Joe Rogan Ratchets Up Israel Criticism, Gaza ‘Just Getting Obliterated’: ‘How Does That Come Back?’

Screenshot via Joe Rogan Experience YouTube

Joe Rogan continued his criticism of Israel’s strikes on Gaza, which he previously referred to as a “genocide,” arguing the United States would face far more pushback if they were conducting a war in the same fashion in Mexico.

British journalist Brendan O’Neill joined Rogan for the latest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience and the two got into a back and forth on the Israel-Hamas war in which Rogan said Gaza is being “obliterated” and questioned Israel’s tactics.

O’Neill argued Israel’s pursuit against Hamas is as justified as the past wars of other countries fighting for freedom, including the United States. He called Israel’s position of committing to Gaza strikes until Hamas is eliminated a “moral judgement” that has to be made.

“There’s a moral judgement that sometimes has to be made, which is do we go and fight these people or do we allow them to potentially regroup and plot another attack on us? And Israel has taken the decision, and I think it’s probably the right one, that they have to go and fight these people,” he said.

Hamas first attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,000 and kidnapping hundreds more. Israel’s strikes since then have led to thousands of civilian casualties as Hamas is known for embedding themselves near civilians.

Rogan questioned why Israel’s strikes are the “only way” to conduct the war. Criticism of Israel has been ratcheted up since seven aid workers were killed in a strike while trying to get food into Gaza. The aid workers were working for World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder José Andrés, who later said his workers were “targeted.”

“That’s the only way to do it? The only way to do it is to bomb the places where civilians are because the bad people are there as well?” Rogan said.

The podcaster and comedian played out a “what if” scenario of the United States conducting a similar campaign against cartels in Mexico.

Rogan said:

I know what you’re saying about the condemnation of Israel and I agree to a certain extent, but could you imagine — we’re essentially in some strange conflict with drug cartels in Mexico. Now that didn’t exist 20 years ago. I never heard about it, but now we hear about it everyday. What if 20 years from now, it becomes even more intense? What if some drug cartels in a gang sneak across the border and kill a bunch of Americans because they hate America? If we bombed Mexico into the Stone Age, do you know how upset people would be? If we bombed factories because the cartels had embedded themselves in the factories and we killed tens of thousands of innocent workers who are just poor people, do you know how upset people would be? They’d be very upset. It just hasn’t happened before, so this unique condemnation is because we’re seeing it.

Rogan question how Gaza can ever come back from the war.

“How does that come back? There’s nothing left. It’s just getting obliterated, and what does that mean? What does it mean for the future? What does it mean for the people who live there?” he said.

O’Neill argued it’s “very unfashionable” to make a clear moral judgement in the Israel-Hamas war, but he believes Israel is “just.” He also pushed back against claims that Israel “purposefully” targeted aid workers or other civilians. He also argued Hamas has “profound responsibility” for civilian deaths as they deliberately use civilian deaths to rally people to their cause.

Rogan pushed back, saying “fault” is irrelevant to many civilians living inside of Gaza.

“The idea that killing innocents in order to get to the bad people is morally superior, you kind of have to make the judgement that you care about them less than you care about your people because if you could imagine a scenario where a Jewish hospital had Hamas in its basement and they made the decision to bomb the Jewish hospital and made the decision to kill all of the Jews inside of it just to get to the 40 or 50 Hamas guys that are there, no one would say that’s okay,” Rogan said.

O’Neill stuck by his position, saying the “horrors of war” come with every conflict.

“To put it all on Israel, as some people do, to say this is some demonic action by the Jewish state is wrong,” he said.

Watch above via the Joe Rogan Experience.