Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu eulogized Joan Rivers on Thursday evening saying the Jewish state would miss her “deeply.”
Rivers, 81, died Thursday in New York.
“Joan Rivers brought laughter to millions around the world and was proud of her Jewish heritage and a vocal supporter of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “We will miss her deeply and we send our heartfelt condolences to her family.”
Many Israelis thought Rivers nailed their situation in dramatic comments she made to American media during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in the Gaza Strip during the summer. Rivers compared the proximity of Israel to the Gaza Strip to New York and New Jersey.
“Let me just tell you, if New Jersey were firing rockets into New York we would wipe ’em out,” Rivers told the celebrity gossip channel TMZ.
“[If] we heard they were digging tunnels from New Jersey to New York we would get rid of Jersey. So I don’t want to hear anymore, ‘Oh, we’ll do a partial truce,'” she said.
“Palestinians, you cannot throw rockets and expect people not to defend themselves,” she added.
Asked about the civilian casualties in Gaza, an emphatic Rivers replied, “I’m sorry don’t you dare put weapons stashes in private homes and then we say ‘get out,’ of course we’re going to do it [bomb weapons’ caches]!”
When asked where Palestinian civilians were supposed to go, she said, “I don’t care. They started it! You’re all insane! They started it,” she yelled.
The clip was replayed on Israel Radio Friday morning.
