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Ann Coulter, the conservative pundit who has made a name for herself with outrageous assertions about immigrants, is at it again. On July 31, on the Sean Hannity show, she drew parallels between Hamas-Israel and Mexico-United States, going so far as to wish for a president who would deal with immigration on our southern border the way Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is dealing with Gaza. "We need a Netanyahu here," she says in minute 1:14 of the video.

Given that Netanyahu has reportedly asked the United States to help fend off war crimes charges for Israel's actions in Gaza should Palestinian leaders bring such a charge to the International Criminal Court, and that the Gaza-Israel conflict has left, according to U.N. figures, 1,843 Gazans dead — 1,354 of them civilian, 415 of those children — Coulter's suggestion veers past the usual provocation and hyperbole straight into irresponsible. 

While the majority of responses on that particular YouTube video are dismissive of Coulter, the words are not without effect. After all, on Twitter alone, Coulter has more than 500,000 followers, and like it or not, her invective reaches many Americans via her appearances on shows like Hannity's. 

The way Coulter talks about the border, and her outrageous implication that Mexico is to the United States what Hamas is to Israel, willfully obscures the fact that Mexico is the United States' second-largest export market. Mexican tourism to the United States generates approximately $9.2 billion a year, and Mexico is the seventh fastest growing investor country in the United States (in 2013, Mexican investment was $27.9 billion). But only one in five Americans knows that Mexico is one of the U.S.'s top five trade partners, and a Pew Research Center poll from February of this year shows that 52 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of the country. 

Unfortunately, Coulter isn't the only one exploiting the nation's anti-immigrant sentiment at this moment. Many of the candidates running for office or reelection in November have escalated the rhetoric about immigrants in their pitches to voters and constituents as well: Tom Cotton in Arkansas, Terri Lynn Land in Michigan and Lou Barletta in Pennsylvania to name a few. 

But Coulter's comments are in a class of their own in terms of escalating the terminology used about immigration. In using the analogy she has, she forces a choice from her U.S. viewers and admirers: Disavow the incendiary stance or admit belief that an iron hand at the border is worth more than human lives. 

Correction: A update posted on 12:44 p.m. Aug. 10 corrects the date of the broadcast and deletes Nielsen ratings for the wrong date.