Republican Rep. Tim Walberg suggests Gaza should be treated 'like Nagasaki and Hiroshima'

Michigan Republican Rep. Tim Walberg said this week that the conflict in Gaza must end quickly “like Nagasaki and Hiroshima,” and the United States should refrain from sending any humanitarian aid to the besieged Strip as Israel's war with Hamas continues. .

“We should not spend a dime on humanitarian aid,” Walberg said at a meeting in Dundee, Michigan, on Monday. video Which was circulated on social networking sites.

He continued: “It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. End it quickly,” referring to the Japanese cities on which the United States dropped atomic bombs during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of people died.

Walberg said in a statement that he “used a metaphor to express the need for both Israel and Ukraine to win their wars as quickly as possible, without putting American forces in harm's way.”

He added: “My thinking was the opposite of what is being circulated: the sooner these wars end, the fewer innocent victims there will be in the exchange of fire.”

According to Wahlberg General calendarHe was due to attend a community gathering in Dundee on Monday 25 March at 10am

Wahlberg made this comment in response to a question from an audience member who asked, “Why are we spending our money to build a port for them?”

The question appears to refer to the Biden administration's plan to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza via a floating dock. The United Nations and other agencies have warned that the Strip is on the brink of famine amid the five-month-long Israeli offensive and a lack of adequate supplies flowing into Gaza.

“This is Joe Biden's reason: We need to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. I don't think we should,” Wahlberg responded.

More than 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war on Hamas, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The military campaign follows the armed group's October 7 attack in the country, which killed nearly 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage. It is believed that more than 100 people are still detained in Gaza.

A number of Walberg's political colleagues in Michigan quickly criticized his remarks.

Democratic Representative Haley Stevens said in A Share on X He added, “Threatening to use nuclear weapons, or suggesting their use, or, God forbid, actually using them, are unacceptable war tactics in the twenty-first century.”

Former Representative Justin Amash, an American Republican of Palestinian origin running for Senate, He said in another Wahlberg's comments “demonstrate an utter indifference to human suffering,” adding, “His suggestion that hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians, including my relatives who are sheltering in an Orthodox Christian church, should be wiped out is reprehensible and indefensible.”

State Sen. Darren Camilleri, Democrat, He called for Wahlberg to resignAnd Democratic Representative Dan Kildee Wahlberg's comments said It was “shocking and shocking” and his position was “indefensible”.

Democratic Representative Hillary Scholten said: “My colleague’s comments are reckless and wrong.” He said on X. She called Wahlberg's comments “corrupt” and… urge He should “retract and apologise.”

Politicians and organizations outside Michigan also objected to Wahlberg's comments.

Rep. Chris DiLuzio, Democrat of Pennsylvania, Called comments “Horrific, inhumane and barbaric” and Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J. He said The statements were “disgraceful” and “shameful.”

“This clarion call for genocide by a member of Congress should be condemned by all Americans who value human life and international law,” Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR-MI — an Islamic civil rights group — said in a statement. “To so casually call for what would lead to the death of every human being in Gaza sends a chilling message that Palestinian lives have no value.”