Video shows Michigan congressman appear to call for nuclear bombs to be dropped on Gaza

A video surfaced Friday night that appears to show U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, suggesting that nuclear weapons be dropped on Gaza. In the video, Walberg, while being asked about the Israeli-Hamas conflict suggested nuclear weapons be used in an attempt to "Get it over quick."

Walberg wasn't pictured in the video. But a voice that clearly sounded like his responded to a constituent's question asking why the U.S. − as President Joe Biden proposed in his State of the Union address this month − would "be spending our money" to build a temporary port off the Gaza coast to move humanitarian aid into that region. Walberg said he disagreed with doing so and that Israel was perhaps America's greatest ally in the world.

"We shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid," Walberg said. "It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick." The 47-second video ended immediately after that, so no other comments were captured. 

Congress' only Palestinian American member, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, on Saturday sharply denounced the comments from Walberg, who while being asked about the Israeli-Hamas conflict suggested nuclear weapons be used in an attempt to "Get it over quick."

“It’s disgusting and disgraceful that anyone, let alone a U.S. congressperson, would call for the genocide of Palestinians with nuclear weapons," said Tlaib, who has been insisting for months that the Biden administration demand an Israeli ceasefire against Hamas in Gaza.

Tlaib was reacting to a video posted Friday night on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, by someone going by "Jill #DemCastMI," which according to a script accompanying the video was from a town hall meeting held by Walberg on March 25 in Dundee. 

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In World War II, the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on those two Japanese cities in an effort to bring to an end a conflict that would ultimately cost some 15 million lives on the battlefield worldwide. More than 200,000 people were killed or wounded in the two bombings. 

The Free Press spoke with the person who took the video, Pat Ulanowicz of Adrian, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Party for Michigan's 5th Congressional District, the district represented by Walberg. Ulanowicz said the video of the entire town hall was about an hour long and that the only reason he didn't video Walberg speaking directly was because he didn't want to hold up his hand for that period of time. He also said the video, taken on his cell phone, was edited by someone else who added the script before it was posted on X.

Walberg's spokesman, Mike Rorke, did not dispute that the video was genuine, though he suggested it was being taken out of context. 

"His answer was in direct response to a question about American troops being deployed into Gaza to build a port to send aid," Rorke said in an email to the Free Press. "Congressman Walberg vehemently disagrees with putting our troops in harm’s way. He has great empathy for the innocent people in Gaza who have been thrust into this situation due to the attack carried out by Hamas leaving 1,163 innocent civilians dead. To this day, Hamas still is holding hostages, including Americans. Hamas should surrender and return the hostages."

Rorke continued: "During his (Walberg's) community gathering, he clearly uses a metaphor to support Israel’s swift elimination of Hamas, which is the best chance to save lives long-term and the only hope at achieving a permanent peace in the region."

The video, however, showed Walberg responding to a constituent's question not about troops but about the cost of building a port and included the congressman saying no money should be spent on humanitarian aid. The statement also doesn't take into account that the metaphor employed by Walberg, if taken literally, would almost certainly result in enormous numbers of civilian casualties.

Walberg had been scheduled to have a "community gathering" in Dundee on March 25. DemCast, meanwhile, characterizes itself as "a digital movement" that, in order "to combat the prolific disinformation that is spreading online," asks "everyday social media users to share the truth and calls-to-action in their own social media feeds."

Tlaib − who was censured by the House in November for her defense of the phrase "from the river to the sea," which many find an antisemitic call for Israel's destruction but which she argued is a demand for Palestinians to have a homeland in which they can live peacefully − said it was unfathomable that Walberg would "seek to repeat the unimaginable horrors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima."

"Rep. Walberg is not the first member of Congress to use despicable, violent, dehumanizing language to describe their genocidal intent in Gaza and will not be the last," she said. "This kind of anti-Palestinian — and anti-Asian —hate must be defeated.”

Tlaib wasn't the only Democrat to denounce the purported remarks. State Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, on X called on Walberg to resign because of the remarks. 

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Walberg, a Christian pastor, has served in the House from 2007-9 and again since 2011, making him the longest-serving current member of the state's House delegation. His district in south-central Michigan is one of the most conservative in the state.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, who is Jewish, also decried the statements attributed to Walberg.

“This is a reprehensible thing for anyone to suggest, especially an elected official and someone who considers himself a man of faith," said Slotkin, who is also running for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat this year. "Rep. Walberg should take back his comments and try to put himself in the shoes of the many Michiganders who see themselves in the casualties in Gaza.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, characterized Walberg's comments as "horrific and shocking."

"It is an indefensible position to argue against humanitarian relief for the people of Gaza while also calling for the wholesale massacre of the Palestinian people," he said. "I could not disagree more with these extreme and dangerous comments."

Michigan has been a central player in the calls for an Israeli ceasefire due to the large Arab American and Muslim communities in southeastern Michigan, especially in and around Dearborn.

The Gaza Health Ministry has estimated some 32,000 Palestinians have been killed following the counterattack by Israeli forces after Hamas, which runs Gaza, launched an attack on southern Israel last October. Biden has urged Israel to make a proportional response that limits civilian casualties but hasn't demanded a ceasefire.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan congressman called for nuclear bombs to be dropped on Gaza