On Thursday, the White House issued a demand for an apology from Fox News for anchor Jesse Watters’ statement that “we’ve had it” with “Arab Americans” and “the Muslim world.”
The Five, the highest-rated program on cable news, featured Watters’ divisive comments on Wednesday’s edition.
Watters stated, “I want to say something about the Muslim world and about Arab Americans.”
We – and when I say we, I mean, the West and Western technology – have created the Middle East. We made them rich. We got that oil out of the ground. Our military protects all of these oil shipments flying around the world, making them rich. We fund their military. We respect their kings. We kill their terrorists, ok? But we’ve had it. We’ve had it with them.
Obama, Trump, now Biden, have tried to get the heck out of that stupid desert. Just as we’re about to get out, because we have this great balance of power we’re arranging, these crazy Muslim fanatics come in and massacre over a thousand of our allies and hold Jewish people hostage, hold Americans hostage. And so, if you are an Arab American in this country and you ripped down posters of Jewish hostages, American hostages, no! No, no, no. Someone is gonna get punched in the face. When you rip down posters of the hostages like that — this is — absolutely not.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates, in a statement conveyed via email to Mediaite, offered a response to Watters’ remarks. Bates emphasized that the dissemination of false and prejudiced information concerning “Arab Americans and… the Muslim world” underscores the imperative nature of President Biden’s efforts to eradicate the tolerance of hate within the United States. Bates further highlighted the President’s commitment to implementing the inaugural nationwide strategy against Islamophobia in American history.
“These unacceptable remarks come just weeks after the heartbreaking killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child, and during a spike in threats against Muslim and Arab Americans. Fox News owes an apology to every single viewer for this sickening attack on the rights and dignity of their fellow Americans. President Biden will always stand up against Islamophobia, antisemitism, and all forms of hate. Fox News should learn from his example,” Bates concluded.
On Wednesday, the White House made an announcement regarding its efforts to develop a comprehensive national strategy aimed at addressing the issue of Islamophobia. This initiative comes in response to escalating tensions resulting from the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The conflict was initiated by a violent attack carried out by Hamas on October 7th, resulting in the tragic loss of approximately 1,500 Israeli lives.
Bates also criticized the coverage provided by Fox Digital over the news, which first raised doubts about the Biden administration’s strategy to address the escalating issue of anti-Semitism in the United States during the ongoing conflict. The article subsequently underwent revisions to remove the question.
Could not make this up.@FoxNews today: “Fox Digital asked the White House…if there would be a national strategy to combat antisemitism” https://t.co/5RtPU2UdHm
Fox News in May: “White House unveils first-ever national strategy to combat antisemitism” https://t.co/lZKUFyrHit
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) November 2, 2023
“Could not make this up,” Bates wrote as quotes from a Wednesday article which read, “Fox Digital asked the White House…if there would be a national strategy to combat antisemitism.”
Bates then pointed out that the news that the “White House unveils first-ever national strategy to combat antisemitism” was carried by Fox News in May.
The post White House Comes Down HARD On Jesse Watters – Demands Public Apology appeared first on The Republic Brief.
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