jones spoke out. “As a father, I can’t begin to imagine the pain their parents are enduring, unable to protect their kids from unimaginable harm,” he wrote on X. “I’m praying and working for an immediate end to this war — and for peace and safety for every family caught in its path.”
The commentator continued to be dragged online, prompting him to pen another post. “I was trying to raise awareness about foreign adversaries creating chaos online – which is undermining democracy everywhere,” Jones explained. “But what I said was easily misunderstood, and the way I said it was flat-out insensitive.”
He added that “babies are dying every day in Gaza” and the issue shouldn’t be taken lightly. Jones also apologized to “To the people living in fear and burying family members every day, of all ages.”
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