Outrage as US far-right author calls for Palestine to be 'flattened'

A far-right American author has called for Palestine to be flattened, after a pre-Ramadan flare up left scores of Palestinians, including a baby, dead.

Janie Johnson, writer and commentator in a tweet advocated the destruction of Palestine, suggesting no one would miss it, responding to a tweet by an Israeli journalist describing fear felt by Israelis after a flare-up of violence between his country and Hamas over the weekend.

“Can we flatten Palestine already? Who would miss it?” she tweeted.

Social media users lambasted the author for her genocidal rhetoric, with many noting they had reported it Twitter.

“What type of person do you have to be to straight up advocate for genocide?”, one tweeter said.

“Ms. Johnson, with her 208K followers, calls for genocide against the defenseless Palestinians. It is deeply disappointing how well hate & racism sells in America”, another tweeted.

Johnson has repeatedly caused outrage over her views on social media, including allegations suggesting London had fallen to Islamic rule.

“My friends just returned from London. Shocked. Hadn’t been in 20 years. Said London is gone - all Islamic”, she said at the time. 

Whilst the tweet was condemned for its Islamophobic nature, many responded sarcastically with photos of the Queen wearing a headscarf and drawing correlation between chain Mecca bingo centre and the Saudi holy city of Mecca.

Israel’s pre-Ramadan massacre

Israel killed 24 Palestinians, including a pregnant mother and four month old baby, during airstrikes that took place over the weekend.

Israel said its strikes were in response to Hamas and Islamic Jihad firing some 690 rockets or mortars since Saturday, with air defences intercepting 240 of them.

The escalation began on Friday after four Palestinians were killed and two Israeli soldiers were wounded during a weekly demonstration at the Gaza-Israel border on Friday.

Palestinian militant factions responded on Saturday with rocket fire from Gaza, drawing waves of Israeli retaliatory strikes which continued throughout Sunday.

Hamas said Egyptian mediators, along with officials from Qatar and the UN, helped reach the cease-fire deal.

The deal is believed to include a number of economic aid and development programmes in Gaza, including providing additional electricity and creating temporary jobs in a territory where unemployment has skyrocketed over 50 percent.

Gaza's economy has been ravaged by a devastating Israeli-Egyptian blockade, years of fighting with Israel and Hamas' isolation.

Israeli troops have killed at least 268 Palestinians and injured over 23,000 since weekly protests erupted in Gaza in March last year.

Protesters have demanded an end to the siege and the right for refugees to return to their homes.

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