ISTANBUL 

CNN political commentator Van Jones on Sunday apologized for remarks he made on HBO’s Overtime with Bill Maher after drawing backlash for appearing to joke about images of dead children in Gaza.

On the program, Jones argued that younger audiences view Israel differently because of what he described as a “massive disinformation campaign” run by Iran and Qatar on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

“If you are a young person, you open up your phone and all you see is dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby ... That's basically your own feed,” he said during the show.

Omar Suleiman, a prominent Muslim American scholar and activist, called the remarks “truly disgraceful and vile” in a post on US social media company X.

“I’m sorry dead Gaza babies bother you so much. Maybe tell the people paying you to put lipstick on a genocide to stop killing them,” Suleiman wrote.

Responding on X, Jones acknowledged his comments were wrong: “Yeah, I messed up on this one. And I’m sorry. I was trying to raise awareness about foreign adversaries creating chaos online… But what I said was easily misunderstood, and the way I said it was flat-out insensitive.”

“Babies are dying every day in Gaza. Nobody should dispute that fact or make light of it in any way. To the people living in fear and burying family members every day, of all ages — I apologize,” he added.

In a follow-up post, he said again that his remark about the war in Gaza was “insensitive and hurtful.”

“The suffering of the people of Gaza — especially the children — is not a punch line. I’m deeply sorry it came across that way. What’s happening to children in Gaza is heartbreaking,” Jones said. “I’m praying and working for an immediate end to this war — and for peace and safety for every family caught in its path.”