Owen Jones and Israeli activist Hen Mazzig sparred in a tense television row on the war in Gaza last night. The left-wing journalist sparked outrage on social media after he suggested that Germany was “making Palestinians pay” due to its Holocaust guilt.
Mr Mazzig later wrote on social media that this remark was “obscene” and called for Mr Jones to be deplatformed.
He wrote: “Setting aside the unethical weaponization of one of the worst atrocities in all of history, in other words, Owen Jones is saying: never mind that thousands of Jews were butchered, beheaded, burnt alive, slaughtered, raped, dismembered, shot, tortured, kidnapped and held in captivity for the last six months – those people don’t count as humans, those atrocities mean nothing, and any response to get back our hostages is completely illegitimate because Jews have no right to defend ourselves.”
He continued: “Therefore, any support for this right—as well as the fight to dismantle the local arm of the biggest terrorist machine in the Middle East— can ONLY be explained by guilt over the last Nazi genocide. This guy should not be featured anywhere, this is obscene.”
Mr Jones responded to the remarks on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying: “The classic strategy in action here: Twist, distort, invent. I said Germany has forced the Palestinians to pay for its grave historic crimes. This is a fact.
“Claiming I don’t think victims of war crimes I’ve repeatedly condemned aren’t human is just an obscene lie.”
Mr Mazzig also questioned why Mr Jones was “so angry” about the conflict, given he was not Jewish or Palestinian or Arab.
The left-wing commentator responded simply: I object to genocide because I’m a human being.”
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