US Vice President JD Vance was repeatedly heckled over the Trump administration’s support Israel’s genocide in Gaza 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.

Vance was discussing his disagreement with Pope Leo XIV’s criticism of the Trump administration’s xenophobic immigration policies and record-breaking warmongering when someone in the audience at the Akins Ford Arena near the University of Georgia in Athens yelled out, “Jesus Christ doesn’t support genocide!”

“I agree,” said Vance. “Jesus Christ certainly does not support genocide, whoever yelled that out from the dark. He certainly does not. I think that’s pretty easy.”

Some audience members booed Vance’s response, and the heckler shouted, “You’re killing children!”

U.S. Vice President JD Vance faced hecklers during a speech at a Turning Point USA event, where he said Pope Leo should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

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— Reuters (@reuters.com) April 14, 2026 at 9:54 PM

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

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—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes—have invoked God’s biblical command to “slay” everyone in the Hebrews’ ancient enemy of Amalek, “man and woman, infant and suckling,” as divine sanction to lay waste to Gaza.

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

Vance responded to the heckler, asserting that when President Donald Trump took office, “the humanitarian situation in Gaza was an absolute catastrophe.”

“So if you want to complain about what happened in Gaza,” he continued, “why don’t you complain about Joe Biden in the last administration? We’re the administration that solved that problem.”

On January 20, 2025, former President Joe Biden’s 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’s return to power, Israeli forces have killed at least 25,280 more Palestinians in Gaza.

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

While there is growing unease among many in the MAGA base over Trump’s broken promises of no new wars and lower gasoline prices on “day one,” critics note that this opposition does not indicate a full anti-war shift, as many of the president’s supporters just want the war to end as quickly and cheaply as possible.

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

In a bid to counter Gen Z’s rightward shift during the 2024 election, progressive activist Elise Joshi on Wednesday launched More Perfect University, which aims to mobilize young voters by focusing on the economic issues that affect them.

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