In July, British journalist Piers Morgan asked Daniella Weiss, an Israeli settler leader appearing on his show, how she felt about the killing of 20,000 Palestinian children in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Ms. Weiss, dressed in a crisp white button-down shirt and a blue-and-white patterned headscarf, responded with a grin, “Arabs around should stop attacking Israel.” Mr. Morgan repeated the question six more times, before pressing her: “I will give you one last chance to offer some sympathy, or empathy or sorrow about the deaths of 20,000 children in Gaza. Are you capable of doing that?” Ms. Weiss’s initial response was a laugh, followed by repeated claims that Arab children are taught “to hate Jews”. “You know what, you couldn’t give a damn, could you? You don’t care and all you want is all the Palestinians gone,” said a visibly irritated Mr. Morgan before wrapping up the session, with a smiling Ms. Weiss remarking, “The audience will judge”.
Ms. Weiss, a prominent figure in the settler movement since the 1970s, which has promoted illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, returned to the spotlight in recent years after Hamas’s October 7 attack. After the war began, Ms. Weiss stepped up her campaign to resume Jewish settlements in Gaza, while settlers went on rampages in the West Bank against the local Palestinian communities.
