spoiler

Alex Jones has caused controversy online with his remarks about Israel, accusing the country of committing “mass genocide” in its war with Hamas.

In a post to X, formerly Twitter on Thursday, the InfoWars creator claimed: "Israel has lost the high ground. This is not war. It is robotic mass genocide.

“Section 1091 of Title 18, United States Code, prohibits genocide whether committed in time of peace or time of war. Genocide is defined in § 1091 and includes violent attacks with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”

Since being shared, Jones’ post has received more than 4 million views.

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Israel declared war on Hamas, launching air strikes into the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian militant group is based.

Supplies of food, energy, fuel and medicine to Gaza were cut off, before Israel began a ground offensive into the territory in late October. As of March 22, at least 31,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Associated Press, citing the Gaza Health Ministry.

A report by the World Food Programme, published on Monday, said 1.1 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population are facing “catastrophic hunger,” while the U.N. found that an average of 178 Palestinians have been injured daily since the war started.

Jones also linked to a viral post by Furkan Gözükara (@GozukaraFurkan). The X user shared footage from Al Jazeera purporting to show the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killing four unarmed Palestinians in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip.

Jones’ post sparked mixed reactions from fellow X users. Some agreed with the 51-year-old, accusing Israel of “war crimes.”

“Israel needs to stop what they are doing to Gaza,” commented @scksgrypr.

“There is no justifying this,” said @Charlesrat74.

“Israel lost the high ground months ago,” wrote Ava Petrucci. “All that has changed is that it’s becoming undeniable.”

Others disagreed with the podcaster’s stance, telling Jones to “tone down the genocide rhetoric.”

“Every military is guilty of killing civilians not just Israel,” said @jared_texasn22.

“[Israel] need to do everything they can to negate Hamas’ offensive capabilities for as long as possible,” wrote Al Ruddy.

“Before leveling such baseless charges at Israel, how about asking Hamas to release the 130+ hostages they still hold, including a one-year-old child,” said Michael Heister.

“How do you know Israel is in control of the drone?” asked Big Mike. “Hamas has drones also. There needs to be more proof than just this footage.”

Jones was banned from X, then Twitter, in 2012 for abusive behavior. However, CEO Elon Musk—who purchased the social network in 2022—reinstated Jones’s account in December following a user poll.

The radio host garnered a huge following online with his right-wing views and conspiracy theories but is perhaps most known for calling the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, a hoax and facing several legal battles as a result.

In December 2012, Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, along with six teachers, before turning the gun on himself.

Several of the victims’ families sued Jones after he repeatedly claimed the shooting was staged. He was ordered to pay $1.5 billion, later reduced to half of Jones’ annual earnings of more than $9 million.

  • culpritus [any]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    heartbreaking

    This feels like it will just be used to make any pro Palestine rhetoric guilty of antisemitism by association with Jones and other right wing globalist conspiracy chuds.

    I have a faint hope of this being a breaking point in the US culture war saga, but that seems very unlikely.

    • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
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      8 months ago

      It’s either that or some brewing trend of cynically outflanking Biden from the left on the issue because it’s about to get a lot worse with the Rafah siege. The guy Jones is quoting seems to be a right-wing futurist. A few tweets down he paints Candace Owens as being fired from The Daily Wire for not “bowing down to Israel”: https://twitter.com/GozukaraFurkan/status/1771201327860715573

      edit: Actually I can’t really ideologically classify the guy Jones is quoting. He’s Turkish and based in Turkey. Most of his feed is just Antizionist content. A few days ago he posted:

      spoiler

      You agree or not?

      Young People: We can’t afford healthcare

      Dems: How about we ban your favorite app?

      YP: We can’t afford school

      Dems: How about a genocide?

      YP: How about we not vote for you?

      Dems: YOU LOVE DONALD TRUMP?

      which is the US left’s critique of democrats. He’s also pro-gun control which is solidly liberal. Guy just loves his news.

  • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netOP
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    8 months ago

    This is the weirdest pivot I’ve seen in a while. Jones is a far-right evangelical Zionist who has always played two shell games:

    1. controlled opposition to US policies which reinforce those same policies

    2. Supporting Israel to deflect from his antisemitic blood libel conspiracies

    He viscerally hates Muslims and has used them as a boogeyman for two decades. At least on Knowledge Fight, a great podcast where two socialists critique him, I don’t think I’ve heard this war come up from him. Wot in tarnation.

  • FumpyAer [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    Supplies of food, energy, fuel and medicine to Gaza were cut off, before Israel began a ground offensive into the territory in late October. As of March 22, at least 31,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Associated Press, citing the Gaza Health Ministry.

    were cut off

    thinkin-lenin

    I’d really like to know whether the journalists write that way on purpose or if they are asked to change it by the editor?