GOP congressman walks back remarks on using nuclear weapons in Gaza

Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) clarified Sunday that his statement that Gaza should be “like Hiroshima or Nagasaki” was not literal, saying many people support the use of nuclear weapons. He retracted a statement that was interpreted as

Walberg made the comments during a town hall meeting with voters last week. Video goes viral recently. He said the United States “shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid” in the Israel-Hamas war and that Gaza “should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima.” Please finish it quickly. It should be the same in Ukraine.”

in a statement on sundayWalberg said the term was just a metaphor.

“As a child who grew up during the Cold War, the last thing I want to advocate for is the use of nuclear weapons,” he wrote. “In the short clip, I used metaphors to convey the need for both Israel and Ukraine to win the war as quickly as possible without harming American forces.

“My reasoning was the exact opposite of what was being reported. The sooner the war ends, the fewer innocent lives will be caught in the crossfire,” he continued. “The sooner Hamas and Russia surrender, the easier it will be to move forward. The use of this metaphor and the removal of context has distorted my message, but I fully support our allies.”

The nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, which ended the Pacific theater of World War II, killed between 130,000 and 230,000 people, according to various academic estimates. Modern nuclear weapons are about 80 times more powerful than the bombs of the 1940s.

The comments came as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, and nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes. Tens of thousands of people are facing hunger as the Israeli government continues to restrict humanitarian aid to Gaza, despite requests from the Biden administration and other foreign governments, according to the United Nations.

The Biden administration continues to press the Israeli government to allow more aid to Gaza, and last week the United Nations Security Council went a step further, urging a full ceasefire in the conflict. The US abstained from the cease-fire vote, widening the gap between the Biden administration and the Israeli government.