A US Republican lawmaker has sparked outrage for making a “chilling call for genocide” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
During a debate in the state legislature about calling for an end to Israel’s brutal war on the Gaza Strip, the Democratic Florida state representative Angie Nixon asked, “We are at 10,000 dead Palestinians. How many will be enough?”
Republican state lawmaker Michelle Salzman replied, “All of them.”
Nixon expressed shock by hearing the comment, saying, “One of my colleagues just said, ‘All of them.’ Wow.”
The Florida state House later voted 104-2 to reject Nixon’s resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Florida) vehemently denounced Salzman’s remark as a “chilling call for genocide.”
The civil rights group said in a statement that Salzman’s remark was a “direct result of decades of dehumanization of the Palestinian people by advocates of Israeli apartheid and their eager enablers in government and the media.”
“Salzman’s words are incredibly dangerous and dehumanizing to Palestinians here at home and under the Israeli occupation,” said the CAIR-Florida executive director, Imam Abdullah Jaber, adding that Salzman “must face her party’s censure and a public repudiation from all Florida legislators.”
The Florida Democratic Party condemned Salzman’s “reckless” comment in a statement Friday night, saying, “No elected official in any chamber in the United States of America should advocate for the death of civilians.”
The United States is under fire for blocking a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip — one of the most densely populated places in the world — which has been under relentless air and ground attacks by Israeli forces since October 7.
Tel Aviv waged its war on the besieged territory after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm into the occupied territories in response to the occupying regime’s intensified crimes against the Palestinian people.
More than 11,078 people, including over 4,500 children, have so far been killed in the attacks, according to health authorities.
