US congressman says Gaza “should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima”

A Republican congressman is being heavily criticized on social media and by human rights organizations after suggesting a destructive US approach to the Gaza Strip that “should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima”.

Tim Walberg, a Republican from Michigan, made the comparison during an event on March 25 in Dundee, in his home state, after a voter asked him about building a port in Gaza to bring in humanitarian aid. An activist released a video on social media where it is possible to hear Walberg defending unconditional support for Israel, as well as the destruction of the occupied Palestinian territory.

“We shouldn’t spend a cent on humanitarian aid. It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Put an end to this quickly,” he said, also pointing the finger at countries like North Korea and China as financiers of Hamas (something the countries categorically denied).

The conservative congressman and evangelical pastor’s comments, evoking the atomic bombs used by the United States during the Second World War in Japan, earned him votes of condemnation from several organizations and colleagues in the North American Congress, and some calls for his resignation.

Justin Amash, a former Republican congressman from Michigan of Palestinian descent, said Walberg’s opinion “reveals complete indifference to human suffering.”

“The people of Gaza are human beings just like us – many of them are children trapped in horrific circumstances, far from their individual control. To suggest that hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians be obliterated, including my own family members housed in an Orthodox Christian church, is reprehensible and indefensible,” Amash said. New York Times.

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), repudiated Walberg’s statements, which “should be condemned by all Americans who value human life and international law.”

“Casually calling for what would be the death of every human being in Gaza sends a chilling message to Palestinians that their lives are worthless,” added Walid, leader of the largest Muslim rights organization in the US, in a statement. communicated.

On Sunday, six days after participating in the event, the congressman defended himself, accusing critics of distorting his words and taking them out of context. “As a child who grew up in the Cold War, the last thing I call for is the use of nuclear weapons,” he assured.

Walberg further explained that he used a “metaphor to convey the need for Israel and Ukraine to both win their wars as quickly as possible, without endangering American troops.”

Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip have already killed more than 33,000 people, including more than 12,000 children and more than 8,400 women, in addition to causing a serious humanitarian crisis in the small Palestinian enclave. The attacks followed the Hamas attack on October 7th, in which around 1,200 people were killed, and more than 100 people are still being held hostage by the organization.