{"id":47739,"date":"2026-04-16T18:26:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47739"},"modified":"2026-04-16T18:26:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:26:46","slug":"jesus-christ-doesnt-support-genocide-vance-heckled-at-turning-point-usa-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/16\/jesus-christ-doesnt-support-genocide-vance-heckled-at-turning-point-usa-event\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Jesus Christ Doesn\u2019t Support Genocide\u2019: Vance Heckled at Turning Point USA Event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Vice<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

US Vice President JD Vance speaks with Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet during an event at Akins Ford Arena in Athens, Georgia on April 14, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audience members also booed the vice president, who claimed the Trump administration \u201csolved\u201d Israel\u2019s war on Gaza.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apr 15, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Vice President JD Vance<\/a> was repeatedly heckled over the Trump administration\u2019s support Israel\u2019s genocide<\/a> in Gaza<\/a> and the US-Israeli war on Iran as he spoke at a Turning Point USA event in Georgia, underscoring frustration among a MAGA base betrayed by promises of a peace presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance was discussing<\/a> his disagreement with Pope Leo XIV\u2019s criticism<\/a> of the Trump administration\u2019s xenophobic immigration<\/a> policies and record-breaking<\/a> warmongering when someone in the audience at the Akins Ford Arena near the University of Georgia in Athens yelled out, \u201cJesus Christ doesn\u2019t support genocide!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Defense<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Citing Scripture, Hegseth Compares Trump to Jesus and Journalists Covering Unpopular Iran War to the Pharisees<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Pope<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Latest Rebuke of Trump and Hegseth, Pope Says \u2018God Does Not Bless Any Conflict\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI agree,\u201d said Vance. \u201cJesus Christ certainly does not support genocide, whoever yelled that out from the dark. He certainly does not. I think that\u2019s pretty easy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some audience members booed Vance\u2019s response, and the heckler shouted, \u201cYou\u2019re killing children<\/a>!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/embed\/did:plc:jbvnehrrdqoulco4rf5gxg5r\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mjj42n3otb22?id=652595758849806&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.commondreams.org%252Fnews%252Fvance-heckled-tpusa&colorMode=system<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of children have been killed by US-Israeli bombing of Iran, including 168 students and staff at a girls\u2019 school in Minab who were massacred<\/a> in a February 28 US cruise missile strike. More than 20,000 Palestinian children have been killed<\/a> by Israel\u2019s war and siege on Gaza<\/a>, according to local officials and international advocacy groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Jesus never supported genocide in the New Testament of the Bible, his purported father commands his followers to commit genocide several times in the Old Testament. Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2014who is wanted<\/a> by the International Criminal Court<\/a> for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes\u2014have invoked<\/a> God\u2019s biblical command<\/a> to \u201cslay\u201d everyone in the Hebrews\u2019 ancient enemy of Amalek, \u201cman and woman, infant and suckling,\u201d as divine sanction to lay waste to Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorneys in the South Africa-led International Court of Justice<\/a> case<\/a> against Israel have pointed to<\/a> Israeli leaders\u2019 references to Amalek as evidence of genocidal intent, a key legal requisite for proving genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance responded to the heckler, asserting that when President Donald Trump<\/a> took office, \u201cthe humanitarian situation in Gaza was an absolute catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo if you want to complain about what happened in Gaza,\u201d he continued, \u201cwhy don\u2019t you complain about Joe Biden<\/a> in the last administration? We\u2019re the administration that solved that problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 20, 2025, former President Joe Biden\u2019s last day in office, the Gaza Health Ministry said at least 47,035 people had been killed by Israeli forces in the coastal strip since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023. Since Trump\u2019s return to power, Israeli forces have killed<\/a> at least 25,280 more Palestinians<\/a> in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Biden and Trump administrations have both supported Israel with tens of billions of dollars<\/a> in armed aid, diplomatic cover including vetoes<\/a> of numerous United Nations<\/a> Security Council ceasefire resolutions, and repeated denials<\/a> that the leading US ally in the Middle East is committing genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is growing unease among many in the MAGA base over Trump\u2019s broken promises of no new wars and lower gasoline prices on \u201cday one,\u201d critics note that this opposition does not indicate a full anti-war shift, as many of the president\u2019s supporters just want the war to end as quickly and cheaply as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning Point USA was co-founded by far-right firebrand Charlie Kirk<\/a>, who was shot dead<\/a> last year while trying to deflect blame for US gun violence<\/a> on gangs. Kirk explicitly opposed<\/a> any US regime change war in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a bid to counter Gen Z\u2019s rightward shift during the\u00a02024 election<\/a>, progressive activist Elise Joshi on Wednesday\u00a0launched<\/a>\u00a0More Perfect University, which aims to mobilize young voters by focusing on the economic issues that affect them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Vice President JD Vance speaks with Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet during an event at Akins Ford Arena in Athens, Georgia on April 14, 2026 \u00a0(Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images) Audience members also booed the vice president, who claimed the Trump administration \u201csolved\u201d Israel\u2019s war on Gaza. Brett… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47739"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47740,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47739\/revisions\/47740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}