The number of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza nears 35,000. The House of Representatives votes to send $17 billion more in unconditional military aid to Israel.
Led by Representatives Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), eight members of Congress sent a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing their “[deep concern about] the rise in attacks against the Christian community in Jerusalem.”
Today House Democrats voted on who would become Foreign Affairs Committee chair, now that Rep. Eliot Engel has been ousted from congress. They picked New York’s Gregory Meeks over Texas’ Joaquin Castro in a 148-78 vote.
On Thursday, Democrats elected Rep. Gregory Meeks to chair the House Foreign Relations Committee beating Texas’ Joaquin Castro by a vote of 148-78. Castro’s candidacy was seen as a long shot but earned progressive support as a result of calling for troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan, ending U.S. involvement in the war on Yemen, conditioning military aid to Israel, and saying he would bring Palestinian voices to the table if elected.
Ending US military funding must be a crucial pillar among the broad array of progressive movements demanding change. The intersecting struggles against climate change and militarism is an important point of collaboration for the Palestine movement in the push against a Biden administration.
Next week, House Democrats will elect leaders for vacant committee chairmanships, including the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Rep. Joaquin Castro is in the running and has spoken out on one of the most urgent foreign policy issues before us: Palestinian rights and ending U.S. support for Israel’s human rights abuses.
Israeli leaders believe that Donald Trump has set the new normal for US-Israel relations: total acceptance of Israeli expansion. And if Joe Biden is elected president today, Israelis will expect compliance from him; and Biden will likely do little to take Netanyahu on. That’s the view of Israel lobbyists as the pageant of democracy unfolds in the U.S.
Michael Arria is on vacation this week, and Phil Weiss is filling in on trendspotting.…