On Tuesday, State Rep. Angie Nixon tearfully tried to convince
her fellow lawmakers to support a ceasefire in Gaza. She asked how many dead Palestinians would be enough.
Escambia County’s Rep. Michelle Salzman shouted, “ALL OF THEM.”
She later backed up her flippant, attention-getting outburst on Twitter where she tried to soft-pedal her comment – but still not denying she shouted “ALL OF THEM.”
On Tuesday, I was proud to stand with my colleagues in absolute solidarity with Israel’s right to defend itself. I also commented that every single terrorrist that attacked Israel and triggered this war should be eliminated – ALL OF THEM. Hamas are the ones responsible for all the death on both sides of this conflict. I will continue to call out the brutal attack and continue to fight against the rise in anti-semitism in our state.
Of course, that didn’t stem the tide of international criticism for the two-term lawmaker who won the elections and campaign donors because she was seen to be less radical than Mike Hill.
From the UK, The Independent had the clip with this:
Florida state representative Angie Nixon was in tears as she made an emotional plea for an Israel-Gaza ceasefire.
The Jacksonville Democrat called for a de-escalation of violence in Gaza during a session in the Florida Senate, which ended in a 104-2 vote against her resolution.
“We are at 10,000 dead Palestinians, how many will be enough?” Ms Nixon asked.
“One of my colleagues just said all of them, wow,” she continued, referencing a comment made by Republican representative Michelle Salzman in the chamber.
More commentary:
Rep. Salzman tried to clean up her statement with another Tweet yesterday afternoon, saying, “I am so incredibly sorry for even the slightest of suggestions that I would want an entire community erased.”
She added, “My comments were unapologetically towards the Hamas regime–I NEVER said Palestine.”
However, Rep. Nixon wasn’t talking about Palestine and Salzman didn’t shout, “All of Hamas.”
Here is her spin:
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Last night, CBS News reported that Israel has agreed to daily 4-hour humanitarian pauses in northern Gaza. Read more.
As a candidate for State House Representative District 1. I am saddened and shocked to know that Florida’s District1 State House Representative Michelle Salzman our current rep. would call for the deaths of all Palestinians. I would also like to apologize to Florida Rep. Angie Nixon for Salzman’s harsh outburst during representative Nixon passionate plea for a cease fire in Gaza. Once again the panhandle has become a national and global embarrassment because of Salzman’s racial remarks. My campaign promise to u is that we can and we will do better. Vote Franscine Mathis in our 2024 election against Michelle Salzman.
I mourn for the families in Gaza as well as Israel , that has loss love ones , no one should have to bear the loss of countless lives. And Shame on Salzman for calling for the genocide of the Palestinians.
MY name is Franscine Mathis, and I am calling for Salzman’s immediate resignation .
# vote Mathis
708-310-8907
I hope you’ll print this follow-up thought, Rick.
Anybody who finds offensive my comments about Netanyahu’s culpability in his massive security failure–which he is attempting to save face with by murdering thousands of innocent civilians including children–your argument isn’t with me but with the overwhelming majority of the Israeli people. Bibi took his eye off the ball for a Butterfly, and the consequences aren’t lost on a country that suffered unimaginable and barbaric atrocities and tragic loss of life because of it (not to mention the 50 hostages that would already be free if he actually cared about their lives):.
So why are United States politicians–including and *especially* Joe Biden–falling all over themselves to declare carte blanche to a raging, self-absorbed autocrat who allowed one of the most devastating security breeches in modern history under his watch? From the Jerusalem Post:
“Netanyahu’s refusal to take responsibility for October 7 will be his downfall – analysis”
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-771842
“In the past, leading Israel through wars and operations improved Netanyahu’s political standing, giving him an extra 14 seats in 2015 after Protective Edge the year previously, and helping him close a growing gap between the Likud and National Unity in polls earlier this year after smaller operations.
But this time, the situation is different. While Hamas started the war with its attack, the massivity and the element of surprise lead Israelis to feel that there was a great failure in leadership and intelligence and they want answers.
Leading Israel to victory isn’t going to be enough this time. Israel will want to see leadership being held accountable, meaning that the very thing Netanyahu is avoiding is perhaps exactly what will help him.
Polls released in the weeks since the war began indicate that Israelis strongly believe that Netanyahu should take responsibility for October 7. In one, 80% of Israelis voiced this opinion (including a majority of his own constituents) while in another, 86% of respondents say they hold the government responsible for the attack whether or not Netanyahu admits to it.
A poll that came out four weeks after the beginning of the war showed that more than half of Israelis believe that Netanyahu should resign and that public faith in him has been sinking.
Meanwhile, the polls also give the Netanyahu-led Likud the lowest number of mandates (19) the party has won since 2006 when it only had 14. On the other hand, Gantz’s National Unity party would get double the mandates that Likud would if elections were held today. Accordingly, only 27% of Israelis said that Netanyahu is more fit to be prime minister than Gantz.
Tom,
Hamas wasn’t the topic. Nixon’s resolution wasn’t going to pass, but Salzman shouted out during her speech. I have confirmation from lawmakers who were in the room.
-Rick
People have lost their minds. It’s really that simple.
I was one of Michelle’s earliest supporters; she was a good friend. And I have watched in horror the last few years as she has transformed into a walking embodiment of the worst of the Florida GOP. What began quite clearly as a calculated political decision for survival at all costs devolved at some point to a radicalism she is clearly no longer in control of. She has now evolved into the evil she set out to defeat.
Michelle, I know that the good person I used to know is still in there. A woman who would have been horror stricken at this loss of human life; a woman who would have crawled over broken glass to save one child. You used to be a force of good to be reckoned with. You’ve reduced yourself to one of the worst creatures of your fascist cult party now.
That doesn’t mean you have to stay that way. There are people in Tallahassee who will never come back, because the evil in their hearts is where they started from, and in fact they were elected for their sadism in their willingness to enact the worst policies since the days of slavery in these unconstitutional and inhumane culture wars. You are different, because you began this a good person, and clearly got overwhelmed.
This is really not difficult, for those of us who aren’t indoctrinated, or appealing to the indoctrinated for votes and money:
1. I am not an antisemite because I do not support mass murder and the whole-sale genocide of the Palestinian people.
2. The bombing needs to stop NOW, and the Israeli people need to wrest control of their democracy back from Netanyahu.
3. The REAL military leaders in Israel know how to run a successful military campaign to eradicate Hamas–and every last one of them needs to be hunted down and killed; once that’s done, it’s time for Hezbollah and the other Iranian militias–need to take over from a psychotic megalomaniac who, in his never-ending thirst for power and his desperate attempt to escape his crimes, took his eye off the security of his people to run a global psy-ops campaign in order to brainwash the world into thinking he wasn’t running a merciless apartheid state.
Such a big percentage of Rick’s readers will read the above and agree. How many will have the courage to say it? I mean, my God, it’s not even difficult politically. Just blame Biden–if that’s what you have to do to support an end–NOW– to watching people in a pen be ruthlessly slaughtered.
I’ll repeat the brave congresswoman’s question: how many is enough? Clearly this bombing strategy isn’t working anyway, so when are people going to admit that the Palestinian people are not collateral damage for Bibi–they’re the intended targets. If he is allowed, he will wipe out as many of them as he possibly can before he even gets to killing Hamas. And it’s happening with the entire world watching, and somehow enough people have lost their minds that they will find a way to contort their humanity into knots and get behind that.
I could have never believed that I’d see this is my lifetime. And yet, here we are. With a long, long way to go.
Don’t see an actual audio or video link to her comments.. seems obvious she would have been referring to Hamas..