Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Since the latest bloody conflict broke out between Israel and Palestine, voices calling for restraint or a cease-fire are hard to find in Washington. On the contrary, The US is filled with inflammatory, reckless and crazy talks. 

Gordon Chang, infamous for his "China collapse theory," tweeted on Saturday local time, "#Americans, #China has been making preparations for attacks on our country by agents already in place. What you see now in #Israel could be replayed here, perhaps soon." Nikki Haley, who is running for president, raised her voice the following day, "This is not just an attack on Israel - this was an attack on America. Finish them, @Netanyahu." 

Chang is once again embarrassing himself. When he suggests that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict indicates an imminent attack on the US by China, all he exposes is his ignorance on both Middle East affairs and China-US relations. It is unrealistic to expect any constructive analysis from him, as he only seizes  on every possible issue to yap about China, peddling his anti-China theory, without any logic. Even the word "laughable" does not adequately describe his lack of intelligence. As he has spouted nonsense about China for years, no wonder observers are curious about Chang's mental health. 

Haley, on the other hand, might never have thought that she would become as hysterical and psychotic as Chang one day. Her "finish them" rhetoric borders on a call for genocide. She is a vivid example of what kind of people are steering the wheels in the US' state apparatus. 

Despite serving as the former American envoy to the United Nations, Haley has shown no interest in peace, but only has enthusiasm for fueling conflicts and endorsing violence. If someone like Haley becomes the US president, it would undoubtedly spell disaster for both the country and the world, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times. 

It is hard to understand the extreme rhetoric of Haley and her ilk, who seem to be basically telling their voters that voting for them is equivalent to voting for more conflicts, and the continuation of creating the rivers of human blood in other parts of the world. 

It is equally hard to understand why people like Chang, who has a 20-year plus record of being wrong about China, still get paid by US-based think tanks. Strangely, he has even become a member of the advisory team of Florida Governor, Republican rock star, and another presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis. 

While China emphasizes a solution, specifically the "two-state solution," the US is sending an aircraft carrier strike group to the Mediterranean to be Israel's cheer leader and is exploiting the conflict by spreading bizarre rhetoric, as if there is no faster way to peace than making crazy talks like "finish them" or hinting a titanic showdown between China and the US. 

In case of Israeli-Palestinian puzzle, what is genuinely needed is far from a few politicians making a show, or the so-called humanitarian concern which comes along with a childlike narrative in which all virtue is on one side and all evil on the other. Neither providing weapons nor sending an aircraft carrier group can bring peace to the region, not to mention manipulating public opinion. 

Some American political "elites" cannot resist the urge to steal the spotlight in every possible hot-spot issue by hyping up tensions. For them, being pro-Israel is politically correct in the US, what could go wrong for rooting for political correctness, even if the voices are exaggerated, confuse the facts, and even sound out of mind? They can at least attract more attention, which they believe could bring in more votes. 

It is disheartening to witness such politicians and political advisors prevailing in Washington. They are advancing their own careers at the expense of others and turning the US into an enemy of world peace.