John Oliver slams Rep. Brian Mast for his “disgusting” claims against Palestinians

The "Last Week Tonight" host tore into Rep. Mast for saying there were “very few innocent Palestinians"

By Nardos Haile

Staff Writer

Published November 13, 2023 4:52PM (EST)

John Oliver on "Last Week Tonight" (HBO)
John Oliver on "Last Week Tonight" (HBO)

John Oliver flamed the Republican Rep. Brian Mast for his incendiary House floor speech earlier this month where he questioned the legitimacy of innocent Palestinian civilians in the ongoing Israel-Palestine war.

Rep. Mast said, "There’s not this far stretch to say there are very few innocent Palestinians," and “I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ during World War II.”

Oliver strongly disagreed: "That is not only disgusting, it’s also evidently the sort of thing that you’re allowed to get away with saying on the House floor with zero repercussions . . . But just so we're clear, there are absolutely innocent Palestinian civilians. In the same way, there are Floridians who aren’t brain-dead bigots with a penis for a head. A region’s worst does not represent them."

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 11,100 Palestinians have been killed and the number continues to grow as the bombing of hospitals and schools continues. Many of the deaths are children and women who have been killed in retaliation after Hamas killed at least 1,200 Israelis and took 200 hostages back to Gaza on Oct. 7.

During Oliver's Sunday evening episode, "There are a thousand different reasons why this is hard to talk about, but it does feel important to at least try.”

 

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