Outspoken feminist writer Clementine Ford has doubled-down on a deleted post where she claimed that she does not believe Hamas soldiers executed Israeli hostages following the Palestinian terrorist group’s October 7 attack.
Ford, a self-described pro-Palestine activist, initially made the statement in the comments section on another Instagram profile last week – accusing Israel’s government of inventing the murder of hostages by Hamas soldiers.
About 250 Israeli hostages were taken by Hamas late-last year. According to the Israeli government, some 97 are still being held and a further 33 are presumed dead.
Last week, it was revealed the bodies of six hostages were found in tunnels in Gaza. Days later, Ford denied they died at the hands of Hamas in a comment posted on a meme that glorified the potential downfall of Israel.
The meme featured two photos of Hollywood star Tobey McGuire. In the first photo, he could be seen walking down the street with an uncomfortable expression, below the caption, ‘My sister’s wedding’.
The second photo showed McGuire dressed in a suit and smiling on the red carpet. It was captioned: ‘Israel’s downfall’.
In the comments, Ford wrote: ‘I don’t for a second believe that Hamas executed those hostages. Israel’s desperation stinks.’
While her initial comment appears to have been removed, Ford reiterated her views in a statement to Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday.
Pictured: Activist Clementine Ford speaking at a pro-Palestine event in January
Clementine Ford is a feminist writer and activist. Last week, she denied Israeli hostages were murdered by Hamas
Ford originally made the comment on an Instagram post about Israel (pictured)
She referenced an investigation by left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which previously revealed the Israeli Defence Force was responsible for the deaths of some of its own citizens – including three hostages – during attacks on Gaza.
Ford’s statement read: ‘An investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, published in July and widely reported on since then, revealed that Israeli forces were responsible for enacting the Hannibal directive on Oct 7, resulting in the killing of many of their own civilians.
‘Israel has repeatedly lied and misrepresented scenarios in order to manufacture consent for the genocide it is enacting against Palestinians in Gaza…including the debunked and disgraceful lie about 40 beheaded babies.’
However, Ford did not acknowledge that Hamas admitted killing other Israeli hostages last year, nor did she mention that Haaretz reported on Tuesday six Israeli hostages were murdered by Hamas terrorists in late-August.
According to Haaretz, initial autopsies indicated that all six hostages – Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Master Sgt Ori Danino – had died from shots to the head, but were otherwise in frail but stable conditions.
Those were the murders she denied her now-deleted Instagram comment last week, and then again on her own Instagram page on Wednesday.
Pictured: Demonstrators holding banners and photos of hostages gather in front of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Tuesday
Pictured: A man in Jerusalem holding a photo of one of the Israeli hostages outside the U.S Embassy
Ford said on Wednesday that she believes Zionists are sending her comments to mainstream media
In her new post, Ford said her views on the executions meant she had been ‘subjected to the irritating shriek of Z-lists about that comment (which I stand by).’
Z-lists appears to be a term Ford uses for Zionists. She then suggested the ‘Z-lists’ had sent her comment to a range of publications, including this one, stating: ‘They are nothing if not tenacious in their desperation to prevent the unavoidable downfall of Israel’s reputation’.
Her views outraged the Jewish community last week.
The Australian Jewish Association posted a screenshot of her comment, with the caption: ‘How would you describe the … content of this tweet demonstrated here, by Clementine Ford?
‘Israel announced the 6 hostages were shot in the head at close range.’
One user said: ‘Those actively promoting tolerance, diversity & inclusion, mean that they will only tolerate & include those who share their views.
‘As for the rest – they will simply tell you, that in order to be inclusive, they have to exclude all those who have different views.’
The brutal Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian Islamist group attacked an Israeli music festival, killing 1200 people and taking about 250 prisoners.
Israel retaliated that same day, killing thousands – including some of its own citizens. The war continues to this day, leaving more than 40,000 Palestinians dead and more than 95,000 injured – largely comprising civilians trying to survive in the war zone.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been repeatedly accused of stalling on a ceasefire deal for his own political survival.
