Netizens rake up James Woods' pro-genocide tweets as LA fire burns his home

On Wednesday, James Woods, a two-time Oscar nominee and three-time Emmy winner, recounted how he fled his house in Pacific Palisades as flames bore down "like an inferno".

"One day you're swimming in the pool, and the next day it's all gone," Woods said of the multiple wildfires that have engulfed the Los Angeles suburbs, consuming thousands of homes and businesses and forcing tens of thousands to flee.

He teared up in a TV interview as he described rescuing an elderly neighbour and spoke about a niece who "came out with her little Yeti piggy bank for us to rebuild our house".

But not everyone feels for his loss or sympathises with him.

Online users were quick to dredge up his heartless remarks in which he cheered for Israel and its genocide in besieged Gaza, where Tel Aviv has reportedly killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, over 70 percent of them women and children, wounded over 110,000 and displaced millions since October 2023. Studies and experts say the actual toll could be around 200,000.

"American actor James Woods, after his house burned down in the fires that broke out in Los Angeles, is practically living some of the sorrows and pains of the Palestinians in Gaza, whom he called for killing them all in support of the Zionist occupiers," Arab columnist and blogger Abdulla Alamadi wrote on his X handle.

"Whoever practices injustice or calls for it, God must punish him sooner or later. It is divine justice that only those who have some faith in their heart can understand," Alamadi said as he shared Woods' recent interview to CNN in which the American actor was moved to tears while sharing the details of the wildfires near his home.

Prominent American imam and activist Omar Suleiman drove his point home in an X post.

"Praying that God protect the lives and properties of innocent people in Los Angeles and beyond. But can't help but notice this. The people of Gaza continue to be exterminated by the cruel in houses of power, with the support of the cruel who feel invincible in their mansions."

Others shared Woods' past statements on Palestinians, suggesting the actor deserves no sympathy.

"I don't know if I should feel happy seeing someone like this in their dreadful times, but I am definitely not sad for a wretched soul like his. #JamesWoods, how dare you go on air and cry?! You promoted a 'Kill them all' hashtag for #Gaza. Now go gather the ruins of your mansion," X user @SyedaSyeda_ wrote, sharing a screenshot of Woods recent TV interview.

Another user @Adeline_313 shared a screengrab of Woods' past tweet that exhorted Israel: "No ceasefire, no compromise, no forgiveness. #Kill ThemAll".

"James Woods called for the killing of Palestinians, even children being burned alive. Now his uninsured house has burned down. Truly, God's justice spares no one, in this life or the next," the X user wrote.

Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha confronted Woods in a letter on X, saying: "How dare you get on the air and cry?!"

"When our house was bombed on October 28, 2023, I did not have a house or a safe place to go on the air and watch it bombed. I have not been able to return to the ruins on my house because my city is occupied.

A friend of mine who was helping collect what we could find of the books was killed in January 2024. His name was Ma’rouf Al-Ashqar. He had a sweet voice and was an avid reader of Russian literature, especially Dostoevsky. Does this bother you?"

"My aunt’s house was bombed in October 2024. Her daughter was killed along with another 15 people, many still under the rubble until now. Does this mean anything to you?" the letter read.

'Everything is gone'

The largest blaze consumed nearly 5,000 hectares in Pacific Palisades, a picturesque neighbourhood between the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu that is home to many film, television and music stars.

Billy Crystal lost the Pacific Palisades house where he had lived since 1979.

Paris Hilton watched her Malibu beach mansion burn down on live TV.

Jamie Lee Curtis, Mandy Moore, Mark Hamill and Maria Shriver were among the other celebrities forced to evacuate as out-of-control fires in Los Angeles swept across some of the most lavish real estate in the world.

The $6.5 million home of "Gossip Girl" star Leighton Meester and her husband Adam Brody of "The O.C." went up in flames.

Perennial Oscars host Crystal and his wife Janice said they were heartbroken to lose the Pacific Palisades house where they had raised their children and grandchildren since 1979, "but with the love of children and friends we will get through this".

Reality TV star Hilton said she was "heartbroken beyond words" to lose her beachfront mansion.

"Sitting with my family, watching the news, and seeing our home in Malibu burn to the ground on live TV is something no one should ever have to experience," she wrote on X.

Shriver, a journalist and the former first lady of California when she was married to then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the destruction in the upscale enclave was devastating.

"Everything is gone. Our neighbourhood, our restaurants," she wrote on X on Wednesday.

"The firefighters have and are doing their best, but this fire is massive and out of control."

The Sunset Fire burned through the Hollywood Hills, just above Hollywood Boulevard and its Walk of Fame, across the 101 Freeway from the Hollywood Sign.

With a median home price of $4.5 million, Pacific Palisades is home to celebrities as well as the Getty Villa, one of the most popular museums in Los Angeles.

Oscar winner Curtis said "my community and possibly my home is on fire".

"It is a terrifying situation," the actress wrote on Instagram.

"Pray if you believe in it, and even if you don't, pray for those who do."

Moore, known for television series "This is Us" and as the voice of Rapunzel in Disney's "Tangled", said she and her family had evacuated because of the proximity of the flames.

"So gutted for the destruction and loss," she wrote on Instagram.

"Don't know if our place made it."

Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the "Star Wars" films, said on Instagram that he evacuated his Malibu home on Tuesday evening with his wife and dog.

"There (were) small fires on both sides of the road as we approached" the Pacific Coast Highway, he said.