Joan Rivers defends Israel: 'If New Jersey were firing rockets into New York, we would wipe them out'

Joan Rivers has attacked the Western media’s depiction of the Israel-Gaza conflict, saying that Israel’s military offensive is misrepresented.

The actress and comedian used a New York-New Jersey analogy to highlight her opinions on the Middle East crisis.

“Let me tell you, if New Jersey were firing rockets into New York, we would wipe them out,” she told TMZ.

“If we heard they were digging tunnels from New Jersey to New York, we would get rid of Jersey.”

She said: “You cannot throw rockets and expect people not to defend themselves.”

Asked about the deaths of around 800 Palestinian civilians so far killed in the 18-day conflict, Rivers said that the fault lay with militants firing rockets from people’s homes.

“I’m sorry, don’t you dare put weapon stashes in private homes and then we say get out – of course we’re going to do it.”

And asked where Palestinian civilians could go to flee the attacks, she said: “I don’t care. They started it.

“You’re all insane. They started it!

“What are you all saying? They started it!”

Rivers said she had visited Israel and “that’s how I know; I wish the world would know”.

She also singled out the BBC and CNN for criticism, saying that they should be “ashamed” of their news coverage.

“Everybody stop it already,” she said.

An estimated 10,000 people marched from Ramallah to East Jerusalem today, on what was called a “day of rage” to protest the Israel Defence Forces' continued offensive against Hamas on Friday.

At least two Palestinians died and 200 more were injured in the demonstrations.