Republican compares Palestinian civilians to Nazis in controversial speech on the House floor – shortly after wearing an IDF uniform in Congress

Florida Republican Rep. Brian Mast compared Palestinians to Nazis and said “very few” of them are innocent in a wild tirade in the House of Representatives.

Weeks ago, Mast wore his military uniform from his time in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) while working on Capitol Hill.

“As the only member to have served in both the U.S. Army and the Israeli Army, I will always stand with Israel,” he wrote on X.

Mast, who lost both his legs in an explosion while serving in Afghanistan, volunteered for the IDF in 2015.

“I would encourage the other side not to take the idea of ​​innocent Palestinian civilians so lightly. “I don’t think we would throw around the term innocent Nazi civilians so lightly,” the congressman said in a speech on Wednesday.

Florida Republican Rep. Brian Mast compared Palestinians to Nazis and said “very few” of them are innocent in a wild tirade on the floor of the House of Representatives

“I would encourage the other side not to take the idea of ​​innocent Palestinian civilians so lightly. “I don’t think we would throw around the term innocent Nazi civilians so lightly,” the congressman said in a speech on Wednesday.

“There are very few innocent Palestinian civilians. I have not seen the videos of the innocent Palestinian civilians who were out there trying to protect the Israelis, who were out there trying to stop the attacks,” Mast continued.

Since 2006, Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip and its two million inhabitants. Hamas won the election in a shock victory, winning 44 percent of the vote to Fatah’s 41 percent, and no elections have been held since. Rather than share power with Fatah, Hamas began killing Fatah members and the party largely fled to the West Bank.

The average age in Gaza is 18, meaning most residents were not eligible to vote in the last elections.

Yet there is a feeling among some that Palestinians have not done enough to rise up against their brutal regime.

“It is an entire nation that is responsible,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said last month. “This rhetoric about citizens not being aware, not being involved is absolutely untrue. They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime.”

Rep. Brian Mast spoke in the House of Representatives on Wednesday

Palestinians search for bodies and survivors among the rubble of the Jabalia refugee camp, a day after an airstrike hit the area in northern Gaza, November 1, 2023

A man carries the body of a child killed in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis, Gaza on Wednesday

A Palestinian man and a child injured in Israeli airstrikes arrive at the Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Wednesday

In a Hamas attack on October 7, 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 200 kidnapped, the IDF says. According to the Israeli Health Ministry, around 8,500 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli counter-offensive, although these figures have not been independently verified.

On Tuesday, an Israeli attack on a refugee camp in northern Gaza killed more than 50 civilians, according to Hamas. The IDF claimed the attack took out a senior Hamas commander and crumbled Hamas’s underground infrastructure.

Israel claims that Hamas is deliberately hiding among civilians and days ago warned Palestinians to move south.

Congress is currently grappling with Israeli emergency aid. The House of Representatives will vote Thursday on a $14 billion package that would be offset by cuts to IRS funding.

The Democratic-led Senate is unlikely to take this up, as Democrats argue that the aid should not be offset and tied to military financing from Ukraine and Taiwan.

A view from the ground operation of Israeli forces as the Israeli army’s air, sea and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip continue on the 26th day in Gaza City, Gaza on November 1