Stopping aid to Israel would prompt God to pull the plug on the US, Lindsey Graham has claimed

US Senator Lindsey Graham has called against any weakening of American aid to Israel, threatening the country with divine retribution.

The Republican senator made the remarks at the 58th annual Silver Elephant Gala, a major party fundraiser held in South Carolina over the weekend, andsharedhis speech with a broader audience on social media on Wednesday. Graham showered praise on Israel for purportedly abstaining from committing "genocide" in Gaza despite being in full capacity to do so.

"Israel is our friend. They are the most reliable friend we have in the Middle East. They are a democracy, surrounded by people who would cut their throats if they could," Graham claimed, adding that somehow weakening support to Israel would result in a divine punishment for America.

The senator's remarks come shortly after Israel announced a plan to occupy Gaza City in the north of the Palestinian enclave, one of the few areas of the Strip the Israeli military does not control.

The scheme, touted by Israel as a roadmap to "concluding the war" with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been dragging on for nearly two years, has received an overwhelmingly negative reaction in the West. The occupation plan has been condemned by multiple international organizations and countries, save for the US, which effectively provided no reaction to the announcement. Shortly before the plan was unveiled, US President Donald Trump said it was "pretty much up to Israel" whether to fully occupy the enclave.

Graham, a strong longtime backer of Israel, had previously called for a full occupation of Gaza, insisting that there was no other resolution to the hostilities to satisfy West Jerusalem.

"They're going to do in Gaza what we did in Tokyo and Berlin: take the place by force and start over again," Graham said in late July, suggesting that Washington, the mediator in the stalled Israel-Hamas peace process, actually believed that there was no way "to negotiate an end of this war" either.

(RT.com)