“Bombs Away” bigot Randy Fine is likely to join the US Congress

Michael F. Brown Power Suits 17 February 2025

Congressional candidate Randy Fine eagerly embraces President Donald Trump’s endorsement. (Facebook page of State Senator Randy Fine)

Florida state senator Randy Fine could soon replace Congressman Brian Mast as the most anti-Palestinian member of the US House of Representatives. Fine won his 28 January Republican primary and is expected to win the general election in his conservative district on 1 April to replace former Congressman Mike Waltz who left the position to serve as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

Fine tallied more than three times more votes in his Republican primary than Josh Weil received in the Democratic primary.

The Republican extremist has a staggering record of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim rhetoric as spelled out last summer by Alex Kane in Jewish Currents.

It’s only become worse since then.

A record of hate

A review of the hatemonger’s record is in order prior to the general election.

Unsurprisingly, Fine is endorsed by Israel lobby group AIPAC, memorably called a “hate group” in 2020 by Congresswoman Betty McCollum.

Trump, a proponent of ethnically cleansing Palestinians from Gaza, has also endorsed the aspiring US House member who prominently highlights their relationship on his Facebook page. The two men spoke to each other yesterday in Florida.

Fine is perhaps best known to those concerned about Palestinian rights for bragging about how well he sleeps as Palestinian children are killed. Under a photograph of a small Palestinian child apparently dead in the rubble and a question as to how he can “sleep at night,” he responded: “Quite well, actually! Thanks for the pic!”

It’s profoundly disturbing commentary from a man who wants to represent hundreds of thousands of Floridians.

When asked by Kane about his comment, the would-be congressman sought to absolve his conscience, denying that the Israeli military and US weaponry sent by then-President Joe Biden hold any responsibility. Instead, he suggested that all Palestinians slain are human shields.

“I don’t personally feel bad when human shields are killed,” Fine commented last year.

When 26-year-old American citizen Ayşenur Eygi was shot dead in September 2024 by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in what eyewitness Jonathan Pollak termed an “intentional killing,” Fine was thrilled. He tweeted about the slain American: “Throw rocks, get shot. One less Muslim Terrorist. Fire Away.”

Eygi, a witness to Israeli human rights abuses, did not throw rocks and was there as a nonviolent freedom fighter, but that mattered not at all to Fine who favored and cheered the apartheid army over a fellow American citizen.

Fine also engages in anti-Semitism against Jews with whom he disagrees politically. He called a man who disagreed with him in 2019 on Palestinian rights “Judenrat” – suggesting collaboration with the Nazis – and questioned his Jewish identity.

Highlighting his anti-Palestinian animus, Fine contends that the Palestinian flag represents “Muslim terror” and is pushing legislation in his state against its display in public school classrooms and other government buildings. Late last year, the Florida bigot described the bill as taking on “fictional country flags like ‘Palestine,’ pro-violence ‘Black Lives Matter’ flags, woke and pro-grooming ideological flags, and the flags of any political candidate in government buildings.”

“Bombs Away”

Fine is further known for threatening potential future colleagues Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. In November 2024 he tweeted: “The ‘Hebrew Hammer’ is coming. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan [Omar] might consider leaving before I get there. Bombs Away.”

That reads as a threat – quite possibly a death threat – against the only Palestinian woman (Tlaib) and the only two Muslim women in the US House of Representatives.

Fine is quick to reach for violent responses, frequently employing his “Bombs Away” tag.

Recently, on 8 February, he seemed to suggest that all Palestinians in Gaza should be bombed. Earlier the same day, Fine contended that Israel has at least one 21,600-pound MOAB – Massive Ordnance Air Blast or “mother of all bombs” – and urged its use in densely populated Gaza, where nearly half the people are children, comparing at least some of the population unfavorably to animals. The securing of such a weapon by Israel would be a significant development and signal a possible attack on Iran rather than Gaza, notwithstanding how enamored Fine is with the idea of pulverizing Gaza and its population.

He also used that “Bombs Away” terminology in late December against the courageous Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya who had stood alongside his patients at Kamal Adwan Hospital for months as they were bombarded by the Israeli military and as his own 15-year-old son was slain.

Abu Safiya is today in Israeli detention and there is widespread concern for his physical well-being. His legal counsel noted a few days ago that he had been subjected to torture by Israeli officials.

In May 2024, Fine wanted to bomb the United Nations because he hates UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, and its efforts to aid Palestinians in the face of a genocidal Israeli assault. He deemed the UN a “terrorist organization” and encouraged bombing it.
In fact, he wants the US to oust the UN, tweeting last month, “From the river to the sea, Manhattan will be UN-free.”

The comment is reminiscent of one he made in November 2023 when he tweeted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will never be.” Fine clearly prefers that Palestinians continue to live under apartheid conditions.

He agrees with former Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a man who supports Trump’s backing of ethnic cleansing and has been convicted of inciting racism, that Israel should take the al-Aqsa mosque compound, also known as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Fine’s tweet signals he supports the viewpoint that Israel should build a synagogue in al-Aqsa mosque. He’s seemingly keen to precipitate a religious war in the region.

More anti-Arab racism

Fine has directed a genocidal rage at Lebanon, calling in September “to turn Beirut into a parking lot.” This view will be right at home with Republican Congressman Max Miller who in 2023 used similar parking lot wording for Gaza.

Just days earlier, Fine called to “flatten” Lebanon. The sentiment is similar to a genocidal comment in 2023 about Gaza from Senator Lindsey Graham.

The veteran South Carolina politician inveighed at the time: “We’re in a religious war here. I am with Israel. Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. Level the place.”

Fine also displays a vile anti-Arab racism in his glee at the thought of injuring and literally castrating people in Lebanon.
Even a funeral procession is a legitimate target for Fine. There seems to be no limit to the violence he condones.
The would-be congressman further delights in destroying eyesight. Playing off his “Bombs Away” tag, he calls for “Eyes Away” and “Page Away” regarding an attack that proved deadly to Lebanese children.
This is the apartheid supporter, castration proponent and openly anti-Arab racist Republicans want to represent them and that the Florida district may well send to Washington after the April general election.

When political leaders spread hate like this, they’re playing with fire. There’s no telling where it will end up, but violent rhetoric of this sort – and the military policies that go along with it – will unloose forces that political leaders can’t predict.

Florida saw horrifying racist violence and ethnic cleansing in the 20th century. Fine’s tenacity in tapping into such sentiments – including against people he dehumanizes as “illegals” (undocumented migrants) – is unsettling and bodes ill for US policy both abroad and at home.

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Michael F. Brown

Michael F. Brown is an independent journalist. His work and views have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, TheNation.com, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The News & Observer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post and elsewhere.