Maine independent Sen. Angus King said on July 28 that he will oppose “any” support for Israel amid the hunger crisis in Gaza. “I cannot defend the indefensible. Israel’s actions in the conduct of the war in Gaza, especially its failure to address the unimaginable humanitarian crisis now unfolding, is an affront to human decency,” he said in a July 28 statement on his website. “What appears to be a deliberately-induced famine among a civilian population—including tens of thousands of starving children—can never be an acceptable military strategy.”
The Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel “cannot in turn justify the enormous toll on Palestinian civilians caused by Israel’s relentless bombing campaign and its indifference to the current plight of those trapped in what’s left of Gaza.” Recent events, he added, “have placed a moral burden on Israel to ameliorate the current crisis, a burden it has thus far totally failed to meet.”
“For these reasons, I am through supporting the actions of the current Israeli government and will advocate—and vote—for an end to any United States support whatsoever until there is a demonstrable change in the direction of Israeli policy,” King concluded. “My litmus test will be simple: no aid of any kind as long as there are starving children in Gaza due to the action or inaction of the Israeli government.”
