US Congressman Randy Fine suggests Palestinians should ‘be destroyed first’

United States Congressman Randy Fine, an state of President Donald Trump, has suggested that the Palestinian radical should beryllium destroyed, boasting that helium is not acrophobic to beryllium called Islamophobic.

During a legislature proceeding connected Tuesday, Fine – who has a agelong past of Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian statements – cited the story that Israelis are banned from going to immoderate areas successful the occupied West Bank owed to “apartheid” imposed against Israeli settlers.

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In reality, the Israeli military, which controls the Palestinian territory, has signs informing settlers against entering Palestinian towns for information concerns.

But settlers, often equipped and protected by Israeli forces, regularly tempest and ransack Palestinian villages. At slightest two US citizens person been killed successful settler attacks this year.

“When you are dealing with a radical of radical who continually telephone for the demolition of the State of Israel, who are OK with signs that say, ‘Jews whitethorn not participate these areas’, we privation to beryllium escaped of Jews, however bash you marque bid with that?” Fine asked Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, during the hearing.

“How bash you make a semipermanent solution with that? Or is determination different mode that we person to go?”

Klein – who antecedently utilized the slur “filthy Arab” and called for profiling Muslims successful the US – said Islam needs to acquisition a “reformation” and judge “Israel arsenic a Jewish state”.

“Nobody wants to speech astir it. They’re acrophobic of being called Islamophobic,” Klein said.

Fine interrupted, saying, “I’m not acrophobic of that.”

The Republican US congressman, who represents a territory successful the authorities of Florida, past doubled down connected his volatile rhetoric.

“I don’t cognize however you marque bid with those who question your destruction. I deliberation you destruct them first,” helium said.

A United Nations normal defines genocide arsenic “acts committed with intent to destroy, successful full oregon successful part, a national, ethnic, racial, oregon spiritual group, including killing, causing harm, preventing births, forcibly transferring children, and imposing beingness conditions to origin destruction”.

Israel’s genocidal warfare connected Gaza, which has killed astir 70,400 Palestinians and turned astir the full territory into rubble, aimed to destruct the Palestinian people, starring rights groups and UN investigators person said.

Abed Ayoub, enforcement manager astatine the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), slammed Fine, calling him “the Temu mentation of Benjamin Netanyahu,” referring to the discount online retailer and the Israeli premier minister.

“He’s hated by Republicans and Democrats for his argumentation of Israel first, Israel second, Israel 3rd — Americans nowhere. He’s fundamentally a overseas spokesperson astatine this point, and not adjacent a bully one,” Ayoub told Al Jazeera.

“His unhinged, genocidal rhetoric shows his desperation arsenic helium tries to appease his bosses backmost successful Tel Aviv.”

This isn’t the archetypal clip that Fine – who was elected to Congress earlier this twelvemonth with the endorsements of Trump and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) – has made inflammatory statements astir Palestinians.

In 2021, Fine commented connected a societal station with a photograph of a dormant Palestinian kid asking him however helium sleeps astatine nighttime with: “Quite well, actually! Thanks for the pic!”

Earlier this year, helium wrote “starve away” successful effect to a study astir the deadly hunger successful Gaza owed to the Israeli blockade.

Last year, Fine lauded the sidesplitting of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a US activistic who was fatally changeable by the Israeli subject successful the occupied West Bank.

“Throw rocks, get shot. One little #MuslimTerror ist. #FireAway,” Fine wrote successful a societal media post.

He has besides antecedently argued that fearfulness of Muslims is warranted. “While galore Muslims are not terrorists, they are the radicals, not the mainstream,” helium wrote successful a station connected X successful 2023. “Now is the clip to talk truth, not bathe successful governmental correctness that volition termination us.”

Despite specified comments, Fine – who refers to himself arsenic the Hebrew Hammer – has been a regular impermanent connected immoderate mainstream media outlets, including CNN.

Hatem Abudayyeh, nationalist seat of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), called retired Republicans successful Congress and Trump for failing to denounce Fine.

“It’s 1 happening to work disgusting, racist, anti-Palestinian, anti-Black, and xenophobic vile connected societal media 24-7, but we’re not expected to perceive it from existent elected officials successful this country,” Abudayyeh told Al Jazeera.

“This is what the Trump epoch has brought to the governmental arena: hateful code from hateful radical similar Randy Fine, a sickening Zionist apologist for genocide who is allowed to spew his racism without condemnation from the remainder of his enactment oregon his president.”