A Michigan congressman suggested that a nuclear bomb should be dropped on Gaza to “support Israel’s rapid elimination of Hamas.”
Speaking during a town hall earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a Republican from Lenawee County, seemed completely comfortable defending the use of nuclear weapons against the Palestinians.
‘It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. “Let’s finish it quickly,” Walberg can be heard saying in a video posted on X in which he mentions the Japanese cities where the United States detonated atomic bombs at the end of World War II.
Walberg, an eight-term Republican congressman from Lenawee County, can also be heard speaking against providing humanitarian aid to those in the Palestinian territory.
“We shouldn’t spend a dime on humanitarian aid,” Walberg said in response to a question about deploying U.S. troops to Gaza to build a port that would help deliver aid to the Palestinians.
Michigan Republican Congressman Tim Walberg suggested using a nuclear bomb in Gaza to facilitate Israel’s elimination of Hamas.
The comments were made during a town hall meeting in Dundee, Michigan, on March 25.
Walberg had been responding to a question about an initiative introduced by President Joe Biden to use U.S. tax money to build a port off the coast of Gaza that would allow humanitarian aid to be delivered more quickly.
Many recent reports have suggested that Gaza’s two million people are on the brink of famine as Israel’s war against Hamas approaches six months.
The conflict began after Hamas terrorists launched an attack on Israeli citizens, killing 1,200 and taking 240 hostages.
Walberg’s office has now attempted to explain the Republican congressman’s seemingly simple response as a metaphor.
“During his town hall meeting, he clearly uses a metaphor to support Israel’s rapid elimination of Hamas, which is the best chance to save lives in the long term and the only hope for achieving permanent peace in the region,” the spokesperson said. by Walberg, Mike Rorke. Saturday.
Many recent reports have suggested that Gaza’s 2 million people are on the brink of famine as Israel’s war against Hamas approaches six months (Gaza war archive photo)
A young Palestinian inspects the rubble of a building, following Friday’s Israeli bombing of the Maghazi Palestinian refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
‘Congressman Walberg does not agree with putting our troops in danger. “He has great empathy for the innocent people of Gaza who have been thrust into this situation due to the attack carried out by Hamas that left 1,163 innocent civilians dead,” Rorke continued.
‘To this day, Hamas still holds hostages, including Americans. Hamas should surrender and return the hostages.’
Walberg’s comments have been described as “a clear call for genocide by a member of Congress.”
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said his comments should be “condemned by all Americans who value human life and international law.”
“To so casually ask for what would result in the slaughter of every human being in Gaza sends the chilling message that Palestinian lives have no value,” said CAIR executive director Dawud Walid. Detroit News.
“It is this dehumanization of the Palestinian people that has resulted in the continued killing and suffering that we see every day in Gaza and the West Bank.”
The UN food agency has said famine is “imminent” in northern Gaza, with two-thirds of the population experiencing catastrophic hunger.
Later at a town hall, held on March 25 in Dundee, Michigan, Walberg suggested that a nuclear bomb should also be used in Russia’s war with Ukraine to “quickly defeat Putin.”
An aerial photograph of Hiroshima, Japan, shortly after the ‘Little Boy’ atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945.
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, three days after dropping another on Hiroshima. Japan would surrender five days later, ending World War II.
He said that instead of using American money to provide aid to Ukraine for humanitarian purposes, it should be used “to eliminate Russia, if that’s what we want to do.”
Walberg has been criticized for his comments by his Democratic colleagues, with some calling for his immediate resignation.
Democratic Michigan state senator Darrin Camilleri tweeted how Walberg had been caught on video “supporting and calling for total genocide in Gaza.”
“He is an absolute disgrace and he needs to resign,” Camilleri said.
“Threatening to use, suggesting the use of, or, God forbid, using nuclear weapons, are unacceptable war tactics in the 21st century,” wrote Michigan Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens.
Walberg has been criticized for his comments by his Democratic colleagues, with some calling for his immediate resignation.
“As WJ Hennigan recently and accurately described for the NYT, the use of nuclear weapons creates hell on Earth.”
Michigan Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin also condemned his comments.
‘This is reprehensible for anyone, especially an elected official and someone who considers himself a man of faith. Rep. Walberg should retract his comments and try to put himself in the shoes of the many Michiganders who see themselves among Gaza’s victims,” ​​Slotkin said in a statement.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee said Walberg’s comments were horrifying and shocking.
‘It is an indefensible position to argue against humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza and at the same time call for a widespread massacre of the Palestinian people. “I couldn’t disagree more with these extreme and dangerous comments,” Kildee said in a statement.