Prominent US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has denied that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and said that God will curse the US if they pull their support for Tel Aviv.
At at a South Carolina Republican Party meeting on Wednesday, Graham said: “If America pulls the plug on Israel, God will pull the plug on us”.
He went on to state: “Israel is not the bad guys. They’re the good guys. The bad guys are the radical Islamists who would kill everybody in this room if they could”.
The comments come amid Israel’s ongoing starvation of Gaza and its indiscriminate war on the territory, which kills scores of people every day.
The 22 month war has caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and soaring malnutrition rates due to Israel preventing the entry of aid.
The war has been determined to be a genocide by leading rights groups, including Amnesty International.
However, Graham went on to say: “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they could. They have the capability to do that. They choose not to. Hamas, they would commit genocide in 30 seconds. They just can’t.”
The controversial remarks were met with fierce backlash, particularly by fellow Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who responded to the comments, saying he had said the “quiet part out loud”.
“That is quite a statement and is an acknowledgment that nuclear-armed Israel is more than capable of defending themselves, by themselves, and not only defeating their enemies, but completely wiping them out,” she continued in a post on X.
She hit out further, writing: “I am also completely amazed that Israel and their aligned groups like AIPAC (who is breaking the law by not registering under FARA) takes Members of Congress, and Conservative social media influencers (like TPUSA) on all expenses paid trips to Israel, and welcomes a steady stream of conservative media outlets in order to keep the funding stream going”.
She further raised awareness on Israel’s ongoing starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, where over 239 people have died as a result of malnutrition.
“Funding and blindly supporting an ally who is starving children is not going to bring God’s favour on America, as a matter of fact, I’ll argue it will instead bring God’s wrath,” Greene wrote.
The latest development comes amid growing worldwide outrage at the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the high civilian toll.
The UN has raised the alarm over the situation in Gaza, saying that around 13,000 children have been admitted to treatment centres in the devastated enclave after suffering from acute malnutrition.
The UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA also said cases where people have to be hospitalised for malnutrition are becoming increasingly challenging, noting that the 129 cases with complications needed hospitalisation last month.
Around 300 to 350 homes have also been levelled in a matter of days in the northeast of Gaza City, as Israel advances its plan to expand the occupation.
Over 100 rights groups accused Israel of continuing to obstruct vital aid from entering the besieged enclave, adding that the amount of aid trickling into the Strip is not enough to end starvation and noting that tonnes of supplies continue to be stranded in warehouses as Israel blocks aid.
