WASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who often casts herself as the standard-bearer of MAGA politics on Capitol Hill, said a “genocide” is underway in the Gaza Strip, becoming the first member of her party in Congress to use the term as she condemned the humanitarian disaster unfolding there.

“It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct. 7 in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza,” Greene said in a social media post Monday evening.

It was the strongest in a series of escalating statements she has made in recent weeks criticizing Israel’s conduct of the war and calling for action to end the suffering in Gaza. The stance is a clear break with the vast majority of Republicans in Congress, who have made unconditional support for Israel a hallmark of their foreign policy approach.

Related Story: How Israel’s War With Hamas Became Unjust

Greene Rebukes a GOP Colleague

Greene’s comments were a direct rebuke of one Republican colleague in particular, Rep. Randy Fine of Florida, who has drawn intense criticism for comments he made on social media last week calling the images of starving children in Gaza a campaign of “Muslim terror propaganda.”

“Release the hostages,” Fine wrote, adding, “until then, starve away.”

Fine, a first-term lawmaker who has been outspoken in Congress about his Jewish faith and staunchly pro-Israel views, made the remarks the same day that he was elevated to a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the influential panel that focuses on international policy.

Trump Says There’s ‘Real Starvation’ in Gaza

Fine made his comments before President Donald Trump said there was “real starvation” happening in Gaza and made commitments to offer additional support to increase aid.

“That’s real starvation stuff — I see it, and you can’t fake that,” Trump said Monday after a series of meetings with European leaders while in Scotland. “We have to get the kids fed.”

Greene had already started to make her pivot before Trump’s comments, as had some others in the MAGA movement.

“Standing with Israel means eliminating every barbaric Hamas terrorist,” Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas wrote on social media, in a quote Greene recirculated. “It also means rejecting the killing and starvation of children in Gaza.”

Greene Tries to Strip US Funding for Israel

Earlier this month, she said in a statement that: “Israel bombed the Catholic Church in Gaza, and that entire population is being wiped out as they continue their aggressive war in Gaza.” The remarks were made after a failed bid, led by Greene, to strip $500 million of American military funding that Congress had approved as part of annual defense support for Israel.

The effort failed with only six members, two Republicans and four Democrats, voting in favor. That coalition included Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the only Palestinian American serving in Congress.

The pairing of Greene and Tlaib on the effort to revoke the funding, for Israel’s Iron Dome weapons system, was an unlikely one. Greene two years ago led a failed effort to censure Tlaib, accusing her of “antisemitic activity” and “sympathizing with terrorists” after the Democrat spoke at a pro-Palestinian protest about the “dehumanizing conditions” in Gaza and called for “lifting the blockade” against humanitarian aid.

On Sunday, Greene posted on social media that she could “unequivocally say that what happened to innocent people in Israel on Oct 7th was horrific. Just as I can unequivocally say that what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Robert Jimison/Kenny Holston

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