Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

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

Jenn Selby
Monday 11 August 2014 06:55 EDT

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

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:

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in