GOP lawmaker ripped for 'horrifyingly' comparing 'Palestinian civilians to Nazis'

02 November 2023

Journalist Will Saletan, in a scathing article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on November 1, emphasized that "humanitarian aid to Gaza" and military support for Israel are not mutually exclusive. Saletan made it clear that he "strongly" supported the "use of force" against Hamas but was vehemently critical of Republicans who "rationalizing…. bigotry and cruelty" against non-Hamas Palestinian residents of Gaza.

Saletan called out GOP presidential candidates, including former Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and 2024 frontrunner Donald Trump. But in a different early November article, The New Republic's Tori Otten zeros in on a Republican who isn't running for president: Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, who Otten slams for "horrifyingly" comparing "Palestinian civilians to Nazis" and implying "that they are all guilty for Hamas' atrocities."

Speaking on the House floor during a debate on the Hamas International Financing Prevention Act, Mast failed to draw a distinction between Hamas terrorists and non-Hamas Palestinians living in Gaza when he said, "I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of 'innocent Palestinian civilians'….. I don't think we would so lightly throw around the term 'innocent Nazi civilians' during World War 2."

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Otten argues that although "Mast's comments" were "horrific," they "should come as no surprise."

"When the Foreign Affairs Committee began debating the bill two weeks ago," Otten explains, "Mast revealed he had amended the measure to strip out a humanitarian provision that would have allowed aid into Gaza. That aid would include food, medicine, and medical devices for civilians. Mast said his goal was to deliberately slow the flow of aid into Palestine."

Tori Otten's full article for The New Republic is available at this link.

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