White House Demands Fox News Apologize for Popular Host's 'Sickening Attack' on 'Arab Arab-Americans and Muslim World'
The White House has accused Fox News host Jesse Watters of speaking “hate” and demanded he apologize over comments he made about the Islamic world on the network this week.
While referring to a rash of anti-Semitic bad actors who have taken to tearing down public images of civilians kidnapped during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks against Israel, Watters shined a light on the public hatred for Jews in this country and elsewhere.
On Wednesday’s edition of “The Five,” the co-host addressed the posters and the Arab world at large.
“I want to say something about Arab Americans and about the Muslim world,” Watters opened.
He added:
“We, and when I say we, I mean, the West and Western technology — have created the Middle East. We made them rich. We got that oil out of the ground. Our military protects all of these oil shipments flying around the world, making them rich.
“We fund their military. We respect their kings. We kill their terrorists, okay? But we’ve had it. We’ve had it with them.”
Watters then complained about the instability of the Middle East and laid into people who have been seen tearing down images of hostages, such as the man in the video below.
Brooklyn, New York. How hateful and antisemitic should you be to tear down posters of kidnapped children and babies held hostage in Gaza just because they are Jews? #BringThemHome #HamasISIS #HamasisISIS pic.twitter.com/CqmDv5kBb2
— Nefolet (@Nefolet) November 2, 2023
“Obama, Trump, now Biden, have tried to get the heck out of that stupid desert,” Watters said. “Just as we’re about to get out, because we have this great balance of power we’re arranging, these crazy Muslim fanatics come in and massacre over a thousand of our allies and hold Jewish people hostage, hold Americans hostage. And so, if you are an Arab American in this country and you rip down posters of Jewish hostages, of American hostages, no!”
The host continued, “No, no, no. Someone is gonna get punched in the face. When you rip down posters of hostages like that — this is — absolutely not.”
Watters concluded his comments by taking aim at The New York Times and its biased approach to the ongoing conflict and said such coverage is “making everybody crazy.”
After the broadcast, White House spokesman Andrew Bates attacked Watters over his comments.
“These hateful lies about ‘Arab Americans and … the Muslim world’ highlight the urgency of President Biden’s work to ensure hate has no safe harbor in America, and why he committed to the first national anti-Islamophobia strategy in our history,” Bates said in a statement to The Daily Beast.
Bates added, “These unacceptable remarks come just weeks after the heartbreaking killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child, and during a spike in threats against Muslim and Arab Americans. Fox News owes an apology to every single viewer for this sickening attack on the rights and dignity of their fellow Americans.
“President Biden will always stand up against Islamophobia, antisemitism, and all forms of hate. Fox News should learn from his example.”
Watters has not apologized for the comments.
On Wednesday, in spite of an uptick in anti-Semitism across the world, the White House announced an initiative to combat “Islamophobia,” the Associated Press reported.
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about the initiative on social media.
Taking on hate is a national priority.
Today, @POTUS and I are announcing the country’s first National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia.
This action is the latest step forward in our work to combat a surge of hate in America. pic.twitter.com/pxZAn7RymY
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) November 1, 2023
“This action is the latest step forward in our work to combat a surge of hate in America,” she claimed.
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