Palestinian Knesset member Ahmad Tibi took special aim at Jesse Jackson Jr. of the Congressional Black Caucus partaking in AIPAC’s Israel junket after qualifying that he never expects anything else from “shillings” Cantor or Hoyer. And at Salon, no less:
The real story, tweeted by one wit, is whether any member of Congress would have accepted a trip paid for 20 years ago by an Anglo-Boer lobby-affiliated organization seeking to put a positive shine on apartheid South Africa. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a leader in the anti-apartheid movement, certainly would not have taken a propaganda junket to legitimize whites-only neighborhoods. Yet his son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., has visited here, where ethnic-religious discrimination is written into law.
……
But I do expect Jackson and the other members of the caucus (other than Rep. Allen West, advocate of torturing Arabs) to reject colonization and racial discrimination. Their complacency in the face of modern-day colonization and their adoption of hard-line AIPAC positions stand in stark contrast to the beliefs of many Americans I have met who believe wholeheartedly that it is wrong for Israel to discriminate against Palestinians.
The visitors will be meeting with opposition parties in the Jewish state, but none of them — not a single one — is scheduled to meet with Palestinian members of the Knesset even though our existence is often highlighted when Israel’s defenders seek to refute charges that Israel is an apartheid state. Israel does allow its Palestinian citizens to vote — bully for them (this is the 21st century) — but its commitment to discriminate against Palestinians is explicit and growing.
I urge everyone to read the entire article. After giving the reps a little lesson on apartheid, Tibi lectures them about what they need to do, specifically “public statements from our American visitors expressing grave reservations about Israel’s oppressive treatment of Palestinians in the territories and Israel. ”
And he doesn’t stop there
I’ve been advised such words would be political suicide. If true, if speaking for equality and non-discrimination is now political suicide, then America’s problems are even bigger than the recent debt debacle fomented by many of the Republican representatives now visiting Israel.
(Hat tip to Richard Silverstein and what’s up with Ben Ami, he should learn to choose his battles wisely)
