A Republican congressman from Michigan openly pondered the destruction of the Gaza Strip in a town hall last week, telling voters that “it should be like Nagasaki or Hiroshima.”
“Let's get this done quickly,” U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg said, according to one report. Video that appeared on the internet From an event held in Dundee, Michigan on March 25th.
His comments, in which he cited the United States' dropping of atomic bombs on Japan during World War II while discussing his opposition to U.S. humanitarian aid to Gaza, drew immediate condemnation, including at least one call for his resignation. is. He said his remarks were taken out of context and that his video only shows part of his response.
Justin Amash, a former Michigan House Republican colleague who is Palestinian-American, condemned Walberg's comments. write to x They “exhibit complete indifference to human suffering,” he said on Saturday.
“The people of Gaza are our fellow human beings, many of whom are children trapped in horrific conditions beyond their control,” Amash wrote. “His suggestion that hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians, including my relatives who have taken refuge in the Orthodox Church, should be wiped out is reprehensible and indefensible. .”
Amash was the only sitting Republican to support Trump's initial impeachment, but he left the party in 2019 in the face of Trump's attacks. Amash is running in the Republican primary for Michigan State Senate.
In the post of X On Sunday morning, Wahlberg, 72, a former pastor and longtime congressman representing southern Michigan, sought to correct his remarks and accused his critics of distorting them.
“As a child who grew up during the Cold War, the last thing I want to advocate for is the use of nuclear weapons,” he wrote. “In the short clip, I used metaphors to convey the need for both Israel and Ukraine to win the war as quickly as possible without harming U.S. forces.”
Walberg's office also provided audio recordings and transcripts of the exchange that led to his remarks. He was asked why the United States was spending money to build a pier to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“Not a penny should be spent on humanitarian aid,” he said, according to the recording. “It should be like Nagasaki or Hiroshima. Get it done quickly. It should be the same in Ukraine. Get rid of Putin quickly. That's what we want, not 80 percent of the money going to Ukraine goes to humanitarian purposes. If so, 80 percent or even 100 percent should be used to annihilate the Russian army.