Overview

• In a South Carolina speech on Aug. 13, Senator Lindsey Graham defended Israel’s conduct in Gaza, asserting the country could commit genocide but chooses restraint and warning that divine retribution would follow U.S. abandonment.
• Graham framed continued U.S. support as a moral duty for Americans and Christians, praised President Trump’s backing and contrasted Israel’s restraint with Hamas’s threats.
• Within hours, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene labeled his “God will pull the plug on us” warning “1,000% false,” accused pro-Israel influence on American Christians and demanded an end to U.S. funding for foreign wars.
• Greene tied opposition to Israel aid to fiscal nationalism, citing a $37 trillion national debt and blaming decades of foreign-war spending for economic hardship at home.
• Observers say the public clash exposes a widening rift between traditional pro-Israel conservatives and “America First” isolationists that could shape upcoming congressional votes on Middle East policy.