Defense Secretary laughing during speech about Israel sparks backlash

[peppertree]

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps and Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden faced backlash for appearing to laugh during Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's remarks about the war between Israel and Hamas.

On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes against Gaza.

The Associated Press reported that as of Monday afternoon, at least 1,400 people in Israel and at least 2,778 people in Gaza have been killed since the fighting erupted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is "at war" and cut off supplies of food, fuel, electricity and medicine into Gaza. He has vowed to "demolish Hamas," ordering 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to relocate to the south.

At: https://www.newsweek.com/british-defense-secretary-laughs-israel-speech-grant-shapps-1835105

Link to tweet

[doc03]

1. Bad optics but maybe something unrelated to Isreal was funny. nt

[LeftishBrit]

2. Shapps is a total idiot; however

Last edited Tue Oct 17, 2023, 10:02 AM - Edit history (1)

he also happens to be Jewish, so I think it unlikely that he was laughing about Israel as such (though all things are possible). More likely, having the attention span of a pair of gnats, he and Dowden were not listening to Sunak and were giggling about something else.