Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef accused British tabloid host Piers Morgan of comparing Israel to the terror group ISIS during a combative Tuesday interview that featured Youssef repeatedly deploying his trademarked dark satire to address the horrific violence in Gaza.
During a lengthy appearance on Talk TV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored, Youssef—who has been called Egypt’s Jon Stewart—referenced his Palestinian wife and Gazan in-laws when asked to give his opinion on the brutal Hamas terror attacks.
“Oh, it was terrible, of course,” Youssef replied. “I mean, we get all our news secondhand because my wife’s family lives in Gaza. They have cousins and uncles there and their house also was bombed. We haven't been able to communicate with them in the past three days. Communication has been lost so we don't know how they are doing, but we are used to that!”
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From there, Youssef dove deeper into the satirical well to describe the atrocious conditions Palestinians are facing in Gaza, as well as the threat of non-stop violence they are subjected to from the Israeli military.
“Those Palestinians, they’re very dramatic. ‘Ah, Israel is killing us,’ but they never die,” he declared. “I mean, they always come back. They’re very difficult to kill, very difficult people to kill. I know, because I’m married to one. I tried many times. I try to get to her every time, but she uses our kids as human shields.”
When Morgan said he understood Youssef was employing “dark humor” on the topic, the former Egyptian television host shot back: “No, it’s not dark humor. I really try to get her every time but she uses our kids as human shields!”
From there, Morgan said he wanted to be “serious” about the issue, prompting the comic to mock conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who had appeared earlier on Morgan’s show. At one point, Shapiro said the “only solution to the Israel-Gaza war is that Israel should annex Gaza and kill as many people so that what is happening does not happen again.”
Sarcastically saying he agrees with Shapiro, who he snarked was “one of the smartest people who ever walked the earth,” Youssef said, “We should kill as many sons of bitches as possible” to ensure the violence stops.
“So my question to Ben Shapiro is, how many more sons of bitches do we need to kill so Ben Shapiro is happy?” Youssef rhetorically asked.
Morgan, meanwhile, insisted that Youssef was misrepresenting Shapiro’s position before airing a clip of The Daily Wire founder saying he believes in a “disproportionate response” to terrorism.
“What is a proportionate response because it has been different from one tier to another? So, if you look at this graph, for example, this is the death of Israelis and Palestinians, and it’s changing from one year to year. It’s fluctuating like crypto,” Youssef shot back, holding up a paper comparing lives lost in Palestine and Israel. “So my question is today, what is the going rate today for human lives?”
Asked what he believes is an “appropriate way” for Israel to respond following the bloody terror attacks, Youssef continued to use black comedy to make his point.
“I would do exactly like Israel did: Kill as many people as possible since the world is letting me do it,” he said. “I mean, I can do it because I can.”
Youssef also ridiculed Shapiro and other conservatives for praising the Israeli Defense Forces for “warning” Palestinian civilians before bombing Gaza.
“They said Israel is the only military force in the world that warns civilians before bombing them,” he snarked. “How fucking cute! That is so nice of them because with this logic, if Russian troops started warning Ukrainians before bombing their houses, we’re cool with Putin, right?!”
The contentious discussion continued for 20 more minutes, with Youssef blaming propaganda that dehumanizes Palestinians for the recent murder of a 6-year-old child. At one point, Youssef even compared Israel to the evil supervillain from the TV show The Boys.
“I have never seen a victim putting their oppressor under siege and bombing them 24/7,” Youssef said. “Israel wants you to believe that they are the victim. Dealing with Israel is so difficult. It’s like being in a relationship with a narcissistic psychopath. He fucks you up and then makes you think it’s your fault. You look at Israel as Superman, but they’re really Homelander!”
After Morgan said it is “very difficult” to see how Israel defeats Hamas “without massive collateral damage,” Youssef turned the British host’s words back on him, suggesting Morgan was actually portraying Israel as a terrorist regime.
“So if I can understand this correctly, basically Israel is doing this to pressure the Palestinian community in Gaza to turn against Hamas, is that right?” Youssef wondered.
“I'm sure that’s part of it, yes,” Morgan replied.
“That’s part of it,” Youssef continued. “So this is exactly what terrorist organizations do because terrorist organizations will have no chance of beating a whole nation in battle so they terrorize and they kill the civilians in order to spread fear and terror so they can turn against their government to change their policy or to resign. You have just compared Israel with ISIS!”
“No, I haven’t. I don’t I don’t see any comparison between Israel and ISIS,” Morgan objected.
“It’s going to be the headlines tomorrow, ‘Piers Morgan: Israel Is ISIS,’” Youssef quipped.
