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A Donald Trump appointee to a board dedicated to honoring the victims of the Holocaust and preventing another one has sparked outrage after saying that Palestinians in Gaza are “fundamentally evil” and should be collectively punished in an op-ed over the weekend.
Martin Oliner, a presidential appointee to the Holocaust Memorial Council, laid out his exterminationist logic in an opinion piece for The Jerusalem Post. He said that he strongly supports Trump’s plans to forcibly displace all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, saying that he does not believe “Gazans are worthy of any mercy” and that Trump has not gone far enough in condemning Palestinians in recent statements.
“Let’s not mince words here. The people of Gaza are collectively guilty” for the October 7, 2023, attack, Oliner wrote. “They are fundamentally evil, and they must pay a price for their actions.”
“The countries who take in Gazans should properly screen and monitor them to prevent them from causing further harm,” Oliner went on. “If enough countries get involved, the international problem of Gaza could be solved.”
Oliner is also the chairman of Religious Zionists of America and the pro-Israel Culture for Peace Institute. Trump appointed him to the Holocaust memorial board at the end of his first term in office.
Oliner’s op-ed, published on Saturday, sparked outrage from advocates for Palestinian rights, who called for him to be removed from the board.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called the op-ed “unhinged, racist, and genocidal” and said that Oliner’s hatred against Palestinians is the same type of hatred that has underlied other genocidal slaughters.
“It is unacceptable for anyone who believes that all children and everyone else in a population are ‘fundamentally evil’ and unworthy of mercy to hold a position with any organization, whether a private or public entity,” CAIR said, calling on Trump to “immediately remove” Oliner.
“It should go without saying that Martin Oliner’s disgraceful, dangerous, and outright racist comments should be disqualifying for anyone holding any position in our government,” said Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project Executive Director Margaret DeReus in a statement.
“It is abhorrent that a US government appointee would refer to any child, anywhere, of any race or national origin, as ‘evil’ or deserving of a violent death. We have seen this kind of dehumanizing rhetoric about Palestinians spur violent hate crimes here in the United States over the last sixteen months,” DeReus went on.
International experts and officials have long said that Israel’s assault of Gaza amounts to collective punishment of Palestinians, which is a war crime. Experts have also warned that Trump’s call for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza is incitement of a war crime.
Trump doubled down on that call on Tuesday, when he said that all Palestinians should be forcibly expelled from Gaza during a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In those remarks, Trump said that the U.S. would “take over” the Gaza Strip, drawing sharp rebukes from pro-Palestinian advocates.
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