When asked whether he would call for a ceasefire in Gaza, he said that he would not. In fact, he added, “I want them to destroy every element of Hamas they can get their hands on. These people are vicious animals who did horrifying crimes.” When asked about the civilians, he said, “I blame Hamas. Hamas should stop hiding behind civilians, putting civilians in the way. They should stop building military installations under hospitals. They’re a hundred per cent to blame!”
Far be it from the incoming Secretary of State to realise that the hateful, racist remarks he is parroting are being used as evidence in the case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) charging Israel with genocide. The innumerable statements by Israeli government officials describing Palestinians as animals and justifying their murder by the hundreds on the pretext that Hamas uses them as human shields have been cited to establish the deliberate intent to eliminate the Palestinians in whole and in part.
The Israeli claim that Hamas built military headquarters underneath hospitals has long since been debunked, with video footage and other evidence broadcast by international media documenting the lie. Does the Florida senator even understand that he is committing to the dissemination of the falsehoods Israel concocts as a pretext to massacre the patients and medical staff inside? Does he not realise that words he reiterated provoked widespread horror and condemnation in global public opinion which could not help but to draw the comparison between the mentality and behaviour of Netanyahu’s far-right government and the Nazi regime that used the same dehumanising terms to describe Jews?
Sadly, what the incoming Secretary of State is telling us is that the US under Trump will move to the next phase in its support for Israel. Not only will it continue to back the Netanyahu government militarily, financially and politically, it will adopt the ugly racist rhetoric that many Israelis themselves have condemned.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 21 November, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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