LOS ANGELES — Actress-comedian Tiffany Haddish has defended her travel to Israel amid ongoing conflict in Gaza after landing in hot water.
She called going to the Middle East country an "educational trip" amid the war.
Haddish joined 'TMZ Live' after she arrived in Israel. "I can't believe everything that I read," she said.
"I need to go see for myself. I want to talk to the actual people here, the people that actually experienced the situation that happened on the 7th," she said, reports aceshowbiz.com.
The actress-comedian added: “The people that actually have family members that are hostages that were taken out of their own homes, that were on their way to work driving from Palestine to Israel, working here on a daily basis, and how they were taken as well.
"I wanted to talk to the people. I wanted to be with the people. I wanted to see with my own eyes, hear with my own ears."
Haddish said that she “learned a lot” from the region.
“I learned that people were taken out of their homes. I learned that people were taken away from the actual event that was happening. All those people that were killed, there was a lot of people killed, but a lot of people were kidnapped from that event. I didn't know that before. I learned that there were 100 people that have been freed from being hostages in Gaza, but there are still 100 plus people that are over there."
Talking about Israel's counter attack in Gaza, the actress said: "Yes, I'm going over there too. I'm a firm believer in: 'Go see with your own eyes before you pass judgment.' Go over there cautiously, be cautious, but go see for yourself." She insisted: "I care about both sides. I care about humanity. Human beings."
"I know there's a lot of religious stuff going on, a lot of control of the land, 'No Jews here, no this there' whatever... that's neither here nor there with me. It's about human life, human beings. Human beings, man! That's what I care about. That's why I'm here."
She also replied to criticism that she shouldn't have joked about finding a man in Israel given the seriousness of the situation.
"I'm here all by myself. Just like I was saying in 2018 when they were asking me about Mo'Nique and her husband, I said I don't do my business like she does her business. Because I don't have a husband. I don't have what she has. I'm all alone! That's what I'm trying to tell you guys. I'm doing this all by myself."
She added: "I don't have a whole family full of men, or a man supporting me. I'm doing it on my own. I'm learning on my own. For people to say... I have to make light of something that the average female wouldn't do.”
“The average female wouldn't have the courage to go see for themselves. There's a lot of scary … out here, and y'all can be scared, but I'm going to go ahead and follow my instincts, and learn as much as I can learn. Educate myself before I go speaking on subject matters."