This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Feb. 21, 2024. It is shared here with permission under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee said Tuesday that “we should kill ’em all” after an activist pressed him to respond to atrocities that the U.S.-backed Israeli military is committing against Palestinians in Gaza, including children.
“I’ve seen the footage of shredded children’s bodies,” the activist told Ogles. “That’s my taxpayer dollars that are going to bomb those kids.”
“You know what? So, I think we should kill ’em all, if that makes you feel better,” Ogles responded. “Hamas and the Palestinians have been attacking Israel for 20 years. It’s time to pay the piper.”
Watch the exchange:
Ogles, a vocal supporter of arming Israel unconditionally, was among the 212 House Republicans who voted in November to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on the false grounds that she “justified” the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7.
Following the Tennessee Republican’s call for the mass killing of Palestinians, Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid asked, “Any congressional resolutions to censure or expel Ogles?”
Video footage of Ogles’ remarks was posted to social media hours after the Biden administration vetoed a cease-fire resolution at the United Nations Security Council—the third time since October 7 that the U.S. has wielded its veto power to block a measure calling for an immediate end to the bloodshed in Gaza.
Hours before the latest U.S. veto, an official with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that Gaza is “poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths” as malnutrition and disease spread rapidly across the enclave.
Israeli forces have killed more than 12,400 children in Gaza since October 7, according to the territory’s health officials. More than 600,000 children are currently trapped in Rafah, which Israeli forces are preparing to invade. On average, more than 10 Gaza children per day have lost one or both of their legs since October, according to Save the Children.
“After four months of relentless violence, we are running out of words to describe what children and families in Gaza are going through, as well as the tools to respond in any adequate way,” Jason Lee, Save the Children’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement Tuesday. “The scale of death and destruction is astronomical.”
“Children are being failed by the adults who should be protecting them,” Lee added. “It’s beyond time for the adults in the room to step up their responsibilities and legal obligations to children caught up in a conflict they played no part in, who just want to be able to live.”
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