Late-night host John Oliver spent the entirety of his opening monologue on the latest episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking on the eve of Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump since the latter returned to power to discuss an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Oliver described the PM as “desperate to stay in power” and, more broadly, an “a*****e son of a bitch.”
“Years from now, when people tell the story of Israel’s brutality in Gaza, they’ll need to talk about the history of Israel’s founding mission, the complex politics of the Middle East, America’s choice to give more military aid to Israel than any other country in history, and a thousand other things,” the host said.
“But they’ll also need to tell the story of one Benjamin Netanyahu, a man so singularly focused on remaining in power, he’s allied with the most extreme voices in his country.”
He attacked Netanyahu for appeasing hardline members of his coalition government, like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and for boasting in 2001, while serving as opposition leader, of his ability to manipulate U.S. support to his will.
Oliver then ran an archive clip of the politician bragging at the time: “America is something that can be easily pushed.”
“Wow! Even if that is true, it’s insulting to hear out loud,” the comic said in reaction to the footage.
He went on to recap Netanyahu’s recent corruption scandal, accusing him of working to weaken his country’s Supreme Court, prolonging post-October 7th military action against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to satisfy his right-wing allies, and cosying up to Trump, all to ensure his own political survival, no matter what the cost, in Oliver’s opinion.
“That’s kind of the problem with electing someone because he’s an a**hole son of a bitch,” he continued. “You do wind up being governed by someone who’s an a***hole and a son of b****.
“The point is, Netanyahu is not popular in Israel, and he’s increasingly unpopular here too. A new poll found just 21 percent of Americans have a favorable view of him. Meanwhile, support for Palestinian statehood is currently at 58 percent in the U.S., and just recently, a wave of countries, including France, the U.K., Canada, and Australia, all officially recognized a Palestinian state.”
Oliver went on to clarify: “Let me be clear, to attribute the atrocities in Gaza to just one man would be naive. It’d also ignore that while many Israelis vehemently disagree with choices that Netanyahu has made, there’s also a fair amount of consensus there when it comes to deeper issues like the inevitability of ongoing Israeli occupation in general and the acceptability of denying self-determination to Palestinians.”
He added, “Those are conversations and issues that are gonna take much longer and be much harder to resolve. But in the short term, Israelis removing this f***ing guy from power might, at the very least, bring a stop to the horrific suffering in Gaza and bring the hostages home.”
The comedian concluded by asking: “Just who is Netanyahu really looking out for? Is it the people of Israel who’ve been put at risk by endless war, or is it the man who spent 17 years as prime minister and seems willing to do whatever it takes to squeeze out a few more? I would argue that it is the second one. And I, for one, am looking forward to the day that Netanyahu is politically done.”
Ahead of Monday’s White House sitdown, at least one senior Trump administration official expressed a fear that the meeting could “go off the rails” if Netanyahu takes exception to the peace plan for Gaza that the president intends to pitch to him.
Last week, U.N. delegates walked out of the General Assembly in protest just before Netanyahu’s speaking slot, which he used to lambast those nations that had moved to recognize the Palestinian people’s right to statehood for “rewarding the murder of Jews.”
His words were broadcast from loudspeakers at the Gaza border soon afterwards to ensure his point was not lost on those living there.
