Several members of the antiwar activist organization recently confronted Florida Congressman Brian Mast about the Palestinian babies the Israeli military is slaughtering in Gaza. Mast, who previously served in the Israeli Defense Forces, told the activists that the Palestinian babies were not innocent.
Medea Benjamin, Code Pink’s co-founder, asked Mast the following question: “You haven’t seen the pictures of all the babies being killed?”
The Florida Congressman responded, “These are not innocent Palestinian civilians across the world.”
Another activist asked Mast about the 500,000 Palestinians who are being subject to starvation conditions in the Gaza Strip. “The half a million people starving to death are people that should go out there and put a government in place that doesn’t go out there and attack Israel on a daily basis,” Mast stated.
Mast was also questioned about the massive amount of destruction the Israeli military has brought about in Gaza, which is on par with the Allies’ massive bombing campaigns in World War II.
“They’ve destroyed more infrastructure in Gaza than they did in Dresden,” one activist noted about the infamous bombing campaign in Dresden, Germany in the final months of World War II. Mast responded, “And there’s more infrastructure that needs to be destroyed.”
Mast appealed to World War II tropes to justify Israel’s punitive campaign in Gaza, which has resulted in the slaughter of over 27,000 Palestinians. “I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians, as frequently said,” he proclaimed on the floor of the US House back in November. “I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ during World War II.”
In October, Mast donned his IDF uniform on Capitol Hill to demonstrate his dual loyalty to the public. “As the only member to serve with both the United States Army and the Israel Defense Forces, I will always stand with Israel,” he posted on X at the time.
Mast was first elected in 2016 and has been a staunch supporter of Israel and other neoconservative hobby horses. He’s part of the Israel First wing of the GOP, which still dominates the party.
Mast is the consummate example of a treasonous politician who prefers serving the interests of a parasitic foreign country as opposed to standing up for the American people.
If Congress is to move in an America First direction, the likes of Mast must be relieved of the burden of holding higher office. Politicians like Mast are the ones who perpetuate the neocon/Zionist status quo that dominates foreign policy decisionmaking.