Senator John Fetterman has won over Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of former President Donald Trump, for the Pennsylvania Democrat's comments on South Africa.
South Africa formally accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday in a hearing with the United Nations' International Court of Justice. The African country called for the court to order an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza following fighting in the region between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group. Israel has denied allegations of genocide and has claimed it is acting in self-defense.
On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza, home to more than 2 million Palestinians. Israeli officials have said that about 1,200 people in Israel were killed and some 250 hostages were taken in Hamas' attack, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, 70 percent of which are women and children, officials from the health ministry in Gaza said.
Fetterman, who has been a vocal supporter of Israel, told South Africa to "sit this one out," in a speech that is circulating on social media.
"Now we're talking about genocide and now South Africa now is now bringing that kind of a trial. Maybe South Africa ought sit this one out," Fetterman said in a clip of his speech shared by popular conservative account @EndWokeness on X, formerly Twitter.
"Holy s***," @EndWokeness wrote in the post. "Did John Fetterman (D) just call out the White genocide in South Africa?"
Donald Trump Jr. reshared @EndWokeness's post and wrote: "How is it possible that John Fetterman in the last few months has seemingly become more based than half of the senate GOP???"
Fetterman has recently been embraced by conservatives after saying he's not a "progressive" and showed his support for Israel and addressing immigration following a massive surge of illegal migrant crossings at the southern border.
Newsweek reached out to Fetterman, Trump Jr. and the Israel Defense Forces via email for comment.
The white genocide that @EndWokeness was referring to stems from claims from South Africa's far right and white nationalists that the country has carried out a genocide against its white farmers.
In August 2018, President Donald Trump tweeted that he was instructing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to "closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers."
At the time, the South African government replied to Trump's tweet, saying the country "totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past." The government also vowed to "speed up the pace of land reform in a careful and inclusive manner that does not divide our nation."
There is nothing to suggest Fetterman was referring to the claims of white genocide in South Africa in his speech.
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