"Before we all get self-righteous about what Israel is doing … we shouldn't forget that we United States killed a lot of innocent people in Mosul, in Raqqa, that we the United States killed 12,000 innocent French civilians," Milley said at the Ash Carter Exchange on Innovation and National Security on Wednesday. "We destroyed 69 Japanese cities, not including Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We slaughtered people in massive numbers, innocent people who had nothing to do with their government, men, women and children."
Milley’s attempt to justify Israeli brutality in Gaza, where some 35,000 civilians have so far been killed in Israeli strikes, most of them women and children, comes amid mass student protests and accusations that the Biden administration is supporting the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley speaks
© AP Photo / Susan Walsh
The US State Department continues to claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza do not amount to genocide and that the International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and therefore has no right to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other senior officials.
On Monday, Israel started a military operation in the eastern parts of Rafah and took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt.
The Palestinian movement Hamas said that it had agreed to the terms of the ceasefire deal proposed by the Egypt and Qatar mediators, but Netanyahu called the truce deal unacceptable. Some 1.4 million Palestinians are believed to be sheltering in Rafah.