Fetterman denies Gaza genocide, claims it’s a “just war”

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/fetterman-denies-gaza-genocide-claims-its-just-war

Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania continued the Democrats’ piling on against Palestinians this past Sunday.

Fetterman asserted to CNN’s Manu Raju: “There’s no ethnic cleansing. It’s not a genocide. This is a just war.”

Asked by Raju if Israel was using “starvation as a weapon,” he claimed: “No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Israel is not deliberately starving people, absolutely.”

He added: “Those conditions are miserable there. And it is hell on earth. Why? Some people blame Israel for that? I blame Hamas and Iran for that thing.”

This continues most Democrats’ failure to recognize the Gaza genocide, even walking back the genocide assertion in the recent case of Congresswoman Katherine Clark, a top leader in the House of Representatives.

358 points · 91 comments · view on lemmy.world

91 Comments

HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca · 90 pts · 336d (4 replies)

"Literal brain damaged politician makes obviously incorrect statement."

ech@lemmy.ca · 20 pts · 335d (2 replies)

From what I hear he was a turd before the stroke, too.

axexrx@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 335d

Just better at filtering / masking it from what I gather.

Cassanderer@thelemmy.club · 3 pts · 335d

He denied the harmful effects of fracking from the get-go. Just ignoring all the people whose Water and Air got permanently poisoned by companies that came in and fracked and then left them poisoned. I knew fetterman was a piece of shit right from the start because of that. There's no way he could not be.

xyzzy@lemmy.today · 15 pts · 335d
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ExtremeDullard@piefed.social · 81 pts · 336d

Fetterman's brain is scrambled.

Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 336d

This guy turned out to be such a piece of shit.

ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 336d (1 reply)

Israel has no future, this previously lucrative and geopolitically relevant tool of the West is losing steam and the narratives surrounding it are changing rapidly all across Europe already, and some of the US too. It's distancing and handwashing time, deny any previous allegiance and "we were always against the genocide in Palestine!" time. That makes this Fetterman guy not only amoral and uncaring but also very stupid if he wants to stay in politics.

Typhoon@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 336d

I really want you to be right, but I don't think you are.

ileftreddit@piefed.social · 34 pts · 335d
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devolution@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 336d

John Fetterman (R)

Phegan@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 335d (1 reply)
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ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 335d

I just realized I've never seen a zombie wearing shorts.

Archangel1313@lemmy.ca · 26 pts · 336d (14 replies)

"just a war", where 80% of the casualties are civilians?

Uh, ok Lennie.

synae@lemmy.sdf.org · 17 pts · 335d (1 reply)

It's far worse than that- he's saying it's a just war, as in, justified. For justice.

EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 334d

Holy shit, I had to re-read the headline. FFS!

He's a straight-up genocide apologist.

kahdbrixk@feddit.org · 1 pts · 334d

“There’s no ethnic cleansing. It’s not a genocide. This is a just war.”

It's even worse when you use the original order of words.

There is nothing "just" about any war, especially not this one.

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · -10 pts · 335d (10 replies)

Says who? Hamas?

MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 335d (8 replies)

Figures from a classified Israeli military intelligence database indicate five out of six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza have been civilians, an extreme rate of slaughter rarely matched in recent decades of warfare.

As of May, 19 months into the war, Israeli intelligence officials listed 8,900 named fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as dead or “probably dead”, a joint investigation by the Guardian, the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call has found.

At that time 53,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks, according to health authorities in Gaza, a toll that included combatants and civilians. Fighters named in the Israeli military intelligence database accounted for just 17% of the total, which indicates that 83% of the dead were civilians.

Source: The Guardian

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · -1 pts · 334d (7 replies)

Those are minimum numbers of Hamas killed. It is just the ones Israel were able to name.

How many civilians was Israel able to name?

Gaza Health Authority are Hamas run. They lied about 500 killed by Israel at Al Ahli hospital early on in the war. The hospital wasn't even hit, it was in the car park and it was a Palestinian Intifada Jihad rocket.

MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 334d (4 replies)

I went looking and found a source for what I wanted to say. Feel free to provide any kind of source for your claim. Otherwise, it would follow that you aren't interested in actually discussing, just making accusations.

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 333d (3 replies)

You go first, otherwise it would follow that you aren't interested in actually discussing, just making accusations.

MajorasTerribleFate@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 333d (2 replies)

I did, the Guardian story. My source was in place before my request for yours.

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 333d

How many civilians was Israel able to name?

The Guardian are not comparing like with like.

I was hoping you would come up with evidence that Al Ahli hospital was bombed... by anyone.

Here is a video of the Al Ahli aftermath showing only a crater in the car park.

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 334d (1 reply)

Oh OK, this guy says it so it must be true. Isreal isn't actually striking hospitals, it's just a car park and its always Palestinian rockets. Trust me.

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 334d

There were no photos of Al Ahli hospital damage. Can you show otherwise?

There was video of the blast in the car park. I can show you that (taken by a Gazan the morning after).

The misfiring Palestinian rocket was unintentionally captured in live footage by Al Jazeera.

I am not talking about other hospitals. Seems you don't know much about this one though. There is no need to trust me, the evidence is there if you care to look for it.

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 0 pts · 334d

Says literally everyone that isn't an IDF propaganda mouthpiece.

0ndead@infosec.pub · 19 pts · 336d

Somebody primary this fuckhead

corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 18 pts · 335d (4 replies)

Can we stop lumping Mr Fetterman in with Democrats? The only thing marking him as a Democrat is a sign on his door, and it's only blue because he'd already eaten the red Crayola.

M0oP0o@mander.xyz · 20 pts · 335d

Well why not? Have the democrats kicked him out of their party? If not then this behaviour is literally condoned by democrats.

Cassanderer@thelemmy.club · 8 pts · 335d (2 replies)

That and being in complete lock step on Israel. Good god, Senator wyden just voted to send more assault rifles to Israel to be handed out to settlers in the West Bank. And he is one of the better ones.

If you want a an issue too differentiate between fetterman and the rest of the democrats, this is not it.

grumpusbumpus@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 334d (1 reply)

If aiding genocide is our "lesser evil," we don't have a lesser evil.

HoopyFrood@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 334d

No, we do not. That much is clear

UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 335d (11 replies)

Dude! Just because you're Jewish doesn't mean you have to follow blindly. Fucking people and their tribalism. Look a Bernie, Jon Stewart etc they have eyes. Fuck Jerry Seinfeld.

Greddan@feddit.org · -8 pts · 335d (10 replies)
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ripcord@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 335d (9 replies)

I'm 100000% against this genocide and anyone who is for it.

But this is straight racism / antisemitism.

Hadriscus@jlai.lu · -2 pts · 335d (8 replies)

I personally think it's fair to call circumcision child abuse. I've seen children aged between 4 and 8 freshly traumatized by the event -although the boys in question were muslim, I believe the practice is roughly the same -for no practical benefit at all.

More details as to why I think it's a shitty thing to force onto young boys : Imagine this, being brought somewhere -by adults you know and trust!- under the guise of showing you something cool, or some other excuse -then suddenly being forcibly held down by these same people while another nips the foreskin. Of course you're battling throughout, which makes an accident all the more likely. How do you think you feel afterwards ? that's terrifying. Traumatizing. And a sacred trust was broken. You might forget, but this has scarred you for life. All kinds of trust issues can emerge from this experience. I can't say yet to what extent, it's too early. But to me it's complete madness. It's the thoughtless perpetuation of an absurd, harmful ritual.

ripcord@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 335d (1 reply)

That's absolutely not the part I was focused on.

Hadriscus@jlai.lu · -4 pts · 335d

Ok

axexrx@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 335d (5 replies)

Huh ive honestly never heard of circumcision as either an infancy thing, where they dont remember it, or as a conscious choice made by an adult (usually as partof conversion.)

Not trying to discount your experience, just saying I dont think its common at all.

ripcord@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 335d (3 replies)

In that first paragraph did you write the opposite of what you meant?

axexrx@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 335d

Yeah, i totally did. Meant to say as anything other than infancy ....

Hadriscus@jlai.lu · 0 pts · 335d (1 reply)

Probably, that's how I understood at least

ripcord@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 335d

You're saying that during infancy or adulthood is LEAST common...?

Hadriscus@jlai.lu · 2 pts · 335d

If it's deliberate, I have nothing to say against it. It's your own body.
But forcing it onto boys, I can't agree with. I don't think the age at which it's done is very relevant tbh. Once in a while it's botched and the boy needs reattachment surgery. In some cases they're crippled for life, can't lead a normal sex life. These happen around me (although rarely), it's real

EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 15 pts · 334d (1 reply)

Whenever Festerman opens his mouth, I assume shit is going to come issuing forth.

T00l_shed@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 334d

And you would be assuming correctly

drmoose@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 335d (5 replies)

Is that the guy that got some drug induced retardation?

bigfondue@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 335d (4 replies)
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drmoose@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 335d (1 reply)

Yet another confirmation that conservatism is a mental disorder.

AllHailTheSheep@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 335d

taking critical damage will reroll your character

Cassanderer@thelemmy.club · 2 pts · 335d (1 reply)

He was a piece of shit before the stroke. Don't blame the stroke for his piece of shitism, he was playing his voters, still is playing them the old spiteful other guy is worse so you have to vote for me play that has brought us to this place with Republicans controlling every branch of Congress.

bigfondue@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 335d
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ClassStruggle@lemmy.ml · 12 pts · 336d

That's the entire party stance.

TheJesusaurus@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 335d (4 replies)

Wtf happened to this guy? I'll admit I didn't follow him closely but wasn't he vaguely progressive and had common sense? I know he had a stroke but does stroking out make you start acting like a total asshole?

Jaysyn@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 335d

It can, yes.

Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz · 7 pts · 334d

No, he was a zionist who had chased a black man through his neighborhood with a shotgun because he assumed the man was robbing people before he was elected. But his primary opponent was also a racist receiving AIPAC money, and he said some vague pro-union things and changed his PFP to a hammer and sickle so everyone either looked the other way and pretended he was more left than he showed, or at least he was the lesser evil.

pyre@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 334d

literal brain damage, yes. it's not entirely shocking for someone to become a conservative when their brain is no longer working properly. plus it makes one easier to manipulate, which is also a conservative trait.

electric_nan@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 334d

People are too willing to project all their hopes onto politicians, and always end up disappointed.

But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 335d

I remember when he got popular, i kept thinking “this silver spoon baby just put on a hoodie and shorts and everyone thinks he’s one of us?” I would get downvoted on Reddit for saying it was all an act, a smokescreen to ingratiate himself with voters on the left. Bet you he’s happy to wear a suit when he sucks Putin’s dick

Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 336d (1 reply)

Gisele should primary him.

Ulvain@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 336d

Has she decided his positions and taken clear stances against her husband? If not, what's the point?

HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 9 pts · 335d

This 350 pound brain-dead zombie should just retire already.

ProfThadBach@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 335d

Fuck I forgot about this Lyrch looking mother fucking ghoul.

Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 334d

I think any kind of brain damage should make you unsuitable for elected office. This tool clearly has had his mind broken.

Nightlight17776@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 336d (1 reply)

Just a war...

MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net · 5 pts · 336d

And war isn't murder. Simple as.

Cassanderer@thelemmy.club · 6 pts · 335d

Fetterment is just a nihilistic piece of shit. Although he actually seemed to take pleasure in trolling the people against Israel's abuse of palestinians. Hurting people that can't fight back is fun apparently. People like fetterman is how we get Republicans no one is going to turn out and vote for him again

prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 334d

What a fucking disappointment. I hope when his term is up, he just crawls back into whatever cave he emerged from. Fucking cave troll-ass

MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 335d

Fuck Israel, genocidal scum!

waldo_was_here@piefed.social · 5 pts · 336d
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ech@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 336d

"Look what you made meBibi do!" Fucking victim blaming pos.

RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 335d

Come on Gritty, do your job.

ohulancutash@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 335d

The case for psychological vetting for every elected office.

Treczoks@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 334d

Politicians are always keen on those "Fact-Finding Missions". Usually they go to expensive cruises or resorts, but maybe you can send him to find some facts in Gaza, personally, and see if this changes his opinion.

stringere@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 334d

Heard it before, Johnny. It was "just a stroke".

CannonFodder@lemmy.world · -14 pts · 336d (21 replies)
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Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 17 pts · 336d (10 replies)

It's all a matter of semantics

No.

Israel is killing civilians

Yes.

whether they are just not caring about civilians as they pursue Hamas, or if they are intentionally targeting civilians we may never truely know.

Wrong again. You don't routinely shoot children in the head or use the testicles of other children for target practice if you're not intentionally targeting civilians.

Is this ethnic cleansing

Yes.

that depends on how you define genocide

There's an actual official definition of Genocide:

any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

    • (a) Killing members of the group;
    • (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
    • (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
    • (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
    • (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2[9]

Israel being guilty of ONE of those things would be enough to make it a genocide and they're guilty of ALL of them. There's no room for good faith denial. None.

Of course it is genocide, I must say, or I'll get a ban

Probably just going to get a lot of downvotes or at worst have your hasbara bullshit renoved. Unless you get personal with anyone in a nasty way, you're unlikely to face bans outside of the tankie instances

because of the wonderful free speech on this platform.

Free speech doesn't mean speech free from consequences. You're free to fuck around and equally free to find out.

Cassanderer@thelemmy.club · 3 pts · 335d

The good guys in any conflicts do not normally go around shooting children in the dick. Knowing nothing else about the situation, if you knew that one side was going around shooting kids in the dick and the other side wasn't, you would know who the bad guys are.

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · -4 pts · 335d (8 replies)

The Court did not find intent but recently the UN did, circumventing the court. Carnage either way.

I notice that the surrender of Hamas (who still use human shields) is an option this community never calls for.

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 335d (7 replies)

Hamas don't have the power to stop the genocide, surrender or not.

This isn't a war between the IOF and Hamas. It's a systematic campaign to demolish every building in Gaza and kill or drive away every Gazan.

I don't know if you're ignorant and spreading misinformation or a zionist intentionally spreading disinformation talking points, but either way 'but Hamas!" is not a valid excuse for tolerating genocide.

Btw, that whole Human Shields thing? Turns out that's IOF projection. they've Been doing it for over half a century. It's part of their standard procedure.

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · -2 pts · 335d (6 replies)

Hamas don't have the power to stop the genocide, surrender or not.

How so? There was no genocide between 2006 and the Oct 7 attack.

I believe IDF has sent civilians into buildings ahead of raids as shields. Not officially sanctioned but haven't heard of disciplinary measures against it either.

Apparently in their own words, Hamas base themselves in Hospitals. I haven't seen the evidence myself and can't read Arabic anyway.

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 335d (5 replies)

There was no genocide between 2006 and the Oct 7 attack.

There's been an ongoing genocide since the Nakba of 1948 FFS! If you're going to pretend to not be COMPLETELY ignorant, at least get the most basic facts in order.

I believe IDF

There's your problem right there. They have two primary missions: to eradicate Palestinian people, culture, and territory; and to lie about doing so on purpose.

IDF has sent civilians into buildings ahead of raids as shields

Amongst many other uses, yes.

Not officially sanctioned but haven't heard of disciplinary measures against it

That's because it's de facto sanctioned by the fascist apartheid regime.

Apparently in their own words, Hamas base themselves in Hospitals.

Your source of "their own words" being a deleted Reddit post from 10 days ago? Stellar work, Bob Woodward! 🙄

And guess what? Even if the militant wing of Hamas (as opposed to the civil government of Gaza) DID put bases in or beneath hospitals, it would STILL be a war crime to bomb hospitals.

Just like when they raided a hospital to murder injured (alleged) Hamas fighters.

That was ALSO a war crime even if you're gullible enough to believe the IOF account of what they were doing and why.

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · -1 pts · 334d (4 replies)

There was no genocide between 2006 and the Oct 7 attack.

There's been an ongoing genocide since the Nakba of 1948

1948 is before 2006

Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 334d

"Ongoing since 1948" includes every time period between now and 1948.

Derpenheim@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 336d (1 reply)

Free speech means you can say it. My free speech says youre a fucking idiot at best, and at worst intentionally downplaying whats happening.

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · -3 pts · 335d

Except that the comment was deleted by mods.

Soleos@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 336d (2 replies)

In terms of intention, some of the Israeli cabinet has been rather mask off about the deliberatness of the impact on civilians

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/06/hamas-israel-hunger-war-in-gaza

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · -1 pts · 335d (1 reply)

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are considered monsters unanimously in r/worldnews (which normally has competing views on Gaza).

Cassanderer@thelemmy.club · -1 pts · 335d

World news is tremendously Zionist. They probably do not like those guys because they make the argument that Israel is the good guy and possible to win in any real sense. It will not stop them from trying though, they have the power of the state and government and businesses behind them to crush any dissent so they don't need truthful arguments apparently. Still fuck those guys at World News

NABDad@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 335d (4 replies)

It's not difficult to find proof that Israel is engaging in genocide. Listen to this podcast if you're not sure;

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/859/chaos-graph?2024

"Out of the 53 American medical workers surveyed who did emergency care for children in Gaza, 44 said they saw kids shot in the head or chest."

What they're talking about is not kids who were hit by strays or shrapnel. They aren't talking about teenagers old enough to wield weapons. They are taking about 1 - 2 year old BABIES being shot in the head, execution style.

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 335d (3 replies)

Contrast that with an ex Green beret (ie UK commando) GHF contractor who lied about a Palestinian boy being killed by IDF.

This guy went on a media tour to blast GHF, then text messages come out showing he was "let go" and then he asked again and again to come back. Now the kid he said he saw killed is actually alive.

Al Jazeera haven’t corrected their story.

NABDad@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 334d (2 replies)

I'm not sure what you're saying. Are you saying that because one mercenary lied it means we should disregard the reports from multiple doctors who treated the children?

sqgl@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 334d (1 reply)

I am saying that when a lie is exposed Al Jazeera do not issue a correction. That damages their integrity.

Think about it: makes more sense for Hamas to shoot Palestinians because they are pissed off about looting made more difficult although they do still loot 87% (along with non-Hamas criminals) according to UN stats which are updated regularly.

Here is a non-Gaza example of Al Jazeera lack of integrity:

NABDad@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 334d

Ok, I still don't know what that has to do with what I posted, but if you're looking at integrity, it makes more sense to look at the response of Israel's ally to the report. The U.S. hasn't issued a correction in response to credible reports of Israel murdering children.

From the transcript of the episode:

I talked with three people who worked at the US State Department and reviewed allegations like this, including the person who, until recently, was the Ambassador at Large for Global Criminal Justice, a position that used to be called the War Crimes Ambassador. They all agreed the doctors' report sounded credible and significant enough to investigate.

Each of them said the next step should be asking Israel for answers. One, who is involved in vetting US weapons transfers, told me if this had been another country other than Israel, this is what would have happened.

A few years ago, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee received reports that Mexican marine units were executing and disappearing people. The US stopped a shipment of machine guns for more than two years while they investigated the allegations. Eventually, Mexico agreed that American weapons wouldn't go to those units.

But that isn't what happened here. The Biden administration never met with Feroze and Mark. They didn't investigate these claims or make any public statements asking Israel to stop shooting kids in Gaza. They didn't try to get to the bottom of these allegations.

Of course it should come as no surprise that President Pedophile's administration doesn't care about murdered children either.