Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) is visiting Israel during Congress’s August recess and posted on X on Tuesday that he met with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Both Fine and Smotrich have a history of calling for violence against Palestinians and are openly in support of starving Palestinian civilians.
“It was an honor to meet with Israeli Finance Minister [Bezalel] Smotrich today and to talk about our mutual fight to save Western Civilization,” Fine said. “I look forward to working together.”
The meeting comes about two weeks after Fine said that Palestinians in Gaza should “starve away” in a post that was a response to the news that 15 Palestinians had died of malnutrition due to the Israeli siege. At the same time, Fine also claimed the story was fake, even though many of the deaths were corroborated by photos and interviews with family members.
Smotrich has been one of the leading proponents in the Israeli government for the starvation blockade on Gaza. Last year, he said that it may be “moral and justified” for Israel to starve two million Palestinians to death, but that the world won’t let Israel do that.
“We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned,” he said.
Smotrich is also openly in favor of completely destroying Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of its Palestinian population. Despite his views, he still lands meetings with US politicians. Besides meeting with Fine on Tuesday, Smotrich also hosted Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the daughter of US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
“I met today with Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders during her visit to Israel,” Smotrich wrote on X. “The meeting focused on strengthening ties and potential collaborations in the fields of economy, security, and agriculture, as well as forming a moral front in support of the State of Israel.”
