US Rep. Mast, a Former IDF Soldier, Says Palestinian Babies Killed in Gaza Are Not ‘Innocent Civilians’

Mast made the comments when confronted by activists from Code Pink

Members of the antiwar activist group Code Pink confronted Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces, about the Palestinian babies being killed by Israel in Gaza. Mast told them the babies were not innocent.

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, asked Mast, “You haven’t seen the pictures of all the babies being killed?”

Mast replied, “These are not innocent Palestinian civilians across the world.”

Another activist asked about the 500,000 Palestinians who are starving 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 said.

The congressman was also asked about the sheer destruction caused by the Israeli bombing campaign, which is comparable to the Allied strategic bombing campaigns of World War II.

“They’ve destroyed more infrastructure in Gaza than they did in Dresden,” during World War II, one activist said. Mast replied, “And there’s more infrastructure that needs to be destroyed.”

Mast previously invoked World War II to justify Israel’s slaughter in Gaza, which has killed 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 said on the House floor in November. “I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ during World War II.”

In October, Mast wore his IDF uniform on Capitol Hill. “As the only member to serve with both the United States Army and the Israel Defense Forces, I will always stand with Israel,” he wrote on X at the time.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.