A Republican congressman is not walking back recent comments he made seemingly comparing Gaza to the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
At a March 25 town hall in Dundee, Michigan, Republican Rep. Tim Walberg argued against the Biden administration delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, which remains under an Israeli blockade, via U.S. military cargo ships. In order to transport the aid to land, the U.S. built a temporary pier off the coast of the besieged enclave.
"You're putting our troops in harms way," Walberg said of President Biden.
The GOP congressman then followed that up by calling for a cessation to humanitarian aid, arguing that helping to feed civilians only prolongs the war.
“I don’t think any of our aid that goes to Israel to support our greatest ally, arguably maybe in the world, to defeat Hamas and Iran and Russia, and probably North Korea’s in there, and China, too, with them helping Hamas — we shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid. It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick. The same should be in Ukraine. Defeat Putin quick.”
On Sunday, the congressman released a statement attempting to clarify his comparison.
“As a child who grew up in the Cold War Era, the last thing I’d advocate for would be the use of nuclear weapons. In a shortened clip, I used a metaphor to convey the need for both Israel and Ukraine to win their wars as swiftly as possible, without putting American troops in harm’s way,” Walberg said. “My reasoning was the exact opposite of what is being reported: the quicker these wars end, the fewer innocent lives will be caught in the crossfire. … The use of this metaphor, along with the removal of context, distorted my message, but I fully stand by these beliefs and stand by our allies.”
When Walberg traveled to Uganda last year to urge the African nation to "stand firm" on "death to gays" law, he said, “I expect some pushback, but I’m not gonna give in to them.”
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