In his defense of Israel, Rep. Eric Burlison is running cover for genocide in Gaza

U.S. Representative for Missouri’s 7th Congressional District Eric Burlison recently visited Israel on what can only be described as a propaganda mission, the details of which were published in an April 12 article from the Springfield News-Leader, written by Kelly Dereuck. In his statements and the coverage of his trip, he uses the same talking points being pushed by the Israeli government since Oct. 7 — that the violence in Gaza is for the aim of “rescuing hostages'' and “defeating Hamas.”

Burlison states, “The mission to rescue the hostages and defeat the Hamas battalions in Gaza is not over … And while defeating the evil ideas within Hamas might be difficult, it is completely possible to destroy their battalions and take away the authority that Hamas has over Gaza.” While these are some of the goals stated by the Israeli government, officials have repeatedly uttered sentiments that suggest their aim is wider. Such statements include that of Deputy Knesset speaker Nissim Vaturi, who said all Israelis have a common goal: “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth.”

It is quite clear that Israel is not deeply concerned with the well-being and retrieval of the hostages from Oct. 7 — apparent from the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. In December 2023, the IDF “accidentally” killed three hostages. The Israeli hostages emerged shouting in Hebrew and waving white flags, only to be gunned down by the army sent to rescue them. As stated on March 1 by Omar Ashour, a professor of security and military studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, “We are in the 147th day of the war, and there are more and more hostages dying, the majority of them by Israeli fire.”

Additionally, Israel is nowhere closer to “defeating Hamas” than they were on Oct. 7. In fact, as Israeli journalist Amos Harel recently wrote in Haaretz, "The public should be told the truth: The enormous death and destruction the IDF is leaving behind in Gaza, alongside quite a few losses on our side, aren't currently bringing us any closer to achieving the war's goals.”

Burlison goes on to describe visiting a kibbutz and seeing the burned out shells of Israeli homes, to which he remarks, “The only way to describe it is evil.” What’s missing from this narrative, and from most mainstream coverage of Oct. 7, is that Israel likely killed many of its own citizens. Speaking in Hebrew on a Haaretz podcast, Air Force Colonel Nof Erez claimed that the “Hannibal Directive” — which orders Israeli commanders to massacre their own instead of allowing them to be taken hostage — was implemented on a mass scale that day. Further accounts back up this claim, including that of an Israeli helicopter pilot active on Oct. 7, who claims the order was to “shoot at everything.”

Finally, Burlison takes some time to further the scaremongering campaign against TikTok, raising concerns about “pro-Hamas messaging” on the platform. But one must question the moral compass of anyone who can look at graphic videos of children with limbs blown off, of fathers carrying their deceased children’s body parts in plastic sacks, and of prisoners zip-tied and ran over by bulldozers, and see it cynically as “pro-Hamas messaging.” Instead, it is a people group sharing horrors beyond belief in hopes that the outside world will intervene.

It is beyond apparent that what has been happening for the past six months in Gaza is a genocide, and that a ceasefire is the absolute bare minimum. Calling what Israel is doing “defense” and opposing a ceasefire reveals Burlison for what he truly is: a genocide supporter.

Josh Mayfield lives in Springfield.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri's Eric Burlison is running cover for genocide in Gaza