Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) suggested that South Africa should “sit out” its international case against Israel over alleged genocide.
Fetterman addressed the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center on Wednesday on the eve of an International Court of Justice case against Israel over the alleged genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The Pennsylvania senator has long denounced the actions of Hamas while also offering support for Israel. During his speech, Fetterman suggested that everyone should “stop talking about proportion” when it comes to Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7.
“They shot their best shot on Oct. 7, and they would have taken more lives if they could have, but they couldn’t do that,” Fetterman said of Hamas. “And now we’re talking about genocide, and now South Africa now is now bringing up that kind of a trial. Maybe South Africa maybe ought to sit this one out when it comes to criticizing the behavior of other nations. Sit out!”
This was in reference to murders against white farmers in South Africa as recently as 2020, which sparked riots that alleged they were evidence of an attempted genocide. The most recent murder of Brendin Horner in October 2020 ended in the only two suspects being acquitted for lack of evidence.
At the time, Fetterman donned a sticker on his black hoodie that read “96 days” to represent the amount of time Hamas has been harboring hostages from Israel. At Fetterman’s office in the Capitol, the photo of every hostage is displayed.
“Why aren’t they protesting: ‘When will we get the hostages back home?’ Why aren’t they protesting Hamas? Why aren’t they protesting systemic rape and torture of Israeli women and children?” Fetterman went on to say. “Hamas is anathema to peace. We’ll never have a stable two-state solution. We will never have any peace for Israel until they are fully eliminated.”
Fetterman claimed Israel has “the right” to eliminate the terrorist group and even said he will “encourage” Israel to continue its effort to snuff out Hamas.
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The event was also attended by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Susan Collins (R-ME), Katie Britt (R-TX), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) among White House officials also in attendance.
Israel will appear before the ICJ on Friday to offer its defense.
