As violence continues to rage in the Middle East as the Israeli military aims to prevent Hamas terrorists from targeting Jewish civilians with indiscriminate rocket fire, comments made by the late comedian Joan Rivers resurfaced online in which she rejected the widely-held anti-Israel narrative.
“I’m trying to get celebrity reactions to what’s going on with the Palestinians right now,” a reporter asked Rivers in a 2014 video aired by TMZ.
“Let me just tell you, if New Jersey were firing rockets into New York, we would wipe them out,” Rivers shot back.
“If we heard they were digging tunnels from New Jersey to New York, we would get rid of Jersey,” Rivers continued. “Palestinians, you cannot throw rockets and expect people not to defend themselves.”
“What about the civilian casualties?” the reporter asked later.
“Then don’t put your goddamn things in private homes,” Rivers responded immediately. “Don’t you dare put weapon stashes in private homes and then we say get out — of course we’re going to do it.”
“The response normally is ‘where are the civilians supposed to go?’” the reported asked.
“I don’t care. They started it,” Rivers fired back. “You’re all insane. They started it! What are you all saying? They started it!”
“For months this has been going on, what are you supposed to do?!” Rivers added.
“How do you know …” the reporter interjected.
“I have been over there, that’s how I know,” Rivers responded. “I wish the world would know.”
Then, Rivers called out specific media outlets.
“The BBC should be ashamed of themselves, CNN should be ashamed of themselves, and everybody, stop it already.”
In a moment of comparative levity, the reporter asked Rivers for her thoughts on Selena Gomez posting pro-Palestinian comments.
“Oh, Selena Gomez!” Rivers quipped. “Oh, yeah, that college grad.”
Multiple conservative figures shared this viral clip on social media. Dave Rubin tweeted, “Joan Rivers > Sarah Silverman.”
Joan Rivers > @SarahKSilverman
(Video from 2014.) pic.twitter.com/Bn98kvolj4
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) May 19, 2021
In a recent update, The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated that “Since the beginning of operation ‘Guardian of the Walls’, approximately 4070 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory, of which approximately 610 failed launches fell in the Gaza Strip.”
“The Iron Dome Air Defense System has an intercept rate of approximately 90%,” the IDF added.
As Hamas rockets continue to target Jewish civilians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed gratitude to those supporting Israel’s right to self-defense.
“I have just come from the IDF operation command center in the Kirya; it is very impressive,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday. “With every passing day, we are striking at most of the terrorist organization’s capabilities, targeting more senior commanders, toppling more terrorist buildings, and hitting more weaponry stockpiles.”
“Just as I told the ambassadors here today, this is the inherent right of Israel,” Netanyahu added. “I very much appreciate the support of these governments, and I especially appreciate the support of our friend U.S. President Joe Biden, for the State of Israel’s right to self-defense. I am determined to continue this operation until its objective is achieved: to restore the calm and security to you, citizens of Israel.”