Weekly Briefing: It’s time for Democrats to stop saying Netanyahu is ‘impressive’ and ‘charismatic’

This week we reported that when Massachusetts Congresswoman Lori Trahan witnessed the complete and humiliating segregation of Palestinians under military occupation in Hebron, including children as young as her daughters– it left her in such despair that she wanted to “sprinkle magic dust and change their situation.”

It’s a shocking statement because there is so much that a U.S. congressperson can do when they witness such conditions. Beginning with the fact that the U.S. gives Israel over $4 billion a year to pay for the soldiers Trahan saw occupying Hebron. That ought to be leverage!

Our representatives could demand that the U.S. stop blocking action against Israel at the International Criminal Court-– and point out that the 17-year-long blockade of 2 million people in Gaza is a war crime.

They could sign on to the congressional letter demanding that the U.S. scrutinize Israel’s routine harassment of Palestinian visitors before putting the country in the visa waiver program.

They could sign on to Betty McCollum’s bill to withdraw aid to Israel over its treatment of Palestinian children like the ones Trahan saw being humiliated before her eyes. Only 26 Congresspeople have signed on to that bill, not including Trahan.

They could stop taking insults and lies from Benjamin Netanyahu lying down. And stop telling us that Netanyahu is “impressive” and “does not lack charisma.”

They could speak out about the fact that the American ambassador promotes the military forces that carry out human rights violations against Palestinians every day (and say, No that’s not “totally normal behavior” for an ambassador).

And finally, they could call what they witness what it is. Apartheid. The systematic legal favoring of one ethnic group over another. The major human rights groups have called it apartheid. So have countless moral leaders (including lately Ban Ki-Moon).

Lori Trahan couldn’t call it apartheid because the Israel lobby group that took her to Hebron refuses to call it apartheid, and says a two-state solution is still in the offing.

In fact, nearly half of Democrats say it’s apartheid. It’s time for the American public to demand more from their representatives.

And bear in mind our summer fundraiser is in full steam now. If you can, help us out!

Thanks for reading,

Phil