And Members Of Congress Have Their Heads Buried Up Their Asses
When I was a college student people still remembered the Sharpeville Massacre (1960) and there was a lot of agitation against apartheid in South Africa which was tied to the American civil rights struggle in most peoples’ minds— and a lot of pushback from Republicans. But it wasn’t until I graduated and was living abroad that the U.S. finally did something. Ron Dellums (D-CA) introduced the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act in the House in 1972. It wasn’t until 1986 that Congress passed it— over the hysterical objections of racist conservatives screeching about “communism”— and then overrode a veto from Reagan to pass it again. In the Senate there were 21 Republicans who dug in their heals and voted no til the bitter end and in the House 79 extreme right Republicans, joined by 4 racist Democrats, also opposed final passage (overriding Reagan’s veto). Was everyone who voted against it a racist dog? Oh, absolutely— and some of them are still around, like Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Rep Hal Rogers (R-KY), Dick Cheney, then a congressman from Wyoming, Trent Lott (R-MS)… But that isn’t what they said when they were asked why they voted against it. It was all about “communism,” “property rights” and South Africa’s sovereignty.
Before Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed a joint session of Congress today. Chuck Schumer put out a statement say that support for Israel “transcends party politics. I am pleased Congress will have the opportunity to hear from President Herzog, who has always been a great leader and is particularly influential at this time, to commemorate 75 years of the success of the State of Israel and the strong, enduring U.S.-Israel alliance.” But, reported Matt Viser, “the widespread American support for Israel is showing fissures to a degree unusual since the country was founded in 1948, as liberal Democrats especially question its policies toward the Palestinians. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, caused an uproar Saturday by saying at a conference in Chicago “As somebody who’s been in the streets and participated in a lot of demonstrations, I want you to know that we have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state, that the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy, that the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away from us, that it does not even feel possible.”
Of course everything she said is spot on… but Democrats aren’t allowed to say so out loud. Virulent Zionists Hakeem Jeffries, Josh Gottheimer, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other dreck immediately released this deceptive statement:
And they demanded Pramila take her statement back and turned up the pressure full blast. She issued this "clarification":
Progressives who aren’t afraid of the Israel lobby boycotted the speech today. Former Zionist Peter Beinart noted in The Guardian that progressives are right to boycott. Yes, Herzog isn’t as horrible as Netanyahu… but the country he’s the president of pretty much is. “Unlike Netanyahu, Herzog has a long history of at least theoretically supporting a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, which would grant citizenship to the millions of Palestinians who now live as stateless subjects under Israeli control. In 2017, Herzog proposed a freeze on many Israeli settlements. As Israel’s president in 2021, he publicly apologized for Israel’s 1956 massacre of 48 Palestinian citizens in the village of Kfar Qasim. It’s hard to imagine Netanyahu showing that kind of humility and grace. So why are a handful of progressives— including Ilhan Omar, Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez— boycotting Herzog’s congressional address? Because they’re not grading on a curve. And the harsh reality is that if you stop comparing Herzog to the Israeli right and instead evaluate his commitment to the principles of equality and non-discrimination that Democrats claim to cherish, he doesn’t look very good at all. Herzog spent his time as head of Israel’s Labor party looking fearfully over his right shoulder, trying to reassure Jewish Israelis that he could dehumanize Palestinians too… In 2016, Herzog said Labor needed to ditch its reputation as “Arab lovers.”
It should be no surprise that progressives like Omar, Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez— who are fighting desperately against ethnonationalists who want to entrench white Christian supremacy in the United States— would boycott an Israeli president who has made Jewish supremacy the guiding principle of his political career. When Narendra Modi— who is turning India into a Hindu supremacist state— addressed Congress last month, they boycotted him for the same reason. Far harder to justify is the decision of their Democratic colleagues, who proclaim their commitment to equality under the law yet line up to applaud a politician who baldly opposes it.
The Republicans rushed through a resolution by August Pfluger— who’s probably descended from concentration camp guards— expressing the sense of Congress that Congress supports the state of Israel. Yawn. 217 Republicans and 195 Democrats voted for it. 9 Democrats were courageous enough to vote no and Betty McCollum (D-MN) voted “present.” The no votes:
AOC (NY)
Jamaal Bowman (NY)
Cori Bush (MO)
Andre Carson (IN)
Summer Lee (PA)
Ilhan Omar (MN)
Ayanna Pressley (MA)
Delia Ramirez (IL)
Rashida Tlaib (MI)
And there's no worries about where Pervez Agwan, the Blue America-endorsed candidate in Houston would have stood if he was in Congress. No fan of AIPAC, he told The Intercept that "To take money from a lobbying group that dictates your foreign policy, I think it’s completely unacceptable. I do not think it’s OK to take money from a group that openly keeps an apartheid system and an open-air prison where people’s rights are violated... In reality, Israel is an apartheid state that commits atrocities against native Palestinians on a daily basis. That is something that should absolutely be criticized but unfortunately, Republicans and establishment Democrats are too concerned with offending the Israel lobby who bankrolls their campaigns to be honest about what’s going on.”
Meanwhile, priceless antiquites that were loaned to the White House for a week— for a Hanukkah event just before the 2020 election meant to help Trump to woo Jewish voters— were stolen by Trump and are now at Mar-a-Lago. Although they’ve never gone public before, Israeli officials have been trying to get them back for years. As just like with the Pentagon top secret documents he stole, Trump pretends he owns them and refuses to return them. Trump is a scumbag. Everyone who still supports him is a scumbag.
This morning, Rashida sent this out to her constituents in Detroit and to her supporters across the country. Please read it. And if you like it, consider clicking on it and contributing to her, AOC, Jamaal Bowman and Cory Bush, who are boycotting the Israeli president's address to Congress today.
