Michigan Congressman Says Gaza Should Be Handled ‘Like Nagasaki and Hiroshima,’ Drawing Strong Backlash

A Republican congressman from Michigan appeared to suggest that nuclear weapons should be dropped on Gaza, drawing strong condemnation.

"It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick," Rep. Tim Walberg, who was not seen on camera, reportedly said in video circulating on X.

The video is dated March 25, when Walberg's public calendar indicates he had a "community gathering to meet with constituents" in Dundee, about 50 miles southwest of Detroit.

A spokesperson for the congressman did not deny that Walberg made the comment, instead seeking to clarify and expand on it in a statement to the Detroit News. Mike Rorke said the congressman was responding to a question about American troops being deployed into Gaza.

"Congressman Walberg vehemently disagrees with putting our troops in harm's way," he told the paper. "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."

Rorke said Walberg was using "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 Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Walberg's comments.

"This clear call to genocide by a sitting member of Congress should be condemned by all Americans who value human life and international law," CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid said in a statement.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, who also represents a Michigan district, criticized Walberg's comment.

"Threatening to use, suggesting the use of, or, God forbid actually using nuclear weapons, are unacceptable tactics of war in the 21st Century," she said in an X post.

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Michigan, Gaza