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News of Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death was met with tributes from some of the world’s most powerful political leaders.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remembered him as a loyal friend. In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on X called Graham a “true defender of freedom.” In Washington, D.C., Republicans and Democrats alike mourned one of the most influential foreign policy hawks of his generation.
But in Gaza, Graham’s name carries a different legacy.
For many Palestinians, the South Carolina Republican, who died at the age of 71 after a “brief and sudden” illness, was one of the most forceful voices in Washington defending Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
At the height of the war in Gaza, Graham repeatedly urged the U.S. to provide Israel with the weapons it needed to continue its military campaign. In May 2024, while defending continued U.S. arms supplies to Israel, Graham invoked the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“We decided to end the war by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons, and that was the right decision,” Graham told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they can’t afford to lose.”
Civilians watching from Gaza heard his words as a dehumanizing message, one that portrayed them as monsters and terrorists, rather than human beings living through the horrors of an Israeli military campaign that has killed tens of thousands, destroyed homes, displaced families, and transformed entire cities into fields of rubble.
Iktimal Abo Matar, a 68-year-old Gaza resident who lived through the Naksa in 1967, said Graham’s death brought no sense of political loss to her.
“Now that he has died, he will be judged by Allah for all the injustices that were inflicted on us,” she said.
After reading Graham’s statement that “the Palestinians in Gaza are the most radicalized population on the planet who are taught to hate Jews from birth,” Abo Matar responded, “We do not hate anyone. We only want to live on our land in peace. Calling us radicalized while our existence is being erased, while our children have been deliberately targeted and starved, is a great injustice.”
For older Palestinians like Abo Matar, Graham is part of a much longer history of American politicians who offered Israel political, military, and diplomatic protection.
“American presidents have changed. Political parties have alternated in power. New politicians have entered office and others have left, but many of them have continued to support Israel while denying us our rights,” she said. “They will all come and go, but we have remained on our land, and we will remain until we have all of our rights.”
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Graham’s support for Israel long predated 2023.
In 2017, he backed the effort to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, describing Jerusalem as the “undeniable capital of Israel.” The move was fiercely opposed by Palestinians who argued that it legitimizes Israel’s illegal occupation of the city.
Graham’s support went beyond rhetoric. Recently, he pushed for action against the International Criminal Court (ICC) after its prosecutor sought arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.
Graham called the ICC’s actions “outrageous” and urged then-President Joe Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken to support sanctions against the court. He later backed legislation targeting the ICC, arguing that defending Israel from international prosecution was also necessary to protect American interest in the future.
From Gaza, many Palestinians saw Graham’s actions as an effort to block one of the few remaining avenues for international accountability when it threatened Israeli leaders.
“Back then, I thought the genocide would end because of the ICC’s decisions, but I was shocked that not only did that never happen, but the judge is now being targeted,” said Hanan Abu Muslim, a university student from Gaza. “[Graham] stood in the way of the only path that could have helped end the suffering of 2 million people. That is not a legacy anyone wants to be remembered for.”
Ahmad Ibsais, a Palestinian American lawyer, said Graham’s legacy will be remembered very differently by Palestinians than by much of the American political establishment.
“For Palestinians, Lindsey Graham’s legacy will always be that of someone who helped legitimize support for the genocide of our people,” he said. “But the political establishment in the United States — both Democrats and Republicans — has largely failed to recognize Palestinians as fully human. That dehumanization isn’t something they consider when they think about his legacy. Instead, many will remember him as someone who stayed the course and remained a reliable supporter of Israel.”
Ibsais said he believes U.S. politics are already beginning to shift. “We’re seeing a new generation — both politicians and ordinary people — calling for divestment from Israel,” he said. “People are starting to question why the United States is so closely tied to Israel.”
He pointed to the success of progressive candidates, such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who have been more outspoken on Palestinian rights.
“We’re seeing Democrats and progressives who champion Palestinian rights win their primary elections,” he said. “Mamdani’s victory reflects a new generation that is more supportive of the Palestinian cause and increasingly sees Israel as a threat to both American democracy and international law.”
Prism is an independent and nonprofit newsroom led by journalists of color. We report from the ground up and at the intersections of injustice.
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