Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene decries ‘genocide' in Gaza
In a social media post this week, Greene condemned the dire situation in Gaza, where an Israeli-imposed hunger crisis has killed more than 120 people.
She also criticised her colleague Randy Fine, who has openly celebrated the starvation and bombardment of Palestinians.
'It's the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza,' Greene wrote.
Her words echo assessments from leading human rights groups and United Nations experts, describing Israel's actions in Gaza as consistent with genocide.
Genocide — defined by the United Nations as 'acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group' — is seen as one of the gravest war crimes.
So far, the Israeli military has killed more than 60,000 people and turned most of Gaza into rubble.
But only a handful of US lawmakers have accused Israel of genocide, making Greene's comments all the more remarkable.
In the US, the legislators most vocal against Israel's war in Gaza have largely represented the political left. Greene, however, is one of the most prominent faces of Trump's right-wing Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
Still, there has been increasing international pressure to denounce the Israeli blockade on Gaza, which has limited the entry of basic supplies into the territory.
In recent days, images of emaciated Palestinian children and evidence of mass hunger in Gaza have sharpened the criticism against Israel in US politics.
Last week, Congressman John Garamendi, a Democrat, also suggested that Israel's policies amount to genocide.
'It's impossible to look at the starvation caused by Israel's dangerous and willful failure to enable humanitarian aid and not see a genocide being committed against the people of Palestine,' said Garamendi.
The US provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, as well as diplomatic backing at international forums. The Trump administration has nevertheless been reluctant to criticise Israel over its atrocities and blockade in Gaza.
Amid that anger, Fine — another Trump ally — sparked outrage last week when he appeared to endorse Israel's starvation campaign in Gaza while also dismissing it as 'Muslim terror propaganda'.
'Release the hostages,' he wrote in a social media post earlier this week. 'Until then, starve away.'
Fine, who was elected to Congress earlier this year with the endorsement of Trump and the support of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has a history of Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian positions.
For example, in 2021, when a commenter sent Fine a photo of a dead Palestinian child and asked him how he sleeps at night, Fine offered a glib response: 'Quite well, actually! Thanks for the pic!'
In September of last year, he also appeared to praise the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a US activist who was fatally shot by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank.
'Throw rocks, get shot. One less #MuslimTerror ist. #FireAway,' Fine wrote in a social media post at the time.
Earlier in July, top Democrats in the House of Representatives called Fine 'unhinged, racist and Islamophobic' over a social media attack on Muslim American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Fine had responded to Omar's criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, DC, by saying: 'I'm sure it is difficult to see us welcome the killer of so many of your fellow Muslim terrorists.'
But the Republican congressman's recent comments on the starvation in Gaza appear to have gone too far, even for some of Israel's staunchest supporters.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC), a pro-Israel advocacy group, slammed Fine's remarks last week.
'Implying that starvation is a legitimate tactic is unacceptable,' AJC wrote in response to Fine's post.
'All those in need of humanitarian aid should receive it promptly and safely. Our leaders must focus less on scoring political points and more on doing their jobs.'
For her part, Greene warned that Fine's 'awful statement will actually cause more anti-Semitism'.
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