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Mark Levin, host of “Life, Liberty & Levin” on Fox News, speaks during the annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on Saturday, November 6, 2021.
CNN –
The White House condemned Fox News on Friday, criticizing the right-wing broadcaster for “advocating hate” after one of its hosts attacked the Jewish heritage of two CNN anchors over their coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
“Fox News doesn’t just join those who fan the flames of hate – Fox also pays their salaries,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a blistering statement the Biden administration made publicly for the second time this week condemned network for its hosts’ comments.
The rebuke came in response to Mark Levin, a right-wing talk personality and Fox News weekend host, who in recent days raged against CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper while ranting on his nationally syndicated radio show.
Levin falsely claimed that Blitzer’s parents were “not victims of the Holocaust in one way or another.” In fact, Blitzer’s parents were survivors of Nazi-era concentration camps and all four of his grandparents were murdered during the Holocaust. Levin added that he believes CNN is “full of a lot of self-hating Jews.”
In separate comments, Levin also attacked Tapper as a “self-hating Jew” and said he was “a propagandist for the enemy.”
CNN condemned the comments Thursday night as “completely uninformed, inappropriate and shameful” and said Levin’s “anti-Semitic rhetoric is dangerous, offensive and should be widely denounced.”
The White House added its criticism of Fox News on Friday.
“Lying to insult the pain suffered by families in the Holocaust has absolutely no place in America. None,” Bates said. “Unfortunately, this is not the first time in recent months that a Fox News host has made disgusting comments about the Holocaust.”
“Plus, this week isn’t even the first time a Fox host has abused his platform and spread hate,” Bates continued, referencing prime-time host Jesse Watters’ Islamophobic comments about Arab Americans and the entire Muslim world.
“Even after the heartbreaking murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child and a rise in violence against Muslims and Arab Americans, Jesse Watters made vile comments two nights ago that attack the dignity of all Americans and said he was ‘done’ with Arabs Americans and Muslims,” Bates added.
A Fox News spokesperson did not immediately comment.
But Levin stood by his comments Thursday evening as he responded to CNN’s condemnation of his comments.
“My anti-Semitic rhetoric? That’s why I despise these people and you should too,” Levin said on his radio show. “You think they’re going to intimidate me? You think they’re going to silence me?”
Levin further claimed that CNN is “one of the most pro-Hamas media outlets in the country.” CNN has repeatedly described Hamas as a terrorist organization, and the network has spent considerable time — through on-site interviews, digital stories and on-air segments — highlighting the horrors that unfolded during the group’s attack on Israel last month .
Levin also attacked CNN anchor Poppy Harlow, claiming she was giving “aid and comfort” to Hamas by asking Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin whether a humanitarian ceasefire should be implemented.
The White House has taken an aggressive stance toward Fox News in recent months, criticizing some of the extremist rhetoric used by the network’s hosts.
In July, the White House condemned host Greg Gutfeld’s Holocaust comments, saying they were a “horrible, dangerous and extreme lie” that “insults the memory of the millions of people who suffered the evils” committed by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime was committed.
And earlier this week, the White House condemned Watters’ comments, which Fox News has remained silent on.