Sean Hannity arrives in Israel as tensions mount between the Fox News anchor and Russell Brand over 'bigoted' coverage on Gaza
He also posted two more images – including an aerial shot of the country, covered in thick plumes of black smoke
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Your support makes all the difference.Just what Israel-Gaza always needed – Sean Hannity’s triumphant arrival.
The Fox News anchor took time out from shouting at Palestinians and labelling Russell Brand "kind of dumb and ignorant" over his videoed critique of Hannity's pro-IDF coverage of the conflict in the Middle Eastern country to fly over to Israel.
He posted the above image of himself standing by a 'Welcome To Israel' sign, dressed in a striped golf T, a pair of dark sunglasses and a baseball cap.
He also posted more images – an aerial shot of the country, covered in thick plumes of cloud, which he captioned simply "Flying into Israel", and a second, hazy shot of the shoreline as his plane descended.
Then came the pictures of him inspecting "1 of 9 Iron Dome locations that shoot down incoming rockets" and the entrance into a gated community with military protection.
His trip comes after a heated week of debate with comedian Brand, who first accused Hannity of using terrorist tactics to grill a Palestinian guest in an aggressive televised debate over Israel-Gaza.
Hannity, who is famously right-wing and pro-Israel, asked Yousef Munayyer if he was "thick in the head" as he attempted in vain to get him to agree that Hamas were a terrorist organisation.
"One of the definitions of 'terrorist' is using intimidation to reach your goals," Brand said on his satirical YouTube digest Trews (scroll down to watch the video). "Who in that situation was behaving like a terrorist, using bullying, intimidation? Sean Hannity. That is where the terrorism is coming from."
The YouTube clip quickly notched up 2.2million views, prompting Hannity to broadcast a response in a segment he called "Hollywood Vs Hammas".
So Brand issued a second video response, "Israel/Palestine, Russell Brand/Sean Hannity: Round 2", in which he picked apart Hannity’s show piece by piece.
"Apparently Russell can’t get it through his thick head and possibly fathom that this is the reality," Hannity had said to camera.
Cut to Russell: "It’s not a reality. It’s a combination of speculation, conjecture, and highly contextualised and selective information. That’s not reality. It’s piecing together a narrative that fits in with Fox’s world view and his own bigoted world view," he said.
"That’s not reality, it’s a tiny aperture through which bigoted and particular information is glimpsed. That’s sort of the opposite of all encompassing, wonderful, unknowable reality."
Brand also said the term "terrorist" is provocative rhetoric once used to describe "cuddly" Nelson Mandela and anyone else who dared challenge the status quo.
See it in full below:
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