‘It’s different this time’: Palestinian Americans find support in US progressives Progressive US lawmakers speak out against Israeli military as Palestinian activists say it is a shift from previous language by Erum Salam, Guardian, May 13 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/13/palestinian-americans-react-respond-violence-israel-eid . . . Joe Biden has been criticised by groups within his own party after he made a statement who saying he believes in “Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself”; the statement from the White House failed to address the violence against Palestinians. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took direct issue with Biden’s position, saying: “Blanket statements like these with little context or acknowledgement of what precipitated this cycle of violence – namely, the expulsions of Palestinians and attacks on al-Aqsa – dehumanize Palestinians and imply the US will look the other way at human rights violations. It’s wrong.”
On Twitter, the Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, called out the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, saying: “When will the US condemn racist violence against Palestinians? Is it your policy to support settlers stealing Palestinian homes & burning their lands? Billions of US taxpayer $ support the racist Netanyahu government & the apartheid state they enforce every year.” . . . The current conflict is also proving to be a major issue in the New York City mayoral race. Andrew Yang, the race’s current frontrunner, backtracked after he was lambasted for tweeting his support for Israel without any mention of violence against Palestinians. . . . “To me, Andrew Yang’s tweet was a milestone to the movement. He was immediately, completely demolished on social media. He had to go back and issue a second statement acknowledging Palestinian lives. That’s never happened before. There’s a whole new bar now,” said al-Khatahtbeh. . . . Trump’s Obsessive Attacks Won’t Silence Ilhan Omar’s Defense of Palestinian Human Rights Rather than address concerns about Israeli air strikes killing Palestinian children, Trump and his allies target a Muslim member of Congress. by John Nichols, Nation, May 13 https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-ilhan-omar-palestine-israel/ On Monday evening, Representative Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat who is the former cochair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, responded to news reports of surging violence in Israel and Palestine. Referencing the deaths of Palestinians following Israeli air strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip—including those of a number of young children—the representative declared, “We cannot just condemn rockets fired by Hamas and ignore Israel’s state-sanctioned police violence against Palestinians—including unlawful evictions, violent attacks on protestors and the murder of Palestinian children. U.S. aid should not be funding this violence.” . . . At almost the same time that Pocan spoke up on Monday night, Representative Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat who four years ago became one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, made a statement similar to that of her colleague. She posted a video from a convoluted press briefing where a US State Department official criticized the Hamas “rocket fire that is clearly targeting innocent civilians in Israel” but failed, even after repeated and specific questioning on the matter, to condemn the killing of Palestinian children in Gaza by Israeli air strikes. “This unsurprising response is devoid of empathy and concern for human suffering,” observed Omar. “He can’t even condemn the killing of children.” . . . -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8556): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8556 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82816360/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
