Friends,
This has to be one of the worst votes ever cast by the
House of Representatives. In May 2021, Israel killed at least 256
Palestinians, including 66 children. On
May 15, the Israeli Defense [sic] Force destroyed the al-Jalaa Building in Gaza, which housed Al Jazeera and Associated
Press journalists, and a number of other offices and apartments. The press
agencies demanded an explanation; the IDF said at the time that the building
housed assets of Hamas military intelligence. The AP demanded proof of this;
and Israeli government officials obviously failed to provide any proof.
Note that Steny Hoyer led the charge to take tax
dollars needed for climate mitigation, infrastructure and pandemic relief and
gave the funding to a renowned humans rights violator. All Maryland House
members voted in favor of the apartheid State of Israel. The nine no votes were
Democrats Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts, Cori Bush of Missouri, Andre Carson of Indiana, Marie Newman of Illinois, Jesus Garcia of Illinois and Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona and Republican,
libertarian-leaning Thomas Massie of Kentucky. It took a lot of courage to say NO.
An amendment to cut off military aid to police departments was
defeated. All seven Maryland Democratic members of the House voted for
the cut.
Finally, there was an amendment to cut funding for the
Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Program. It failed, but Mfume and Raskin
voted to cut.
Kagiso, Max
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the first
Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress, has been an outspoken critic of
Israeli policies and actions in Palestine. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty
Images)
Praised
for 'Braving the Smears,' Tlaib Votes Against $1 Billion in Military Aid to
Israel
One
rights group thanked Tlaib "for speaking truth to power" while being
attacked "for simply insisting that Palestinians are human beings who
deserve safety, security, and freedom from Israeli apartheid."
September 23, 2021
As the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to approve $1 billion in funding for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, Rep. Rashida Tlaib was lauded by human rights advocates—and lambasted by some of her pro-Israel colleagues—after explaining why she cast one of only nine votes against the measure.
The
House voted 420-9 in favor of the stand-alone Iron Dome funding bill (pdf) days after progressive
Democrats including Tlaib (D-Mich.) blocked the military aid from a
broader spending package. Eight Democrats and one Republican—Rep. Thomas Massie
(Ky.)—voted against the measure on Thursday, while Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)
and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) voted "present."
Rep.
Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), one of the House's most vocal defenders of
Palestinian human rights, voted in favor of the bill.
"I
will not support an effort to enable and support war crimes, human rights
abuses, and violence," Tlaib said on the House floor while explaining her
vote against the Iron Dome funding. "We cannot be talking only about
Israelis' need for safety at a time when Palestinians are living under a
violent apartheid system, and are dying from
what Human Rights Watch said are war crimes."
"We
should also be talking about Palestinian need for security from Israeli
attacks," added Tlaib, who is the first Palestinian-American woman elected
to Congress. "We must be consistent in our commitment to human life,
period. Everyone deserves to be safe there."
Human
rights and pro-Palestinian groups applauded Tlaib's stance. The Institute for
Middle East Understanding (IMEU) thanked the congresswoman "for
speaking truth to power, and for braving the smears leveled at you for simply
insisting that Palestinians are human beings who deserve safety, security, and
freedom from Israeli apartheid."
Jewish
Voice for Peace Action also thanked Tlaib, adding that
"it is outrageous that Democratic leadership is trying to push forward an
additional $1 billion to the Israeli military. Every single progressive member
of Congress should vote no."
Supporters
of Israel, however, condemned Tlaib's vote and remarks.
"The
truth has finally come out on the floor of the House of the United States of
America," said Rep. Charles Fleischmann (R-Tenn.).
"They have a vocal minority in the majority party that is anti-Israel,
that is anti-Semitic, and as Americans we can never stand for that."
"Let's
stand with Israel, let's combat anti-Semitism wherever it is in the
world," he added.
Rep.
Ted Deutch—a staunchly pro-Israel Florida Democrat and chair of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee—also condemned Tlaib's remarks, saying he "cannot allow one of
my colleagues to stand on the floor of the House of Representatives and label
the Jewish democratic state of Israel an apartheid state."
Deutch
said that Tlaib "besmirched our ally" and "falsely characterized
the state of Israel" like "those who advocate for the dismantling of
the one Jewish state in the world."
"When
there's no place on the map for one Jewish state, that's antisemitism,"
Deutch asserted.
Tlaib
and other advocates for Palestinian human rights have been repeatedly attacked by Israel supporters, who
are often accused of conflating legitimate criticism of
Israeli policies and actions with anti-Semitism. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who
along with Tlaib is the first Muslim woman elected to Congress, said in 2019 that such slurs are
"designed to end the debate" about Israel's crimes against
Palestinians.
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