#all support for Rep Rashida Tlaib

[juanabaloo]

fuck CNN and fuck Jake Tapper

in case you haven't been keeping track, CNN has moved right. if you used it as a rough barometer of neutral or center, know that it has moved right. (edited typo, now vs know)

[walks-the-ages]

For those who have somehow forgotten:

Biden is still the current US President for the next 5 months.

He is still committing genocide as we speak.

Congress members were giving standing ovations to Netanyahu today while Rashida Tlaib was there decked out in Palestinian garb to protest, while other "progressives" simply didn't attend, instead of using their voice to actually speak up directly in the face of modern day hitler like Rashida Tlaib, but what fucking ever.

Biden is still in office.

Biden is still committing genocide.

Do not stop the pressure.

Ramp it up to 110%.

Make it clear to Democrats that we will not be voting for ANY OF THEM in November if they don't stop with the genocide, they can't just replace Biden and act like he's uniquely the problem, not when most of them are applauding modern day fucking Hitler as he stands there to plead his case for more and more billions of weapons!

Kamala Harris is just as complicit in the Genocide as Joe Biden!

If she cared about Palestinians, she could have spoken up at ANY point til now and right now, including moving forward!

Scream it from the rooftops and social media!

Tank their polling numbers!

Make them terrified enough of losing votes they don't just pressure Biden to step down as they did because of the above tactics, but they ALSO need to immediately cease all fucking aid and weapons shipments to Israel and comply with international law!

Palestine will be free!

Keep the pressure on! Call and email all of your reps and demand that they comply with international law and arrest Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes! Demand that they use their power to call for a ceasefire, or they will not get your vote!

If you are too cowardly and spineless that you cannot even pretend to withhold your vote as leverage against Democrats *to stop a Genocide*, if you try to leave some liberal bullshit on my post about "voting blue no matter what they do", "trump would be the same or worse", etc, you won't get a response, you'll just get blocked.

EDIT: August 21st, 2024: this goes double for Kamala Harris, btw. It doesn't matter how often she says "ceasefire" or "we care about civilians", if she's continuing to say that "we fully support Israel defending itself" and being part of the team that just this week, on August 13th 2024, signed yet another fucking 20 billion dollar arms deal to israel.

Killer Kamala Harris is just as complicit and enthusiastic about the genocide of Palestinians as Genocide Joe Biden. She is currently in office. She is currently in power. She is getting paid almost 200k dollars this year as VP and she's continuing to support Israel's genocide of Palestinians.

You can not be the Vice President, the second in command of the entire fucking nation, and not be complicit when your office agrees to send another 20 billion dollars in weapons to Israel.

If she cared, she would have spoken up long ago. She would be publicly against Biden.

Despite what "coconut-pilled" liberals would have you believe, the VP is not the slave of the POTUS and incapable of making any statements against their partner.

If Kamala Harris cared about Palestinians, she would actually be using her power as Vice President to get things done.

She is not some helpless woman left on the wayside with no power. She is the Vice President of the United States. She has plenty of political power, especially after Biden fully endorsed her.

[odinsblog]

The U.S. House of Representatives - including 22 Democrats - voted to censure the only Palestinian American in Congress, Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), for her criticism of Israel and calls for Palestinian rights. The censure resolution, led by Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), falsely accuses Tlaib of defending the Hamas attack as “justified” resistance and calling for the “destruction of the state of Israel.”

“Trying to bully or censure me won’t work because this movement for a cease-fire is much bigger than one person. There are millions of people across our country who oppose Netanyahu’s extremism and are done watching our government support collective punishment and the use of white phosphorous bombs that melt flesh to the bone. But let me be clear: My criticism has always been of the Israeli government and Netanyahu’s actions. It is important to separate people and governments. No government is beyond criticism. The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it’s being used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation. What I don't understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all.” - Rashida Tlaib

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Corey Walker

A caucus affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a left-wing political organization that counts members of the US Congress among its ranks, has issued a public endorsement of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. 

The Red Star Caucus, a self-described “Marxist revolutionary” faction of the DSA, published an article on Friday glorifying the actions of Hamas, an Islamist organization that launched the war in Gaza on Oct. 7 by slaughtering more than 1,200 people throughout southern Israel. The caucus argued that lending support to the terrorist group is necessary to secure “Palestinian liberation.”

“To support a resistance without Hamas is to support something which does not exist. It is to support no resistance at all,” the group wrote. “And in turn, to spend our time on criticism of Hamas as an organization validates the widespread opinion that Hamas is an existential danger (too extreme for even the communists!) and lends credence to Israel’s justification of its onslaught. When we hear every anti-Palestinian group call for the destruction of Hamas, do we lend our voices to those calls, or stand with Palestine and its resistance?”

The group added that support for Hamas’ genocidal ambitions against Israel are necessary to secure a socialist future. 

“We must recognize what our struggle for socialism entails, and who our allies are. Those allies will be the resistance movements which actually exist, the opponents of capitalism and imperialism around the world!” the Red Star Caucus added. 

The Democratic Socialists of America, one of the country’s premier leftist political advocacy organizations, has mobilized in recent years to elect anti-Israel members to Congress. Influential lawmakers such as US Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Greg Casar (D-TX), and Cori Bush (D-MO) are all current members of the socialist organization. Others such as Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Summer Lee (D-PA) are former members.

None of these lawmakers responded to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment on the Red Star Caucus’s endorsement of Hamas.

However, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), a staunch supporter of Israel, slammed the Red Star Caucus as “antisemitic” on X/Twitter. 

[phoenixyfriend]

Suggested topics to call your reps about today, 1/30/24!

I’ve been doing two subjects per call recently; one is almost always about the events in the middle east, and then one is domestic policy. I’m including a bit of verbiage you can use as basis for what you say (if you agree with me), for a few of these.

BOTH SENATE AND HOUSE:

Foreign Policy: Reinstate funding for UNRWA. While the claims made by Israel that employees of the relief agency were involved in Oct. 7th are troubling, this arm of the UN is currently providing food, water, shelter, and medical care to the 2.3 million displaced peoples of Gaza. It is especially disturbing and concerning that the many children of Gaza, who are already suffering due to this conflict, are now having this support revoked.

Warn Congress to reaaaaally think about whether a strong response to the incident in Jordan, currently attributed to an Iraqi group backed by Iran, if we're truly looking to avoid a wider regional war as claimed. There is already growing unrest in Yemen and the threat of another civil war, fire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and now the situation with the Islamic Resistance. Caution them against an overreaction of the kind that the US has a tendency towards.

FOR THE SENATE: Urge your senator to put their support behind Bernie Sanders and his motion to restrict funding to Israel until a humanitarian review of the IDF’s actions in Gaza has been completed.

FOR THE HOUSE: Urge your representative to put their support behind Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s petition for the US government to recognize the IDF’s actions in Gaza as ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, and put a stop to it.

Domestic Policy

House of Representatives:

Expansion of the child tax credit. The House of Representatives is currently voting on whether or not to expand the child tax credit that was instated during COVID-19. This credit offers a return on taxes for individuals with children, but currently does not apply to families that are too poor to qualify. During COVID, this tax credit was expanded to include those families, and child poverty fell to record lows, but as it was a temporary measure, those children are getting left behind again. Given the effectiveness the expansion of this tax regulation showed in the past, it would be a net positive for the country as a whole to codify it more permanently.

Other things coming up in the next week if you think your rep might be receptive:

H.R. 6976: Protect Our Communities from DUIs Act: Vote no. This act is discriminatory and enforces harsher penalties on immigrants than in legal citizens. While DUIs are a significant issue, enacting stronger guidelines on a small portion of the population that is already at risk from discriminatory police action is not a solution.

H.R. 6679: No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act - Vote no or dismiss if possible. Terrorism is already considered a reason to reject immigrants. This bill is pointless peacocking. You have better things to do with your time.

H.R. 6678: Consequences for Social Security Fraud Act - Vote no. This proposed act is discriminatory and enacts unduly harsh sentences against minorities. The system already has punishments for fraud; this specific act is unnecessary.

H.R. 5585: Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act - Are you sensing a pattern? It's discriminatory! Evading law enforcement on a motor vehicle is already illegal, you do not need to ADD IMMIGRATION PENALTIES.

Senate:

Abortion rights. Domestically, for the senate, push for abortion rights.

Specific things coming up in the next week if you think your Senator might be receptive:

H.R. 6914: Pregnant Students’ Rights Act - Call to ask that the resolution EXPLICITLY include abortion access, or otherwise vote against. This passed the house on strict party lines; other than a handful of abstentions, the vote was all republican for and all dems against. The text of the proposal is explicitly anti-abortion.

H.R. 6918: Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act - same as above, it was very partisan in the house vote, though less explicitly anti-abortion in the text. Nonetheless, it focuses explicitly on protecting funding to "pregnancy centers," which are often anti-choice and dedicated to pushing patients towards keeping a baby they don't want.

DOMESTIC POLICY, BOTH BRANCHES OF CONGRESS: Border policy is currently being hotly debated and negotiated. A very strong policy in favor of the Republican party is the status at the moment. Even some democrats are in favor of it due to small border communities being ill-equipped to handle large numbers of migrants, and states usually removed from the situation getting migrants bussed in from Texas despite telling Texas to knock it off. Despite some Republicans saying that they have gotten everything they could want out of the current deal, the party at large is refusing to pass it as the politics of the debate are more useful to the coming election than actually passing policy. This is also causing delays in passing the federal budget.

I... don't actually want to tell anyone WHAT to think of the border policy since I do not have any real knowledge on the budget impacts and resources dictating the actual problems (nor the racism or xenophobia, that part is obviously bullshit). I can recognize that too some degree, there is a genuine issue of manpower and budget restriction impacting the ability to house and process immigrants.

However, DREAMers are not being considered in the current deal, the delays in the deal are impacting the federal government and threatening a partial shutdown, and people are STILL getting hurt and even dying at the border.

I would focus on protection for DREAMers, chastising the Republicans for deliberately delaying the budget in order to use the border as a reelection premise instead of actually working on the policy they claim to want (emphasize that they are going to lose votes for focusing on reelection at the expense of their people), and protection for children, parents with those children, and nonviolent migrants in general.

[beardedmrbean]

After facing backlash for refusing to defend her state's attorney general against a suggestion of religious bias, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a statement Monday condemning Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., for the "antisemitic" allegation.

"The suggestion that Attorney General Nessel would make charging decisions based on her religion as opposed to the rule of law is antisemitic," Whitmer wrote in a statement shared by CNN host Jake Tapper. "Attorney General Nessel has always conducted her work with integrity and followed the rule of law. We must all use our platform and voices to call out hateful rhetoric and racist tropes."

Whitmer's statement comes one day after she refused to take a side in the feud between the state's Attorney General Dana Nessel and Tlaib, who accused Nessel of bringing charges against anti-Israel campus protesters at the University of Michigan because she is Jewish.

‘IS THIS A JOKE?’ RASHIDA TLAIB FURIOUS AT BLINKEN FOR CELEBRATING GENEVA CONVENTIONS ANNIVERSARY

Nessel, Michigan's first Jewish attorney general, charged nine university students for refusing to leave the anti-Israel encampments in May after police ordered them to vacate, the Detroit Metro Times reported. They are being charged with trespassing and resisting or obstructing a police officer, according to the outlet. Two additional people were charged with attempted ethnic intimidation and malicious destruction of personal property at a separate anti-Israel protest.

Tlaib, a ‘Squad’ member and vocal critic of Israel, suggested that the charges from Nessel were "shameful" and religiously motivated, telling the Detroit Metro Times in an interview, "it seems that the Attorney General decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs."

Nessel responded on X, "Rashida Tlaib should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as Attorney General. It’s anti-Semitic and wrong.'"

In an interview on CNN’s "State of the Union" Sunday, Tapper asked Whitmer whether she agrees with Nessel, a Democrat, that Tlaib's accusation about her charging anti-Israel campus demonstrators because of her personal religious bias was rooted in antisemitism. 

JEWISH TEEN'S ASSAULT IN MICHIGAN UNDER INVESTIGATION AS POSSIBLE ANTISEMITIC HATE CRIME:POLICE

"Do you think Attorney General Nessel is not doing her job? Because Congresswoman Tlaib is suggesting that she shouldn’t be prosecuting these individuals that Nessel says broke the law, and that she’s only doing it because she’s Jewish, and the protesters are not," Tapper asked. "That’s quite an accusation. Do you think it’s true?"

"I’m not going to get in the middle of this argument that they’re having," Whitmer replied. "I can just say this: We do want to make sure that students are safe on our campuses, and we recognize that every person has the right to make their statement about how they feel about an issue, a right to speak out. And I’m going to use every lever of mine to ensure that both are true."

Her hesitation to defend Nessel caught the attention of Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who scolded the governor for failing to support her attorney general.

"@GovWhitmer, when your attorney general prosecutes people for violating the law, harassing Jews, and attacking police officers, it’s in the interest of public safety. When a congresswoman accuses the attorney general of prosecuting protesters simply because she’s Jewish, it’s bias," he wrote on X.

"Saying you want to ‘make sure that students are safe on our campuses’ is just words if you are not willing to use your bully pulpit to speak out unequivocally on antisemitism and support holding people accountable for violating the law when it affects Jews," he said.

[eretzyisrael]

by Corey Walker

Arguing that anti-Zionist activists are part of a long tradition of “freedom fighters” and “liberators,” Hill implored the US federal government to revoke all economic and diplomatic assistance to Israel, including support at the United Nations Security Council. He also argued that defeating Zionism is a necessary stepping stone on the path to ultimately dismantling capitalism.

“Stop it! Tell the truth! Stand up for freedom!” he said. “Do the work of liberation! Until Palestine is free, until Sudan is free, until Congo is free, until Haiti is free, not one single one of us free! Free Palestine, from the river to the Motherf—king sea!” Hill said, triumphantly pumping a balled fist in the air. 

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine shall be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists — has been widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Algemeiner asked the panelists why there was no mention of Oct. 7 or Hamas when discussing the causes of the ongoing war in Gaza. The outlet also asked whether the panelists believe Hamas should surrender in exchange for the sake of preserving Palestinian life.

“I feel like we have this reflexive take in American media politics where we have to say, ‘What about Hamas?'” Hill said in response in a mocking tone, adding that invoking the terrorist group is “unnecessary” and “excessive.”

“Hamas hasn’t surrendered because they’re still under brutal occupation. Hamas hasn’t surrendered because Israel has never given the Palestinian people one minute, one moment of self-determination, freedom, or liberation,” Hill said. 

“And so, when you talk about Hamas, when you talk about Oct. 7, you [should] also talk about Oct. 6. Because, history didn’t start on Oct. 7,” he continued.

Hill went on to say that although it is against his “moral code” to maim, rape, and slaughter thousands innocent civilians or abduct hundreds of innocent bystanders, as Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists did on Oct. 7, he believes that it is not his “job to tell people how to liberate themselves.”

“The question presumes, and it is undergirded by a kind of orientalist, white supremacist idea that Palestinians are these unyielding, barbaric, uncivilized, premodern people that are incapable of negotiation.”

The academic then defended Hamas as a “democratically-elected organization that has been systematically undermined.” He urged the audience not to talk about Hamas “like they’re some irrational crazy people,” arguing that the Islamist group’s actions are motivated by a “backdrop of Israeli settler-states that sexually abuse people, that steal land, that kill people.”

“Let’s have a real conversation about Hamas, not the neoliberal, dishonest, orientalist conversation about Hamas,” Hill concluded. 

Hill has a long history of peddling anti-Israel narratives and calling for explicit violence against the Jewish state. In 2018, Hill was fired from his position as a CNN contributor for calling for “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a phrase which according to critics implies a genocide or mass expulsion of Jews from Israel. He has also voiced support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS), an initiative which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as the first step toward its eventual destruction. The pundit additionally praised antisemitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan — a hate preacher who has referred to Jews as “termites” and called Nazi leader Adolph Hitler “a very great man.” In 2019, Hill skewered mainstream media outlets as “Zionist” organizations, a nod to the antisemitic conspiracy theory notion that Jews control the media. The progressive activist also pushed an unsubstantiated claim that Israel is “poisoning” Palestinian drinking water.

Following the panel, The Algemeiner was pulled aside by a pair of individuals connected to the event and grilled about the publication’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and whether it supported “black solidarity with the Palestinian community.”

[gentil-minou]

Hi, I just wanted to say thank you for voting third-party. I know a lot of folks have said third-party votes are wasted, but with the way things are going, I'll probably vote third-party, too, and it's nice to know there are other people out there who care more about following their beliefs than standing by a broken system.

Maybe this will be the election people realize it's not a waste.

(Also, I'm sorry folks are being nasty in your inbox. Hope things get better soon. On all counts.)

<3 <3 <3

Thank you for also voting third party!! I used to do it more back when I first started voting because I actually believed in the democratic process, until I was disillusioned by a rigged system and started voting blue because it felt like I had no choice.

Every year I voted blue I had to convince myself "this is fine. This is better than the other guy" even though I knew their warmongering policies and how they leaned too close to the center for comfort. Voting Clinton and Biden last couple cycles felt like I had to, because I was able to wear the blinders long enough to gaslight myself into thinking I actually wanted them as my president. Because I had to or else I'd "waste my vote"

I refuse to do that anymore. Now I realize I'd waste my vote by giving it to someone who would rather see us dead than lose their money and power. I'd waste my vote giving it to a broken system.

The people shaming everyone to vote blue act like I'm voting for Trump by default if I don't vote Biden, and look i followed the same rhetoric in 2020. I'm sure if you go back in my posts I said the same thing.

But the line was crossed somewhere around the minute I learned my money funded the deaths of thousands, and always has. The line was crossed when I learned the president I called into power cares more about his military pet project than life. The line was crossed when I realized Biden is old enough to remember when Palestine was it's own free nation but refuses to, because he follows the age old American tactic of "This land is my land, actually, not yours"

So yeah I'm done with feeding into a system like that.

And here's the thing about this newest generation of voters: they are soooo powerful and they are so much braver than I was at their age. They know that meaningful movement and cooperation can overtake a corrupted system. The Dems and Republicans are both terrified of them because they know they're not as easy to indoctrinate into their philosophy.

I genuinely believe that if we can use the millions and millions of people who voice support for Palestine to also put their vote towards someone else, like Claudia in the socialist party who I've been keeping an eye on or the representatives that have actually backed up calls for ceasefire, like Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar and I'm proud to say my own rep, who are trying to move the dem party to a place that actually represents me.

If millions back a third party candidate, that says something. It says we aren't going to fall into the traps laid by the generations before us. It's says we are going to fight for what we believe in.

Revolution does not happen in a year or two. It takes a lifetime. And if there's anything that I've learned from Palestinians it's that the cause for a truly free world is worth fighting for no matter how many decades it takes.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:

Missouri secretary of state candidate Valentina Gomez was in D.C. yesterday and she stopped by Congress, apparently to get mad at the flags one congresswoman flies in front of her office. “This is a United States congresswoman and the only flag that should be allowed is the American flag,” Gomez said while standing in front of Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-MI) office at the Capitol. Several flags can be seen in the background, including a Palestinian flag, a Philadelphia rainbow flag, and a Michigan state flag. “Not all of this gay garbage or Palestinian garbage,” she continued. Tlaib is of Palestinian descent and an LGBTQ+ ally. “And let me remind you, you serve the American people,” Gomez said, addressing Tlaib. “Not the pedophiles or the terrorists that these flags represent.” “You’re supposed to serve the American People. Not these gay terrorists,” Gomez wrote in sharing the video.

Republican Missouri Secretary of State candidate Valentina Gomez launched a hateful diatribe aimed at the LGBTQ+ and Palestinian flags in front of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)’s office.

Tlaib is from Michigan who is an LGBTQ+ ally and has Palestinian ancestry, so this is her way of expressing her identity and solidarity.

Gomez hatefully insinuated that the Philly Pride variant of the LGBTQ+ Pride Flag and the Palestinian Flag represent “pedophiles” and “terrorists” respectively.

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

Vote-blue-at-all-costs people: Please stop using these arguments:

"Refusing to vote for Biden because he's committing genocide is childish/spiteful/stupid": 14,800 people are dead. What number does the death toll need to reach for you to consider opposing genocide the "mature" decision? Oh, wait, let me guess. There is no number. Just as long as it's not you getting hurt. Using that argument shows people you're a cunt.

"But what about meeeee!!!!!": You're a stupid cunt. You think he won't turn on you?

"He would never turn on Americans!": A willfully ignorant, stupid cunt. He already is. People are getting arrested for peaceful protests. People are being fired for opposing genocide. Rashida Tlaib was censured, and no, not by him, but did he come to her defense? Has he spoken out in defense of antigenociders right to protest? Spoken out in defense of free speech in reference to people getting fired? What about in response to the silencing of Jewish Voice for Peace? No. People who oppose genocide are likened to nazis and deemed antisemitic. Because he only cares about freedom of speech and freedom to protest when no one is protesting genocide.

And we've seen in history that genocidal maniacs do not make safe allies. Get in bed with one at your own peril.

"We just need to influence him to do better!": We've been protesting and calling reps for a month and a half. And yes, they are slowly caving. But we should not need to beg our leaders for a month and a half to cede to the will of the people. Especially when that will is to not commit genocide. Genocide is something that even if all of America wanted, a leader should oppose.

"Actually, he's helpless, and none of this is his fault!" He wants to give billions to Netanyahu. He has repeated unconfirmed information, knowing it will stir up Islamophobia. He doubted the death toll when his administration knew it was higher.

"You're an idiot!": Oddly enough, you won't be able to get us to support genocide by hurting our feelings.😭

"Trump is worse!" No, he's different. Different is not the same as worse or better. Biden and Trump are just as evil. Biden just hid it better. People didn't see Bundy as evil for quite a while. Even after his arrest, a lot of people thought he couldn't possibly be guilty. Spoiler alert, he was. But even the highest estimates of the number of people Bundy killed only go into the hundred. Biden's funded the murders of over 14,800 people and hasn't even pretended to call for a ceasefire.

"If Trump wins, it will be your fault!" 🙄 No. It will be Biden's and the Democrat's fault. All Biden had to do was not commit genocide. I would have voted him. A lot of people would have. Because while his flaws were mounting, he had not yet reached the stage where he was the same as Trump. But genocide is not a mere pecadillo. It is a huge fucking deal. And despite everyone warning him that this is a deal breaker, he has continued to commit genocide. He chose to forfeit our votes.

Moreover, we have made it clear that we have a very reasonable demand of Democratic candidates: Don't commit or condone genocide. The DNC has time to shift and meet this demand. If it chooses not to do so, they choose to lose the election.

[iwriteaboutfeminism]

Genuine question: What should you say if your rep only voted 'present'? I'm very disappointed they didn't vote no, but it's not a yes vote. This is in regard to your post about Rashida Tlaib, btw.

Great question! Here's one option:

"I'm calling to say that I'm disappointed the Congressperson did not vote against the censure of Representative Rashida Tlaib. We should all be speaking out against genocide. I hope my Congressperson will join Representative Talib in supporting the Ceasefire Resolution. "

[aci25]

House Representative and only Palestinian-American in Congress, Rashida Tlaib, defends herself ahead of the eventual decision by the House to censure her

House Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American lawmaker in the US Congress, was censured by her fellow representatives for her comments on Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, specifically for saying “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

The slogan, which is universally regarded among Palestinians and allies as a call for freedom for Palestinians across all of historic Palestine, the end of apartheid, the return of refugees to their ancestral homelands, and of peaceful coexistence with all ethnic groups in the country, has been used by extreme Zionists to paint the Palestinian movement as a violent one.

Representative Rashida has been constantly vilified and abused by Republicans since she joined the US Congress, who have attempted to paint her as a violent, aggressive Arab, even though she has done nothing but stand for peace, non-violence and justice for all. They have repeatedly shown a complete disregard to her background as a refugee, whose family still lives under brutal occupation in the West Bank and whose people are currently being slaughtered in the thousands by Israeli bombs.

22 of her fellow House Democrats, including Jim Costa of California, shamefully voted to censure Tlaib, even though the vast majority of US Democrats support a ceasefire. 👇

Historically speaking, a censure is a rare move, with Congress only having censured 25 members before Rashida during its entire history, usually for very serious offences. It is mostly a symbolic rebuke with no real effect, but still a significant one due to its rarity in the history of the US.

From Rashida’s statement: “Do you realize what it’s like, Mr. Chair, for the people outside the chamber right now, listening in agony to their own government dehumanizing them? To hear the President of the United States, we helped elect, dispute death tolls, as we see video after video of dead children and parents under rubble?”

[undergroundusa]

"Today, President Biden heartily endorses the Iran nuclear deal—which President Trump canceled––and has let Israel know that he adamantly opposes Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear sites. That is the same Iran whose stated mission for decades is to eradicate “The Big Satan” (America) and to exterminate from the face of the earth “The Little Satan” (Israel).

"And we all know how thunderously silent Mr. Biden was back when his violently racist fellow Democrats––Reps. Ilhan Omar (MN), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)—and a long list of simpatico Jew-hating, Israel-loathing activists––spewed their undisguised anti-Semitic bile for all the world to hear…"

So, why do liberal Jews still support the Democrat Party when, clearly, the Democrat Party is increasingly anti-Israel and anti-Jewish?

https://www.undergroundusa.com/p/liberal-jewsdont-be-jews-with-trembling

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

By Daniel J. Samet

AIPAC isn’t the reason why Bowman or other anti-Israel progressives lose.

They’re being ousted from office because their loony views, including but not limited to anti-Zionism, are far out of step with their districts.

AIPAC, which has been around since 1963, is a convenient target for their anti-Israel grievances.

The group has long taken flak from opponents who argue that it nefariously influences American policy, but its critics are mistaken.      

Take campaign contributions, for which AIPAC is often attacked: AIPAC has the same First Amendment rights that all Americans do.

One wonders why this one group, whose staff and supporters are significantly Jewish, is so criticized for backing candidates who support the world’s sole Jewish state.

And AIPAC is far from the nation’s most prolific campaign contributor: According to Open Secrets, it has been outspent by 11 other political action committees this election cycle.

When was the last time you heard someone deplore the machinations of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, for example?

If AIPAC-haters had any interest in being honest, they would acknowledge that the group is hardly the only one to give money to politicians it supports.

And the money AIPAC spends often doesn’t bear fruit — in this and past years, it has backed its fair share of losing congressional candidates.

Some of AIPAC’s fiercest critics, like Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), remain in office.

[walks-the-ages]

Someone on Facebook today said something that really hammered it in:

[ID: a censored screenshot of a comment from Facebook that reads "The Sooner we all realize that [Bernie] Sanders exists soley to sheepdog progressive, anti-war, health and enviornment-oriented voters back into the democratic party, who then fail to deliver time and time again for 40 years, the sooner the party can implode and be forced to do some soul searching." End ID]

this, 100%.

"When Congress comes back in session, we're going to vote on my plan to stop sending arms to Israel!" Bernie Sanders proclaims

"Oh," you think to yourself, "When Does Congress come back into session? Surely it's before the November 5th election?"

*checks*

"Oh." You realize.

Because Congress doesn't return until November 12th 2024.

Literally a full week after the November 5th election!

One year since she introduced a resolution for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said she hasn’t seen any indication that a Kamala Harris presidency would result in a different U.S policy toward Israel.  “I have not seen anything different than, we continue to send the weapons to facilitate the violence,” Bush told The Intercept. “As long as we are continuing to send the weapons and the funding to bomb people, to destroy, to exterminate a whole people, then everything else is just talk.” Amid growing public outrage over U.S. support for Israel’s war, President Joe Biden has reportedly used tough language with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and in one instance, paused a weapons shipment. Yet there has been no fundamental shift in policy: the U.S. has sent $17.9 billion to Israel over the last year, and even as the administration this week warned Israel that its failure to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza could affect U.S. military aid, a White House spokesperson said the letter was “not meant as a threat.”  For Bush, the White House’s admonishments ring hollow so long as the military aid keeps flowing. “I hear the stern words,” she said. “We can’t say that we want the violence to stop, and then we help hand over the weapons that cause the violence.”  Bush, along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was one of the earliest congressional proponents for a ceasefire in Gaza — a position that was seen as a third rail in Washington. During a White House press conference, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described calls for a ceasefire as “repugnant,” “disgraceful,” and “wrong,” while congressional Democrats piled on Tlaib. Since then, Israel has killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza and expanded its war into Lebanon, where it has also killed thousands of people.  “We had foresight at that time,” Bush said. “Had the administration listened then, where would we be now?”  ... When Congress reconvenes in November, the Senate will take up the Sanders resolution to block the $20 billion weapons sale proposed in August. Bush said a vote on the legislation is an important next step for Congress. “I do think that that is a critical move when we’re looking at what all we can do to end this cycle of violence,” Bush said, “and sending this clear message that the U.S. can’t continue to fund military action.”

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"The People's House is back in business," said Dana Milbank, and it's "crazier than ever." If anyone hoped the elevation of Rep. Mike Johnson to the speaker's chair "might calm the chaos and fratricide among House Republicans," the antics of the past week punctured that fantasy.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who famously claimed that wildfires were started by space lasers operated by Jews, tried to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for allegedly being antisemitic.

Nearly two dozen Republicans joined Democrats in tabling the resolution-so irritating Greene she sarcastically told the white-goateed Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), "Oh shut up, Colonel Sanders." Greene also attacked the "vaping groping Lauren Boebert" - the rival congresswoman recently videoed vaping and groping a boyfriend's groin inside a theater.

In another ugly feud, Rep. Jason T. Smith (R-Mo.) blasted Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for creating chaos by forcing out previous speaker Kevin McCarthy, prompting Getz to respond that Smith "lives a lie every day" - insinuating that he's gay.

As for Johnson, he indicated support for impeaching Joe Biden, and said that if people want to know what he thinks, "Go pick up a Bible. That's my worldview."

Heaven help us all.

THE WEEK November 17, 2023