For Sunday’s edition of Last Week Tonight, HBO’s John Oliver attempted to give what he would consider a nuanced take on the Israel-Hamas War and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict more generally. However, it was hard to take such nuance seriously when he accused the United States of being “heavily implicated” in non-existent Israeli war crimes.
Oliver was addressing the argument that some conservatives have made that, citing the 2006 election, Gazans support Hamas, when he declared:
And it's notable that in July, despite all the restrictions on dissent in Gaza, there were actually people on the streets chanting slogans including, ‘Fuck off, Hamas’ and ‘We want to live.’ And look, even if all Palestinians in Gaza did support Hamas -- which they do not, the relentless bombings of civilians there would still be abhorrent. Collective punishment is a war crime. But the fact is, there is much more criticism of Hamas in Gaza than Americans in general, and these dipshits in particular, are willing to admit. Palestinians in Gaza are not a monolith.
It is potentially a fair point to say that 2006 was a long time ago and there hasn’t been an election since then, that a lot has changed since, and that Hamas rules with a North Korean-esque culture of fear that stifles dissent. It will not be known just how popular Hamas truly is until there’s another election.
It is not a fair point, however, to imply that Israel is targeting civilians or that its actions constitute collective punishment.
Several minutes later, Oliver proclaimed:
And it is worth noting that there is one more major player in all this that I haven't mentioned yet, and it's us. And I don't just mean the British, who are absolutely responsible for some of this. I'm talking about America. Because this country has emphatically picked a side. In recent years, we've given Israel $3.8 billion a year in military aid. And you can make geopolitical arguments for why that is or isn't a valid thing to do. But it means we are heavily implicated in everything you've just seen.
The quick jab at Britain is an interesting one. Oliver is presumably talking about the carving up of the Ottoman Empire after World War I into today’s map of the Middle East, which obviously includes Israel. Is Oliver claiming Israel is a mistake? If not, what does he mean?
That aside, the argument about America would make more sense if it was actually true. Instead, it’s just an emotional plea based on a lack of knowledge about what is and is not a war crime.
Moving on, Oliver played a clip of “Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian whose ten-year-old daughter was killed by an Israeli border guard in 2007.”
The clip showed Aaramin mourning, “My daughter has been killed with an American rubber bullet, unfortunately, from an American M-16, unfortunately, from an American Jeep, an American uniform, and the soldier had trained in America. So everything is American.”
In response, Oliver agreed, “Right. ‘Everything is American.’ And I know that's hard to hear. But the fact is, "Made in America" is something that we understandably love to brag about when it's slapped on things we're proud of, but unfortunately it's not just tractors, truck nuts and Toby Keith songs. Sometimes it's stuff that's killing people.
Oliver just left the story there, but in 2010, an Israeli court ordered the state to pay compensation to the Aramin family. If Israel was as evil or even just reckless as people say it is, that would never have happened. The so-called moderate Palestinian faction, meanwhile, pays compensation to terrorists’ families.
Here is a transcript for the November 12 show:
HBO Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
11/12/2023
11:14 PM ET
JOHN OLIVER: And it's notable that in July, despite all the restrictions on dissent in Gaza, there were actually people on the streets chanting slogans including, "Fuck off, Hamas" and "We want to live." And look, even if all Palestinians in Gaza did support Hamas -- which they do not, the relentless bombings of civilians there would still be abhorrent. Collective punishment is a war crime. But the fact is, there is much more criticism of Hamas in Gaza than Americans in general, and these dipshits in particular, are willing to admit. Palestinians in Gaza are not a monolith.
…
Once you've lost clean water, sanitary space, job prospects, and most electricity, there's not really much left to lose but hope. And it is worth noting that there is one more major player in all this that I haven't mentioned yet, and it's us. And I don't just mean the British, who are absolutely responsible for some of this. I'm talking about America. Because this country has emphatically picked a side. In recent years, we've given Israel $3.8 billion a year in military aid. And you can make geopolitical arguments for why that is or isn't a valid thing to do. But it means we are heavily implicated in everything you've just seen. Just listen to Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian whose ten-year-old daughter was killed by an Israeli border guard in 2007.
BASSAM ARAMIN: My daughter has been killed with an American rubber bullet, unfortunately, from an American M-16, unfortunately, from an American Jeep, an American uniform, and the soldier had trained in America. So everything is American.
OLIVER: Right. "Everything is American." And I know that's hard to hear. But the fact is, "Made in America" is something that we understandably love to brag about when it's slapped on things we're proud of, but unfortunately it's not just tractors, truck nuts and Toby Keith songs. Sometimes it's stuff that's killing people.
