The encounter came during an event on Palestinian human rights on Capitol Hill two weeks ago. The hall was jammed, and Ruebner reflected that our leaders are going to be surprised by the shift in the discourse that is taking place at the grass roots.
This is from minute 11:
Israel has clearly lost the debate. Its supporters in the United States have clearly lost control of the discourse…. We need to engage our public officials and tell them, Enough is enough. If we don’t, if we shrug our shoulders and we give up, and say the Israel lobby is too strong and too powerful, then what’s the dynamic that we’ve created? We’ve created a dynamic where the only people who our members of Congress are hearing from are people who are in the Israel lobby!
Eliot Engel
And now some of you might consider the traditional forms of lobbying a little too tame for your lights. Let a thousand flowers bloom. I think you all know how to step up the tactics, and step up the tactics we need to do. When we did the congressional brieifng… in the break between, I went out into the hall and who did I run into but Rep. Eliot Engel of New York City… And I said to him, “Rep. Engel, it is time to end military aid to Israel.” And he looked at me kind of shocked, like he didn’t hear me correctly.
He’s like, “Did you say end aid to Israel. No! I support increasing aid to Israel!”
And I told him that he had the blood of hundreds of Palestinian children on his hands. And you know what he did? He just shrugged it off and got on the elevator. Another day of business in Congress. So we’ve got to work on our elected officials and we’ve got our work cut out for us, that’s for sure.
Ruebner is absolutely RIGHT. If we just shrug our shoulders and give up and in, we’re no better than Engel.
(I can’t listen to the video right now, but am looking forward to hearing it later:)) Thanks!
globalconsciousness
August 18, 2014 1:10 pm
I recall during the Iraq war, the linguistic currency turned on the word “civilized” – with both Tony bLIAR and Bush spouting this.
This time around it is “barbaric”
Surely, when Eliot Engel shrugs his shoulders at the suggestion that hundreds of Palestinian children were killed due in part to his sending military aid to Israel – the word barbaric is apposite to say the least.
traintosiberia
August 18, 2014 1:11 pm
Thanks Josh for standing up to the sullied bully .
Kay24
August 18, 2014 1:13 pm
Their attitude is really bad. They openly show disregard for the loss of Palestinian lives, even little children. What are they thinking in their warped little minds? That Arab lives being lost, or little Arab babies being blown up, are acceptable? If these were Jewish lives, would he simply shrug and get away? These congress people are despicable and to even want to send MORE aid (and most probably more weapons and ammunition) after what we have seen and heard, simply show the lack of concern for humanity, deliberately ignoring the casualty numbers, and drinking the zio koolaid has made them unable to be decent human beings whose first priority is the safety and security of unarmed civilians. We have voted for a bunch of morally corrupt zionists calling themselves Americans.
August 18, 2014 1:27 pm
Engel is merely revealing the arrogance of people that have had everything completely their way (the Israel Lobby crowd) for a very long time.
Ruebner is absolutely RIGHT. If we just shrug our shoulders and give up and in, we’re no better than Engel.
(I can’t listen to the video right now, but am looking forward to hearing it later:)) Thanks!
I recall during the Iraq war, the linguistic currency turned on the word “civilized” – with both Tony bLIAR and Bush spouting this.
This time around it is “barbaric”
Surely, when Eliot Engel shrugs his shoulders at the suggestion that hundreds of Palestinian children were killed due in part to his sending military aid to Israel – the word barbaric is apposite to say the least.
Thanks Josh for standing up to the sullied bully .
Their attitude is really bad. They openly show disregard for the loss of Palestinian lives, even little children. What are they thinking in their warped little minds? That Arab lives being lost, or little Arab babies being blown up, are acceptable? If these were Jewish lives, would he simply shrug and get away? These congress people are despicable and to even want to send MORE aid (and most probably more weapons and ammunition) after what we have seen and heard, simply show the lack of concern for humanity, deliberately ignoring the casualty numbers, and drinking the zio koolaid has made them unable to be decent human beings whose first priority is the safety and security of unarmed civilians. We have voted for a bunch of morally corrupt zionists calling themselves Americans.
Engel is merely revealing the arrogance of people that have had everything completely their way (the Israel Lobby crowd) for a very long time.