On Thursday a number of progressive Democratic spoke out against Israel’s ongoing attacks on Palestine.
“How many Palestinians have to die for their lives to matter?” asked Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the only Palestinian member of congress, in an emotional speech.
“If our own State Department can’t even bring itself to acknowledge the killing of Palestinian children is wrong, well, I will say it for the millions of Americans who stand with me against the killing of innocent children, no matter their ethnicity, or faith,” she continued.
A number of the speeches referenced the vast amount of military aid that the U.S. provides Israel.
“We cannot remain silent when our government sends $3.8bn of military aid to Israel that is used to demolish Palestinian homes, imprison Palestinian children, and displace Palestinian families,” said Rep. Ayanna Presley (D-MA). “A budget is a reflection of our values.”
“We are anti-war. We are anti-occupation. And we are anti-apartheid. Period,” declared Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO). “If this body is looking for something productive to do with $3 billion, instead of funding a military that polices and kills Palestinians, I have some communities in St. Louis city and St. Louis county where that money can go. Where we desperately need investment, where we are hurting, where we need help. Let us prioritize funding there.”
The speeches came after a number of pro-Israel Democrats like Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) took to the House floor to defend Israel’s attacks.
“Instead of condemning blatant crimes against humanity and human rights abuses many members of congress have instead fallen back on a blanketed statement defending Israel’s air strikes against civilians under the guise of self-defense,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
“This is our business. Because we are playing a role in it,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). “This is not about both sides. This is about an imbalance of power.”
Earlier this week 25 House Democrats signed a letter calling on the Biden administration to pressure Israel and stop the forced eviction of Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem.
2 of 2
“To avoid this reckoning, the Israeli government and its American Jewish allies insist that Palestinian refugees abandon hope of returning to their homeland. This demand is drenched in irony, because no people in human history have clung as stubbornly to the dream of return as have Jews. Establishment Jewish leaders denounce the fact that Palestinians pass down their identity as refugees to their children and grandchildren. But Jews have passed down our identity as refugees for 2,000 years. In our holidays and liturgy we continually mourn our expulsion and express our yearning for return. ‘After being forcibly exiled from their land,’ proclaims Israel’s Declaration of Independence, ‘the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion.’ If keeping faith that exile can be overcome is sacred to Jews, how can we condemn Palestinians for doing the same thing?
“In addition to telling Palestinians they cannot go home because they have been away too long, Jewish leaders argue that return is impractical. But this too is deeply ironic because, as a refugee rights advocate, Lubnah Shomali, has pointed out, ‘If any state is an expert in receiving masses and masses of people and settling them in a very small territory, it’s Israel.’ At the height of the Soviet exodus in the early 1990s, Israel took in about 500,000 immigrants. If millions of diaspora Jews began moving to Israel tomorrow, Jewish leaders would not say taking them in was logistically impossible. They would help Israel to do what it has done before: build large amounts of housing fast.”
Couple of things:
Ayman Mohyeldin has been absent from his regular slot at 3PM on MSNBC for the last two days.
He was quite tough, direct and fair with a Netanyahu aide, the last time he was on. MSNBC pulled him off coverage back in 2014 for being “too” effective and truthful.
Rachel Maddow, the ratings leader at MSNBC has not mentioned the word “Gaza” on her program in the last three nights. Its the “job” of the ratings leader at a network to take on the tough issues. Maddow is an abject failure in that role.
https://www.wednesdayswars.com
1 of 2
Opinion | Palestinian Refugees Deserve to Return Home. Jews Should Understand. – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
“Palestinian Refugees Deserve to Return Home. Jews Should Understand.” New York Times, May 12/21 by Peter Beinart
EXCERPT:
“Why has the impending eviction of six Palestinian families in East Jerusalem drawn Israelis and Palestinians into a conflict that appears to be spiraling toward yet another war? Because of a word that in the American Jewish community remains largely taboo: the Nakba.
“The Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic, need not refer only to the more than 700,000 Palestinians who were expelled or fled in terror during Israel’s founding. It can also evoke the many expulsions that have occurred since: the about 300,000 Palestinians whom Israel displaced when it conquered the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967; the roughly 250,000 Palestinians who could not return to the West Bank and Gaza after Israel revoked their residency rights between 1967 and 1994; the hundreds of Palestinians whose homes Israel demolished in 2020 alone. The East Jerusalem evictions are so combustible because they continue a pattern of expulsion that is as old as Israel itself.
“Among Palestinians, Nakba is a household word. But for Jews — even many liberal Jews in Israel, America and around the world — the Nakba is hard to discuss because it is inextricably bound up with Israel’s creation. Without the mass expulsion of Palestinians in 1948, Zionist leaders would have had neither the land nor the large Jewish majority necessary to create a viable Jewish state. As I discuss at greater length in an essay for Jewish Currents from which this guest essay is adapted, acknowledging and beginning to remedy that expulsion — by allowing Palestinian refugees to return — requires imagining a different kind of country, where Palestinians are considered equal citizens, not a demographic threat.” (cont’d)
This must be sticking in the gut of every zionist and pro Israel bought and paid for lackey in the senate and House.
The candles are burning in the pro israel side desperate to figure out a way to get back to the good old days when no one dared speak up for the Palestinian People.Now they have to listen as speaker after speaker let,s the zionist cat out of the bag and enlightens the US populace as to what is being done with their hard earned money that ends up in Apartheid Israel.
You can,t unring this bell.The USA can no longer be easliy moved Mr Netanyahu.