Florida Republican calls for the deaths of all Palestinian civilians

The exchange has since gone viral online, with one clip receiving over 12 million views on X. Nixon is visibly upset in the footage when she responds: “One of my colleagues just said all of them. Wow. One of my colleagues said all of them.”

Nixon spoke out about the exchange online after it transpired, calling for Salzman to be censured by her Republican colleagues, as well as calling for her resignation.

“You have sitting FL legislators calling for the total annihilation of a group of people on the chamber floor. You have some sharing photos of Palestinian babies laying dead in rubble with quotes saying ‘Thank You.’ You have them calling colleagues terrorists,” she wrote on X. “This is what Florida has become under decades of republican leadership. Instead of addressing issues that Floridians care about, those in leadership are emboldening legislators to incite violence on communities.”

The Florida Democratic Party has also heavily criticized Salzman, writing in part: "No elected official in any chamber in the United States of America should advocate for the death of civilians. Israelis and Palestinians are both victims of this war against Hamas."

Salzman has since made her account on X private, but wrote in the days following the backlash that her "comments were unapologetically towards the Hamas regime" and that she "NEVER said Palestine." Many have been quick to note that in the initial statement Salzman responded to, Nixon was addressing "dead Palestinians," not Hamas members.

Others online have pointed out the double standard surrounding censures after U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) was censured by the House of Representatives for using a pro-Palestinian slogan. Tlaib was accused of advocating for the killing of Israelis, despite the slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" making no direct calls for violence. Tlaib defended the phrase as an "aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence."

Now, despite her explicit call for the deaths of Palestinian civilians, Florida Republicans have not yet given any indication that they will censure Salzman.