In an interview with the New York Times, Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris said she believes Israel meets international human rights standards “overall.” The declaration comes less than a week after Israel wounded ninety-two Palestinian civilians during a weekly protest at the Gaza border, including twenty-eight children and four medics.
Harris made the comments about Israel during a New York Times feature, in which the paper asked a number of the candidates twenty-one questions. One of those questions was, “Do you think Israel meets international standards of human rights?”
Harris: I think that Israel as a country is dedicated to being a democracy, and is one of our closest friends in that region and that we should understand the shared values and priorities that we have as a democracy, and conduct foreign policy in a way that is consistent with understanding the alignment between the American people and the people of Israel.
New York Times: Does Israel meet human rights standards to your personal satisfaction?
Harris: Well, talk in more detail, what specifically are your referring to?
New York Times: As a country overall in terms of how they–
Harris: Overall, yes.
Among Democratic presidential hopefuls, Harris has charted one of the least-critical stances toward Israel, rarely criticizing the country and hewing close to the AIPAC line.
On June 14, Israeli forces wounded 92 Palestinian civilians, including twenty-eight children and four paramedics during a protest at the Gaza border. Palestinians have been protesting every Friday for the last sixty-one weeks, demanding displaced refugees be allowed to return their homeland. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 207 Palestinian civilians have been killed and 12,707 have been wounded since the protests began last March. The deaths include 44 children, 4 paramedics, and 9 disabled people. On one day in May 2018, when the US opened its new embassy in Jerusalem, Israel killed over 60 protesters.
Harris «answered» the question with a lot of irrelevant rhetoric about being «friends» with the Zionist entity. Then, when the question was repeated with only a slight change, she asked for «more detail» only to cut the interviewer off.
Despite what she thinks (or pretends to think), Israel remains dedicated to being:
– a religion-supremacist “Jewish State”;
– primarily of and for Jewish Israelis and non-Israeli Jews; and
– comprising as much as possible of geographic Palestine.
Harris is a disgrace to the US Constitution. It is not credible today that she is unaware of Israel’s long campaign of ethnic cleansing, terrorism, murder, and robbery of the innocent people of Palestine. Quite clearly she is betraying America’s fundamental ideals for money from a foreign country. I know she was only recently elected to the US Senate, but she deserves to be impeached.
Harris, Buttigieg, Booker… they all have made absurdly ignorant comments about Israel as a moral entity. Do the Democrats believe that unless they kiss up to AIPAC et al they will never win the Jewish vote? How discouraging, if so.
Just received from Canada:
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/toronto-raptors-please-skipthetrip-to-israel/
“Toronto Raptors: Please #SkipTheTrip to Israel” The Palestine Chronicle, June 18/19, by Marion Kawas
“On June 13, 2019, the Toronto Raptors won the NBA (National Basketball Association) Championship. A few days earlier, news had broken in the Israeli media that one of the team’s billionaire co-owners, Larry Tannenbaum, had made an announcement in April of this year, that if the team won, he would take them on a trip to Israel.
“Tannenbaum is also one of the founders of the leading pro-Israel advocacy group in Canada, CIJA Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (note how the Zionist lobby seamlessly merges Israel and Jewish!).
“The reaction to this proposed trip was, initially, shock by progressive fans and then a commitment to push back on such a blatant attempt to sports-wash Israel’s war crimes. The Canadian BDS Coalition started a petition on June 14, calling on team members to not be part of such infamy, a petition that has already gathered over 3000 signatures to date.
“An open letter was also sent the following day to the Raptors by BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish’s coordinator, asking them to use their stature and influence to stand with Palestinians in their struggle for freedom and liberation.
“There is precedent here, as the previous NBA champs have declined the traditional White House visit for the last 2 years in opposition to the policies of Donald Trump. There have also been tensions between Trump and National Football League NFL players that have negatively impacted visits to the White House, especially over Trump’s antagonistic reaction to the ‘Take a Knee’ protest.
“And in February 2017, over half of a delegation of NFL players pulled out of an all-expense paid trip to Israel, following comments by the Israeli tourism minister claiming they would become ‘ambassadors of goodwill for Israel.’ Michael Bennett, the first player to withdraw, noted in a public statement:
“I will not be used in such a matter. When I do go to Israel—and I do plan to go—it will be to see not only Israel but also the West Bank and Gaza so I can see how the Palestinians who have called this land home for thousands of years, live their lives. One of my heroes has always been Muhammad Ali. I know that Ali always stood strongly with the Palestinian people, visiting refugee camps, going to rallies, and always willing to be a ‘voice for the voiceless.’ I want to be a ‘voice for the voiceless,’ and I cannot do that by going on this kind of trip to Israel.”
“All of this is happening in an atmosphere of increased repression of Palestinian activism and condemnation and even criminalization of BDS support, both in Canada and the U.S. A recent article in Canada’s National Post even went so far as to suggest the BDS movement represented a ‘national security threat;’ one can only imagine the trajectory from ‘security threat’ to further punitive actions for those who dare to call out Israel’s brutal policies against Palestinians.
“Such heavy-handed tactics will not stem the global movement to reject Israel’s violations of international law and will not stop grassroots campaigns from speaking up. Toronto Raptors fans and activists are asking the new NBA champs to #SkipTheTrip to Israel, be on the side of history and social change, and take a stand for not just Palestinian rights, but the rights of oppressed people all over the world.
“Open Letter to Toronto Raptors
“We are writing to you as long-time fans to urge you to uphold Palestinian human rights and not to travel to Israel. Since 2004 Palestinian civil society organizations have called for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel until such a time as Israel recognizes the Right of Return of over 5 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants displaced in the process of Israeli colonization and occupation of Palestine; ends its occupation and colonization of the West Bank and its siege of Gaza; and dismantles the Apartheid system of racial discrimination and segregation for Palestinian citizens of Israel.
“Around the world, poor and oppressed people have embraced basketball as a sport of the people, and basketball players, many of whom come from poor and struggling backgrounds, have an important history of taking progressive positions and giving back to their communities. From Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Russel’s stand with Mohammed Ali against the draft and the Vietnam War to public and collective statements against police brutality against Black people in America, NBA players have stood on the side of social and racial justice.
“Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, its settlements and its Apartheid Wall are a war crime. The siege of Gaza and the death and misery meted out on an effectively jailed civilian population is a crime against humanity. And its system of racial discrimination and segregation is a form of Apartheid, as articulated by survivors of South African Apartheid including Desmond Tutu and Mandla Mandela (grandson of the great freedom fighter Nelson Mandela).
“As NBA Champions, you have the opportunity to use your stature and influence to make the world a better place for young people all over the world who admire you. Please take this opportunity to stand with Palestinians in their struggle for freedom and liberation, and do not travel to Israel.”
Aiyanas Ormond,
Coordinator, BDS Vancouver-Coast Salish Territories”
– Marion Kawas is a member of the Canada Palestine Association and co-host of Voice of Palestine.