By Charles Switzer
10:52am PST, Feb 14, 2025
Jesse Watters Dehumanizes Palestinian Civilians on Fox News
Fox News host
Jesse Watters sparked outrage in early February with a chilling segment in which he framed Palestinian civilians as a "national security threat" and criticized their "explosive" birth rate.
Speaking on
The Five on Tuesday, February 11, Watters described Palestinians as "hostile, uneducated, and even more radicalized" after 15 months of devastating Israeli bombardment,
The Huffington Post reported.
His rhetoric painted an entire population as inherently dangerous, fueling accusations of racist and genocidal language.
Here is everything the controversial anchor said.
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Watters Targets Palestinian Birth Rates in Bizarre Rant
During his monologue, Watters alarmingly fixated on Palestinian birth rates, stating: "The average Palestinian woman has five-and-a-half babies. The average Israeli woman has only two-and-a-half babies. So demographically, they're a threat. Not to mention the national security threat."
However, his statistics were wildly inaccurate. In reality, the fertility rate in Gaza and the West Bank was 3.44 children per woman in 2022, compared to 2.89 in Israel according to
Statista. Critics slammed Watters for promoting "Nazi-level" rhetoric that suggests a population's mere existence is a danger.
Ties to Trump's Controversial Gaza Takeover Plan
Watters' remarks came just a week after President
Donald Trump proposed that the U.S. "take over" Gaza and transform it into "the Riviera of the Middle East" during a press conference with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While Netanyahu praised Trump as "the greatest friend Israel has ever had," critics labeled his proposal as a blatant case of ethnic cleansing, which would be considered a war crime under international law.
The Gaza Health Ministry estimates that over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023.
Social Media Explodes: 'Genocidal Nazi Rhetoric'
The anchor's segment was met with fierce condemnation online. Former MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan called him out directly, posting: "There is no one, no one, on American television who speaks in a more racist and genocidal way about Palestinians than Jesse Watters. This is Nazi-level s— right here."
Another user on X wrote: "How the f— on God's green earth is this not considered genocidal Nazi rhetoric? People and specifically children considered a threat because of their sole mere existence."
A History of Islamophobic and Anti-Palestinian Remarks
This is not the first time Watters has been accused of dangerous rhetoric against Muslims and Palestinians. Just weeks after the
October 7 Hamas attack, he claimed that Americans "have had it" with the "Muslim world" and pro-Palestinian protesters.
His statements prompted the
Biden administration to demand an apology from
Fox News
. With his latest remarks, Watters continues to be a lightning rod for controversy, once again drawing accusations of hate speech and fearmongering.
