James Talarico Stumbles When Grilled on Why He Doesn’t Call Gaza ‘Genocide’

Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D) offered a somewhat evasive answer Wednesday when asked why he hasn’t committed to calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide” during an interview on The Breakfast Club.

Talarico, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, joined Charlamagne tha God and Angela Rye to discuss his campaign. Fox News polling from last week shows Talarico leading Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton 51 to 48%, with 24% of non-MAGA Republicans saying they support the Democratic candidate.

Pointing out that Talarico has said that “Israel has a right to defend itself,” Rye asked, “How would you vote on whether or not the country gives Israel military aid?”

“Yeah, I would not vote to send weapons to the [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government,” clarified Talarico.

“But what about military aid?” pressed Rye.

“Yeah, I think all of that needs to be conditioned on, uh, on ending the death and the destruction in Gaza and in the West Bank,” said Talarico. “Um, I’ve been very outspoken on this issue from the beginning of the campaign.”

“But you’re specific to say ‘death and destruction,’ not ‘genocide,'” noted Rye. “Why is that?”

Talarico responded:

Well, you know, I know that, um, the legal term “genocide,” um, is being litigated in the International Criminal Court, um, and, uh, certainly there’s, um, evidence to bring those charges and, um, and I think the United States should abide by, um, whatever, uh, ruling is, um, that the court comes to.

Um, but I think as a U.S. senator, my job would be to take action, right? My job would not be to litigate what terms are used. My job would be to stop what’s happening. And that’s why I’ve said I would use every bit of our nation’s diplomatic and financial leverage, um, to protect the lives of Palestinians, and my North Star on this issue was always protecting innocent life.

Watch the clip above via YouTube.

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