WASHINGTON: A U.S. Republican senator again made remarks Sunday justifying the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“Why is it OK for America to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end their existential threat war? … I thought it was OK,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said in an NBC News program. “That was the right decision.”

“So, Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state,” he said, criticizing U.S. President Joe Biden, who has stopped some ammunition shipments to Israel.

When a moderator told Graham that U.S. military officials say technology has advanced since World War II to minimize civilian casualties, he said, “Yeah, these military officials that you’re talking about are full of crap.”

At a subcommittee meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, Graham referred to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki when he urged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and others to provide ammunition to Israel.

In response, the Japanese government told the U.S. government and Graham’s office that the use of nuclear weapons is not in line with the spirit of international law.

In an interview with U.S. news network CNN on Wednesday, Biden announced a pause in some ammunition shipments to Israel, saying that U.S. bombs have been used to kill civilians in the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip.

JIJI Press