John Oliver accuses Israel of 'genocide' on his TV show

British-American comedian and talk show host John Oliver publicly accused Israel of committing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territories on his popular HBO political entertainment show Last Week Tonight.

The episode, which aired on 28 July and will be uploaded to YouTube on 1 August, featured a segment in which Oliver looked at the situation of Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank.

During the beginning of the segment, Oliver discusses the anti-genocide slogan “Never Again”.

“A phrase that gets brought up a lot with regard to Israel is ‘never again’, an anti-genocide slogan often invoked in memory of the Holocaust and it has always been open to two interpretations,” Oliver says.

“There’s the one that means this must never again happen to the Jewish people and the one that means this must never again happen to any people anywhere,” the comedian and political commentator continues.

“And in the West Bank, as in Gaza right now, it’s pretty clear which one the Israeli government has favoured, and especially as long as Netanyahu is in power, he is clearly going to do what he and the worst people around him wants.”

Many social media users were quick to note Oliver’s attribution of genocide to Israel on mainstream US television.

“John Oliver has just said out loud that Israel is committing genocide, on HBO and his YouTube channel with 10 million subscribers. HE JUST DID,” one X user said.

US and Western media in general have refrained from describing Israel’s ferocious and indiscriminate assault on Gaza since 7 October as “genocide”, despite numerous rights groups, UN officials and governments describing it as such.

In January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in a case brought by South Africa that Israel is “plausibly committing genocide” in Gaza.

Despite this, even US media outlets that entertain some criticisms of Israel have not used the term to describe Israel’s actions, although they have given platforms to those who have. On the other hand, US media companies have fired people for accusing Israel of genocide, including Scream star Melissa Barrera. 

Oliver has previously spoken out against Israel's treatment of Palestinians. In 2021, during an Israeli assault on Gaza that killed over 250 Palestinians, Oliver used his show to condemn those who blame "both sides", noting that Israel is using some of the most advanced military technology on earth to kill "exponentially" more Palestinians.