LAST November, Democrat Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the lone Palestinian-American in the US Congress, was officially censured for publicly expressing support for a ceasefire in Gaza. Of the 234 members of the US House who voted to silence her, 22 were her fellow Democrats.

US public, and even political opinion has since shifted, but firebrand progressive Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was still asked by reporters to defend her use of the term “genocide” after remarks she made on the floor of the US House of Representatives last month.

“If you want to know what an unfolding genocide looks like, open your eyes,” said Ocasio-Cortez in a March 22 speech. AOC, as she is universally known, has not yet faced the backlash launched at Tlaib last year.

Meanwhile, Republican US Representative Tim Walberg, speaking three days later at a private meeting for his Michigan constituents, responded to a question about US aid by suggesting the war in Gaza should be ended using an atomic bomb. 

“We shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid. It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick,” said Walberg, whose comments were filmed and posted by audience members. He added that the war in Ukraine could be ended in the same way. 

Since then, Walberg, whose state is home to a significant Palestinian-American population, has taken to social media to insist he had merely “used a metaphor.” So far, no official steps have been taken to condemn his remarks.

While fears have already been raised that Israel could use a nuclear weapon, so far even the Netanyahu government has condemned such a move. The country’s Heritage Minister, Amichai Eliyahu, was suspended indefinitely after he said in an interview last November that dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip was “one of the possibilities.” The comment was doubly embarrassing given that Israel has never officially admitted it possesses nuclear weapons.

Ocasio-Cortez noted in her speech that the famine in Gaza was being “intentionally precipitated by leaders in the Israeli government” and that the US must immediately “suspend the transfer of US weapons to the Israeli government in order to stop and prevent further atrocity.” 

She added that “honouring our alliances does not mean facilitating mass killing.”

Ocasio-Cortez recalled that Joe Biden, whom she called “a decent man,” had warned while serving as vice-president during the Obama administration that “preventing genocide is an achievable goal” but that “too often these efforts have come too late.” She urged the White House not to make the same mistake.

But Joseph Kishore, the 2024 US presidential candidate for the Socialist Equality Party, took a more critical position. “This colossal war crime has only been possible due to the active support and collaboration of the imperialist powers, above all the United States and the Biden administration,” Kishore said. 

“While Biden has made empty statements of concern about aid getting through, both the Democrats and Republicans voted to cut off funding for UNWRA, the main UN agency providing assistance to Palestinians amidst a developing famine,” he said.

Linda Pentz Gunter is a writer based in Takoma Park, Maryland.