Rob Delaney’s ‘wonderful’ answer to the Israel-Hamas crisis has been lauded.
Delaney stated on Instagram on Monday that he’d been requested to give his opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
The 46-year-old comedian wrote: ‘Didn’t think anyone needed the thoughts of a catholic comedian from Massachusetts on Gaza & Israel but people have asked so I put them in my stories as a Google Drive link.’
He added: ‘Couldn’t figure out how to post on the main grid.’
His followers were able to click through to a short essay written by the comedian, in which he admitted: ‘If someone killed my child in front of me, I suspect I’d do my best to kill them right back.’
Many of them were astounded by Delaney’s thoughts on the horrific scenario, describing his remarks as “beautiful.”
‘Imagine being in Sderot, Israel, and hearing Hamas missiles hit near your home,’ he continued, attempting to empathise to the horrifying situation that Israeli parents are in.
‘You’re scared, you instantly take mental stock of your family members’ locations. Then you hear gunfire. Screaming. You recognize a scream. A few minutes later you’re holding your daughter’s corpse.’
Also highlighting how terrifying the situation is for Palestinians living in Gaza, Delaney added: ‘I feel such abject futility in writing this as Israel’s military has stated its plan to commit effective genocide in Gaza.
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‘Their order for the residents of northern Gaza to evacuate is impossible to implement. They know it, we know it. Children in Gaza, most born after Hamas took power, know it. These children are going to die shortly, joining their peers who have already been killed.’
He then drew attention to governments’ abuses of power, continuing: ‘I’m American but I live in the UK so I pay taxes to two countries who will explicitly aid and sanction this genocide. This genocide will be carried out with American and British weapons.’
But, perhaps most poignantly, Delaney emphasised how wonderfully his life had been moulded by both Jewish and Muslim friends, even going so far as to declare that the lessons he acquired from friends of different faiths helped him cope with his son’s loss.
In January 2018, he and his wife Leah lost their son Henry.
Just after his first birthday, Henry was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Following surgery to remove the tumour, the cancer returned, eventually killing him.
Delaney wrote: ‘When I was nine, my kind, gregarious neighbour Barry died of leukaemia. His family sat Shiva and we joined them.
‘I have visited and treasured this memory all my life and when my own son died of brain cancer five years ago, I let it guide me in how we handled the days following Henry’s death.
‘Barry’s memory was indeed a spectacular blessing.’
The doting dad then added: ‘When I was thirty, my friend Mahir’s father died and afterward Mahir generously walked my wife and I step by step through the Muslim rituals of mourning and burial, how he attended and washed and shrouded his father and then personally buried him in the earth. We were rapt.
‘When our son died we had a beautiful template of intimacy to follow due to the love of a Muslim son for his father.’
Delaney concluded his post by pointing out: ‘I think I am saying that Jewish and Muslim ghosts guided me better during my time of greatest pain than today’s Presidents and Prime Ministers and newspaper owners are guiding us today.’
Many of the star’s social media followers took to the comment section of his post to thank Delaney for his ‘beautiful’ words, with one person writing: ‘That was the most raw and beautiful of all the comments I have read, thank you.’
Another added: ‘What a tragically beautiful way to talk about this current devastation. Thank you.’
Other comments included: ‘Beautiful thank you,’ ‘Eloquent, beautiful, true’ and ‘Beautiful.’
On October 7, the terrorist group Hamas assaulted a music festival and stormed kibbutzim, sparking a fatal wave of violence.
Israel has responded by launching a catastrophic onslaught of airstrikes on Gaza.
As soldiers queue on the border, a big ground operation looks to be on the way.
After Hamas soldiers invaded the Gaza border and killed hundreds of civilians while holding many more captive, Israel conducted retaliation attacks in over 200 places around Gaza, killing over 700 people and wounded 4,000 more.
