NYC, NY – An MSNBC producer called condemnation of Hamas’s violence against Israeli women “tone deaf” on Sunday and accused the IDF of perpetrating similar atrocities against Palestinians.
Nicole McReynolds, an associate video producer on Ali Velshi’s MSNBC show, scolded Big Time Rush singer James Maslow over an Instagram post that described Hamas’s murder, mutilation, and rape of Israeli women on October 7.
“James, I’m a huge fan of yours, but this is quite tone deaf. We are all aware of the horrors that Israelis went through on October 7th, and are still going through, but to not even mention the atrocities that Israel and the IDF have put Palestinians through is ridiculous,” McReynolds wrote in a since-deleted Instagram comment. “Just under 25 thousand people have been murdered by the Israeli government (and the IDF has raped and mutilated both women and children) and half a million people are starving.”
“While there is no easy solution to this, what is happening on both sides should not be happening at all,” she continued. “We all need to be open minded, educate ourselves, and have compassion.”
McReynolds’s now-deleted LinkedIn profile listed her as an employee of Velshi, MSNBC’s Chief Correspondent Ali Velshi’s weekend show.
Velshi has brought on his show many pro-Palestinian commentators who have legitimized Hamas’s attacks. On October 7, the same day Hamas waged its attack against Israel, Velshi invited Palestinian activist Nour Odeh on his show to discuss what Velshi called “Israel’s inhumane treatment of the Palestinians who live under Israeli occupation.”
To think that the “record number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli occupation forces, a record number of Palestinian homes demolished by Israel, a record number of Israeli settler attacks against Palestinian villages where homes and businesses were set on fire, where Palestinians were injured or killed by armed Israelis,” wouldn’t “have consequences, or wouldn’t have a reaction from the Palestinians, all Palestinians, was delusional,” Odeh said.
Odeh also stressed the importance of recognizing the “context in which all of this is happening, the fact that Israel is an occupying power, the fact that Israel has violated international law and Palestinian rights.” At the time Velshi invited Odeh on the show, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had just declared war on Hamas, and Israeli Defense Forces were still calculating the magnitude of Hamas’s attack.
Velshi has also urged the United States not to “reward Israel’s bad behavior” and has called Israel’s democratic system “ostensible” because “millions of people, Palestinians who live under illegal occupation, are subject to Israeli persecution and prosecution without either its protections or the right to vote.”
As a video producer, McReynolds shapes the direction of the show by creating news packets, pitching news segments, and compiling video clips for on-air stories.
Maslow’s post attracted a host of pro-Palestinian activists who seconded McReynolds’s unsubstantiated claims.
“Bro I love you but now your [sic] emberassing [sic] yourself with this bullshit.. you see what is happening right now but still you support the bullshit!” European amateur boxer Farzahd Razaghzadeh commented. “Wouldve respect you more if you supported all innocent people.”
U.S. intelligence, Israeli authorities, and independent investigations led by the New York Times and USA Today have all confirmed details of Hamas’s systemic brutalization of women on October 7. A growing number of witnesses, health-care workers, and October 7 survivors have corroborated heinous claims that Hamas terrorists gang-raped women on the streets of Israel, stabbed women in their vaginas, cut off women’s breasts, and even shot and killed a woman while inside of her.
MSNBC did not respond to a request for comment.
