The news that hostages Shiri Bibas and her two small children are dead has led to calls from US politicians to further escalate the genocide of Palestinians and destroy the entire Gaza Strip in retaliation.
“Destroy it all”, demands Republican state senator Randy Fine.
Kfir Babas was just nine months old when he was kidnapped by Hamas along with his four-year-old older brother, his mother and his father.
His father, Yarden Bibas, was released earlier in February after 16 months of captivity. However, when the other family members were to be handed over in a prisoner exchange, Hamas claimed that the children and their mother had been killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war – and handed over their dead bodies instead.
The children’s identities have been confirmed, but the cause of death has not been established. However, Israel claims that the body purportedly belonging to Shiri Bibas is in fact that of another unidentified person – which Hamas explains by saying that body parts were mixed up after the Israeli bombings.
While it is still unclear how the children and their mother died, those in power far beyond Israel’s borders have been quick to use their deaths to argue that the genocide in Gaza must now be stepped up and that the area must be completely cleansed of Palestinians.
“Palestinians = Hamas”
One of these is Jewish Republican Randy Fine in the Florida Senate, who claims on X that Palestinians are synonymous with Hamas members and calls for even more bombs to be dropped on a Gaza that is already largely in ruins.
“Gaza must be destroyed” and “Palestinians = Hamas”, he proclaims, echoed by thousands of supporters.
Without presenting any evidence, Fine claims that the children were murdered by Palestinian civilians and that the entire Palestinian culture is “the embodiment of evil”.
“Destroy it all”, he continues.
The Bibas brothers were taken hostage and killed by “Palestinian civilians.” This culture is the embodiment of evil. Destroy it all. #BombsAway
— Senator Randy Fine (@VoteRandyFine) February 19, 2025
While many of Randy Fine’s supporters appreciate the genocidal rhetoric, others point out that he himself has received money from the Israel lobby AIPAC and seems to act more as a mouthpiece for them – rather than representing the interests of the American people.
“No suffering is enough”
Others argue that it is very strange and inappropriate for an American politician to call for the destruction of an entire Middle Eastern people based on the tragic death of one family – and this before he has even clarified how they were killed and by whom.
Critics also note that at least 17,000 children and young people have been killed during Israel’s bombing and invasion since October 7, 2023 – and that Fine has not only failed to protest the large-scale killing – but has actively encouraged it.
Nor is this the first time that the state senator’s desire to kill as many Palestinians as possible has been highlighted.
“There is no suffering adequate for these animals. May the streets of Gaza overflow with blood”, he wished, for example, shortly after Hamas attacks and also praised the Israeli army when it shot dead an American-Turkish woman in the West Bank.
