US Congressman takes back statement about Gaza as ‘Hiroshima’

The American hate politician now claims his words were taken out of context.

Tim Walberg, a former pastor from Michigan, made the statement last week during a meeting with voters in his district. He was responding to a question about US plans to build a pier at Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to people there, who the UN says are at high risk of famine.

“We should not spend a cent on humanitarian aid,” he said. “Finish it quickly. The same goes for Ukraine.” He added: “It should be like Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” referring to the only two cities hit by nuclear weapons, where up to about 226,000 people, mostly civilians, died in 1945 after being bombed by the US.

His statement sparked outrage, especially among the Arab-American community in Detroit, Michigan’s largest city. Walberg tried to take back his statement on Sunday. He wrote that as a child growing up in the Cold War era, he would never advocate the use of nuclear weapons.

He said he was using a metaphor to convey the need for both Israel and Ukraine to win their wars as quickly as possible without endangering American troops. “The sooner these wars end, the fewer innocent lives will be caught in the crossfire,” he added.

US-backed Israel has been carrying out a deadly offensive on Gaza since October. Some 32,600 Palestinians have been killed and 76,000 others injured, mainly children and women. Nearly nine in ten residents are displaced and suffer from a lack of food, water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In a preliminary ruling in January, the World Court ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and to stop obstructing international humanitarian aid to suffering civilians in Gaza.

In a new ruling on Thursday, the ICJ again ordered Israel to allow emergency aid facilities to Gazans.