The Ma’an news agency reports that eight congresspeople entered Gaza this morning. This would be the biggest delegation yet. Amazing (if true). Xinhua is reporting 8, too, on a low profile visit. I’m trying to get names and increase the profile… One report has it that Stephen Lynch, Democrat of Massachusetts, is in the delegation; his office could not confirm.
They will see the devastation and the persecution. They will see the human beings treated like animals. They will see the prisoners’ children who have never met their fathers. They will see farmers who are shot at from frightening high-tech towers when they try and harvest lettuce.
They will see the factories wantonly demolished (like the tile factory below) and meet articulate, appealing people, such as Fares Akram, the man in that picture, who were denied even the ability to flee last winter, and who saw family members killed (his dad, a judge).
All these politicians will make statements about rocket attacks on Sderot, Israel. But some of them will be inwardly radicalized. Many will come back and take on the Israel lobby with strength.
