US Senator Lindsey Graham suggests Israel should nuke Gaza
Lindsey Graham
In a baffling statement, United States Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) compared the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza to the US’ decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan during World War II and told Israel to “do whatever” to finish the military operation it has launched in the blockaded enclave.
‘Right decision’
In a recent interview, Graham appeared to justify Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza as well as the assault on Gaza's city of Rafah, which US President Joe Biden had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against.
The Republican senator also compared the ongoing war in Gaza to America’s war with Japan nearly eight decades ago while suggesting that Israel would be right to flatten the Gaza Strip, home to some 2.2 million Palestinians because the US did so too in 1945 when it dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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“So when we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by bombing Hiroshima, Nagasaki, with nuclear weapons,” said Graham, in an interview with NBC, on Sunday (May 12).
He also went on to call the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki “the right decision” by the US. The decision in question killed hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Japanese civilians, due to the blasts and the radiation that followed.
“Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they can’t afford to lose and work with them to minimise casualties,” the Republican senator added. The interviewer, Kristin Welker, attempted to stop him, but he talked over her.
“Why is it okay for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war. Why was it okay to do that? I thought it was okay?” said Graham.
He added, “To Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state. Whatever you have to do.”
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Graham was also among the Republicans who criticised the Biden administration’s decision to hold back delivery of high payload munitions to Israel, earlier this month, ahead of an Israeli offensive in Rafah.
Hamas responds to remarks
Hamas released a statement calling the Republican senator’s remarks “shocking,” adding that it shows the “deep moral decline and the genocide and colonialism mentality that he harbors,” according to Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu Ajansı.
(With inputs from agencies)