Canadian psychologist and conservative influencer Jordan Peterson has come under fire for urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to unleash “hell” on Palestinians in Gaza when he weighed in on the ongoing conflict on Saturday.
“Give ’em hell [Netanyahu]… Enough is enough,” Peterson posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, after Palestinian fighters in Gaza launched an unprecedented attack against Israel.
Palestinian fighters caught Israel off-guard early on Saturday, firing thousands of rockets into southern and central Israel, while dozens of heavily armed gunmen stormed Israel’s south.
Netanyahu has said the country would exact revenge, as the death toll on both sides continued to rise.
Peterson’s remarks drew widespread criticism on X, with many accusing him of failing to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has seen Palestinians in Gaza live under a debilitating siege since 2007.
American Muslim scholar and public speaker Imam Omar Suleiman responded to Peterson’s post candidly: “Go to hell @jordanbpeterson.”
Journalist Muna Hawwa also criticised Peterson’s tweet and referred back to Gaza’s long-standing siege.
“In a just world, you’d face charges of incitement to murder and genocide,” she said.
Another social user remarked: “This pseudo-intellectual fraud will cry on TV because traditional masculinity is being attacked in the university by ‘leftist types’, then goes on X and encourages ethnic cleansing of men looking to liberate their country from illegal occupation. The hypocrisy.”
Gaza’s inhabitants live precariously, with little access to clean drinking water, crippling power shortages and unsuitable healthcare and education systems.
Roughly 97 percent of Gaza’s drinking water is contaminated, and residents are forced to live with constant power outages due to a power grid that has been heavily damaged in repeated Israeli attacks.
‘Sellout’
Some critics also suggested that Peterson’s post may have been influenced by his employer, Ben Shapiro, who is the founder of The Daily Wire.
Some social media users accused Peterson of selling his soul: “You’re a sellout. You sold your soul to the Daily Wire for a bag. You are no man of integrity. You aren’t even a man.”
This is not the first time the personality has been criticised for his comments about Israel and Palestine.
In December 2022, Peterson faced a backlash after interviewing Netanyahu, after many pointed out that he did not challenge the Israeli premier’s claims or his knowledge about the history of the region.
The divisive influencer also drew widespread condemnation after videos emerged of him accompanying Jewish groups to Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem in October 2022.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic site where unsolicited visits, prayers and rituals by non-Muslims are forbidden, according to decades-long international agreements.
Israeli groups, in coordination with authorities, have long violated the delicate arrangement, facilitating raids of the site and performing prayers and religious rituals.
