AOC calls Netanyahu 'a war criminal,' says he shouldn't have been invited to deliver an address to joint meeting of Congress



Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a war criminal" and said he should not have been invited to deliver remarks before a joint meeting of Congress.

"This man should not be addressing Congress. He is a war criminal. And he certainly has no regard for US law, which is explicitly designed to prevent US weapons from facilitating human rights abuses. His invitation should be revoked. It should’ve never been sent in the 1st place," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

The congresswoman made the comments while retweeting a video in which Netanyahu said that he had told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that it is "inconceivable that in the past few months the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration does "not know what he's talking about" and that only one munitions shipment was paused.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) invited Netanyahu to give a speech before a joint meeting of Congress. The Israeli leader is scheduled to deliver the remarks on July 24.

GOP Rep. Anthony D'Esposito of New York responded to Ocasio-Cortez's post by tweeting, "Please send your tickets for his speech to 1508 Longworth HOB. There's thousands of #NY04 residents who’d love to hear from the duly-elected representative of a diverse, democratic, American ally."

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Tlaib labels Israel's Netanyahu a 'genocidal maniac,' 'murderer,' and 'war criminal'



Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "genocidal maniac," "murderer," and "war criminal."

"Genocidal maniac. Every member of Congress who sits down with this murderer is supporting a war criminal. We will never forget," Tlaib wrote.

Israel has been waging war in response to heinous attacks perpetrated by Hamas terrorists who kidnapped, raped, and murdered people.

In a recent op-ed, Netanyahu laid out three requirements to achieve peace between the Jewish state and Palestinians in Gaza: "Hamas must be destroyed, Gaza must be demilitarized, and Palestinian society must be deradicalized," he wrote.

"Israel does its best to minimize civilian casualties by dropping leaflets, sending text messages and using other means to warn Gazans to get out of harm’s way. Hamas by contrast does its utmost to keep Palestinians in harm’s way—often at gunpoint," Netanyahu stated.

Back in a 2021 tweet, Tlaib accused Israel of "war crimes led by the apartheid-in-chief Netanyahu."

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While the expression "from the river to the sea" is widely regarded as a call to wipe out the Jewish state of Israel, Tlaib has claimed that it "is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate."

The progressive congresswoman, who is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, was censured in a 234-188 House vote last month.

While Tlaib and some other Democrats have been calling for a ceasefire, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has been strongly supportive of Israel as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.

"I grieve, and it's awful the incredible civilian deaths and the suffering. It's awful. War is hell, as they say. But only one side has used civilians as human shields. Only one side has broken the cease-fires. Only one side will systematically rape, torture and mutilate Israeli women and girls in the most unspeakable, awful ways. … Without destroying Hamas, there will be no enduring peace and a stable, two-state solution," Fetterman said, according to Politico.

When pressed on whether Netanyahu should remain in power, Fetterman said, "I don't have a vote in that. That's for the Israeli citizens. They have much more at stake. But what I can say [is] I believe that an overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens would want a senator standing with them and their right to destroy Hamas [and not] somebody that would splinter or peel away when things continue and as more and more antisemitism continues to go across college campuses, across our nation," the senator said, according to the outlet.

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Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government blasted for giving two standing ovations to a veteran Waffen-SS Nazi days before Yom Kippur



It turns out that unrestrained eugenics is not the only thing out of the Third Reich that Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party of Canada has found cause to celebrate.

After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an address to the Canadian Parliament on Friday, Liberal House Speaker Anthony Rota lavished praise on a 98-year-old who had served with Heinrich Himmler's Waffen-SS in World War II. Trudeau and his socialist ally Jagmeet Singh, head of the NDP, joined Rota and their respective parties in honoring the Nazi veteran with two standing ovations just days ahead of Yom Kippur.

Critics, including the leaders of various Jewish groups, have unloaded on the Canadian government — especially on the Trudeau Liberals who have previously had troubling ties with anti-Semites and accused those with whom they've disagreed of being Nazis.

A Nazi on Parliament Hill

House Speaker Rota, a parliamentary member of Trudeau's Liberal Party, invited Yaroslav Hunka to Parliament, introducing him Friday as a war hero "who fought [for] the Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today."

This introduction took place after Zelenskyy thanked Canada for its support of Ukraine's defense against Russian invaders, which has taken the form of over $6.6 billion in aid since January 2022, reported the Washington Post.

"I am very proud to say that he is from North Bay and from my riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming," Rota said of Hunka. "He is a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service."

Members of Parliament jumped to their feet, applauding the emotional Nazi veteran who responded with dual thumbs up.

The Western Standard reported that among those cheering on Hunka was Ya'ara Saks, a Liberal member of Parliament who previously accused the peaceful trucker convoy protesters of being Nazis, claiming that "honk honk" "is an acronym for 'heil Hitler.'"

Trudeau, who similarly cheered on the Nazi veteran, previously accused Conservative politicians who supported the trucker convoy of standing with "people who wave swastikas" whilst his own government discussed possibly using German Leopard 2 tanks on unarmed protesters.

Although sympathetic to the Liberal Party, Canadian state media later conceded that Hunka had served under Nazi command in the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, a voluntary unit also known as the SS 14th Waffen Division or the First Ukrainian Division.

According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, the Waffen-SS was "heavily involved in the commission of the Holocaust through their participation in mass shootings, anti-partisan warfare, and in supplying guards for Nazi concentration camps."

Hunka's unit also committed atrocities against the Polish resistance during the war and committed massacres of adults and children alike, such as in the village of Huta Pieniacka.

Hunka's unit was deemed a criminal organization by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.

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Backlash

While Rota evidently has trouble differentiating between Nazi veterans and the Canadian war heroes who helped ensure their defeat, others suffered no such difficulty.

B'nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn noted that Hunka's unite comprised "ultra-nationalist ideologues" who "dreamed of an ethnically homogenous Ukrainian state and endorsed the idea of ethnic cleansing," reported CTV News.

"We understand an apology is forthcoming. We expect a meaningful apology. Parliament owes an apology to all Canadians for this outrage, and a detailed explanation as to how this could possibly have taken place at the centre of Canadian democracy," added Mostyn.

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs wrote on X, "Canada's Jewish community stands firmly with Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression. But we can't stay silent when crimes committed by Ukrainians during the Holocaust are whitewashed."

Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies stated Sunday, "The fact that a veteran who served in a Nazi military unit was invited to and given a standing ovation in Parliament is shocking. At a time of rising antisemitism and Holocaust distortion, it is incredibly disturbing to see Canada's Parliament rise to applaud an individual who was a member of a unit in the Waffen-SS, a Nazi military branch responsible for the murder of Jews and others and that was declared a criminal organization during the Nuremberg Trials."

"There should be no confusion that this unit was responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is unimaginable," added FSWC.

Sebastian Skamski, spokesman for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre's office, said, "We find the reports of this individual's history very troubling," adding that Trudeau's Liberals had some explaining to do.

Poilievre said in a statement, "This is an appalling error in judgement on the part of Justin Trudeau, whose personal protocol office is responsible for arranging and vetting all guests and programming for state visits of this kind."

"No parliamentarians (other than Justin Trudeau) had the opportunity to vet this individual's past before he was introduced and honoured on the floor of the House of Commons," added Poilievre. "Without warning or context, it was impossible for any parliamentarian in the room (other than Mr. Trudeau) to know of this dark past."

Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the socialistic NDP whose support ensures Trudeau's Liberal Party won't have to face an election, said, "This event has caused harm to the Jewish community and for that, I am sorry. ... We must all stand together against the rising tide of anti-Semitism."

Apologies and blame

After it was revealed that the Liberal speaker had championed a former Nazi in the people's Parliament, Trudeau's office rushed to displace blame.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office stated, "The independent Speaker of the House has apologized and accepted full responsibility for issuing the invitation and for the recognition in Parliament. This was the right thing to do."

Rota jumped on the proverbial Waffen-SS grenade, claiming the initiative was "entirely my own."

"I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision," said Rota. "I wish to make clear that no one, including fellow parliamentarians and the Ukraine delegation, was aware of my intention or of my remarks before I delivered them."

Trudeau's Liberals appear to have had issues distancing themselves from anti-Semitic causes in recent years.

Trudeau's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, granddaughter of a Nazi collaborator, was accused last year of posing with a "pro-Nazi" banner, reported the Post.

Freeland had apparently held up the colors of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army at a protest last year — contentious because one of its factions, led by Stepan Bandera, allied with the Nazis and murdered thousands of Jews and around 100,000 Poles.

TheBlaze previously reported that the Trudeau Liberal government also gave a sizable taxpayer-funded grand to a purported anti-racism advocacy group in 2022 that turned out to have a raging anti-Semite as a top consultant.

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DeSantis calls Putin a 'war criminal'



Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "war criminal" during an interview with Piers Morgan.

The Sunshine State governor said he believes Putin has "grand ambitions" and is "hostile" toward America but lacks the "conventional capability to realize his ambitions." DeSantis said that in the past, he and others have "overestimated" Putin's "conventional capability."

The U.S. has spent billions to aid Ukraine as that nation has been striving to defend itself against a brutal Russian invasion.

"While the U.S. has many vital national interests – securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party – becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not one of them," DeSantis has previously said in a statement to Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson.

"Without question, peace should be the objective. The U.S. should not provide assistance that could require the deployment of American troops or enable Ukraine to engage in offensive operations beyond its borders. F-16s and long-range missiles should therefore be off the table. These moves would risk explicitly drawing the United States into the conflict and drawing us closer to a hot war between the world’s two largest nuclear powers. That risk is unacceptable," he said in the statement.

DeSantis, who has not announced a White House bid, told Morgan that he believes he could defeat President Joe Biden.

If DeSantis does opt to mount a presidential run in the coming months, he will be challenging former President Donald Trump during the GOP primary.

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump declared, "We don't want Ron as our President!"

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Roger Waters rips 'war criminal' Biden over Ukraine, declares 'Taiwan is part of China,' lauds Russia for 'almost' winning World War II



In a dizzying and contentious CNN interview focusing on world politics, Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters explained why he's calling President Joe Biden a "war criminal" as part of his current concert tour — and managed to declare that "Taiwan is part of China" and even that Russia "almost" won World War II.

What are the details?

As readers of TheBlaze know by now, Waters arguably has been more of a geo-political pundit in recent years than a musician and performer.

The bass player and songwriter behind iconic albums such as "The Wall" and "The Dark Side of the Moon" previously targeted former President Donald Trump and Israel, but with his current "This Is Not a Drill Tour,” Waters has taken issue with Biden:

Image source: YouTube screenshot

When CNN’s Michael Smerconish recently asked Waters about his anti-Biden imagery at his concerts, Waters replied, “Well, he’s fueling the [war] in the Ukraine, for a start. That is a huge crime. Why won’t the United States of America encourage [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy ... to negotiate, obviating the need for this horrific, horrendous war ...”

When Smerconish told Waters he's “blaming the party who got invaded — c'mon, you've got it reversed,” Waters shot back with the following to the CNN host: "Any war, when did it start? What you need to do is look at the history, and you can say, ‘Well, it started on this day.’ You could say it started in 2008 … This war is basically about the action and reaction of NATO pushing right up to the Russian border, which they promised they wouldn’t do when [Mikhail] Gorbachev negotiated the withdrawal of the USSR from the whole of Eastern Europe.”

Smerconish countered by asking Waters about the U.S.'s role as “liberators," particularly during World War II.

Waters wasn't having it: “You got into World War II because of Pearl Harbor. You were completely isolationists until that sad, that devastating, awful day in 1941 ... Thank God the Russians had already won the bloody war almost by then. Don't forget 23 million Russians died protecting you and me from the Nazi menace.”

Image source: YouTube screenshot

The back-and-forth didn't let up, as Smerconish argued that "you would think that the Russians would've learned their lesson from war — and wouldn't have invaded Ukraine."

With that Waters told the host — who was chuckling by this point — “I would suggest you, Michael ... go away and read a bit more, and then try and figure out what the United States would do if the Chinese were putting nuclear-armed missiles into Mexico and Canada."

"The Chinese are too busy encircling Taiwan as we speak, OK?" Smerconish chirped back at Waters.

"They're not encircling Taiwan! Taiwan is part of China! And that's been absolutely accepted by the whole of the international community since 1948," Waters hollered at the host. "And if you don’t know that, you're not reading enough. Go and read about it! ... You're believing your propaganda, your side’s propaganda. ... You can’t have a conversation about human rights, and you can’t have a conversation about Taiwan without actually doing the reading.”

Then it was Smerconish's turn to get testy: "Roger, Roger! If you're having a conversation about human rights, at the top of the list of offenders are the Chinese. Why is it always the Western world ..."

“The Chinese didn’t invade Iraq and kill a million people in 2003,” Waters interrupted, and soon wondered, "Who have the Chinese invaded and murdered, slaughtered?”

“Their own,” Smerconish replied, presumably in reference to the Uyghurs, although Smericonish didn't clarify that in the moment. "Their own."

“Bullocks! That’s absolute nonsense! Complete nonsense! You should go away and read!" Waters shot back before the interview ended on a surprisingly friendly note.

Pink Floyd co-founder explains meaning behind warning at the top of his show youtu.be

(H/T: Consequence of Sound)