The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned commentator Van Jones for his latest “dishonest and shameful” denial of the Israeli government’s crimes against children in Gaza.
In a video posted on social media this week, Van Jones and anti-Palestinian social media influencer Noah Tishby argued that Americans upset about Israel’s crimes in Gaza had been manipulated by false images created by artificial intelligence and false stories in mainstream media outlets.
Jones cited the debunked claim that a skeletal child suffering from a genetic condition worsened by malnutrition whose story was mentioned in The New York Times was not suffering because of starvation.
Last year, during an appearance on anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian extremist Bill Maher’s show, Van Jones baselessly claimed that young people upset about the Gaza genocide were being manipulated by Qatari and Iranian social media influence campaigns before making a joke:
“If you open your phone, and all you see is dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, Diddy,” said Jones on Real Time, earning laughter and applause. “Dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby… That’s basically your whole feed.”
Jones apologized in the face of backlash, but repeated the false claim that “foreign adversaries [were] creating chaos online” in relation to Gaza.
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We are deeply disappointed and disturbed by Van Jones’ descent into the fringes of anti-Palestinian extremism.
“No one should ever mock dead children or defend a government that has systematically murdered children.”
“Over the past year, Mr. Jones has joked about images of dead Palestinian babies in Gaza and baselessly claimed that young Americans upset by the genocide in Gaza were being manipulated by Muslim countries.
“Now Mr. Jones has even gone so far as to falsely argue that Israel did not starve the people of Gaza, including a skeletal child depicted in The New York Times whose health condition worsened as a result of a famine caused by Israel’s months-long blockade of all food, baby formula, medicine, and other aid to Gaza.
“The young Van Jones, a social justice activist who protested the racist apartheid South African government, would likely not recognize the man who today lies to defend a racist apartheid government that has been openly starving and massacring innocent men, women and children.
“We call on Mr. Jones to apologize for his latest hateful remarks, end his attempts to cover up the Israeli government’s crimes, and once again stand in solidarity with all people facing injustice, especially children suffering as a result of our nation’s policies.”
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]