Yves here. Lambert will have ample coverage of the horrible Netanyahu speech in Links and probably Water Cooler today. Nevertheless I am also running this post to provide further witness to US complicity in the genocide in Gaza, plus the fact that things have become so patently horrific that even normally AIPAC-captured-or-cowed Congresscritters are engaging in visible disapproval. Far less action than needed to stop these war crimes, but nevertheless an important sign in the US that public sentiment is moving more and more away from Israel.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, this process took nearly two decades to produce regime change in South Africa. And the Israelis know, on current trajectories, they can exterminate or ethinically cleanse all Palestinians in Israel by then. <\/p>\n
By Brett Wilkins, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams<\/p>\n
Following her call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s arrest during his visit to Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib protested the right-wing leader\u2019s Wednesday address before a joint meeting of Congress by holding up a sign reading \u201cwar criminal\u201d and \u201cguilty of genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will not erase us. Palestinians exist and we deserve to live. Our presence today will be a reminder that we aren\u2019t going anywhere,\u201d Tlaib (D-Mich.) said on social media. \u201cI will never back down in speaking truth to power. The apartheid government of Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tlaib\u2014the only Palestinian American member of Congress\u2014brought a guest: Hani Almadhoun, \u201cwho has lost over 150 members of his extended family in Netanyahu\u2019s genocide\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter witnessing his sister forced to eat animal feed, he and his family were determined to start a soup kitchen to feed their starving neighbors,\u201d the congresswoman said. \u201cThe Israeli apartheid regime is using starvation as a weapon of war, a war crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joining me in the chamber today is Hani Almadhoun, who has lost over 150 members of his extended family in Netanyahu\u2019s genocide. After witnessing his sister forced to eat animal feed, he and his family were determined to start a soup kitchen to feed their starving neighbors. pic.twitter.com\/H5Wtj2N1Ql<\/p>\n
\u2014 Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) July 24, 2024<\/p>\n
More than 135 congressional Democrats, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) boycotted Netanyahu\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cNetanyahu is not only a war criminal. He is a liar,\u201d Sanders said on social media. \u201cAll humanitarian organizations agree: Tens of thousands of children face starvation because his extremist government continues to block aid. Israelis want him out of office. So he came to Congress to campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said, \u201cJust so we\u2019re clear, Netanyahu has lost so many people that he is addressing just a fraction of Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen this happens, they fill the seats with nonmembers, like what they do at award ceremonies, in order to project the appearance of full attendance and support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) said on social media: \u201cI won\u2019t attend Prime Minister Netanyahu\u2019s speech today. His military has reportedly killed over 39,000 Palestinians. He hasn\u2019t brought the hostages home. He hasn\u2019t made Israel any safer. We need tangible actions to end this war and all the suffering\u2014not performative gestures.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s *because* of my Jewish upbringing and values that I cannot attend Prime Minister Netanyahu\u2019s address today,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
I will not be attending @Netanyahu\u2018s speech to Congress.<\/p>\n
I only regret that an arrest warrant for his war crimes has not yet been issued by the ICC, as I would have gladly served it to him on the House floor.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Netanyahu doesn\u2019t stand for peace in the Middle East. pic.twitter.com\/6mNEfSsrif<\/p>\n
\u2014 Rep. Mark Pocan (@RepMarkPocan) July 24, 2024<\/p>\n
Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) said in statement: \u201cI am boycotting Netanyahu\u2019s address. Today, families of Israeli hostages called the prime minister\u2019s speech a \u2018PR stunt\u2019 intended to cover up his own failures.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only has Netanyahu failed to safely return the hostages\u2014he has killed, harmed, or displaced nearly every Palestinian in Gaza, has failed to keep Israelis safe, and is risking the United States\u2019 own security by trying to drag us into another endless war in the Middle East,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States must end unconditional military aid to the Israeli government, and instead secure an immediate cease-fire, a return of the hostages, and long-term peace,\u201d Casar added.<\/p>\n
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) wished Tlaib a happy birthday in a social media post saying, \u201cTo my sister Rashida: You were born for a time like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only Palestinan in Congress during a genocide of your people,\u201d he added. \u201cSitting through a speech of that war criminal as colleagues applaud. You stand strong. We love and honor you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last month, a Palestinian girl survived a missile strike in Gaza. Her brothers died, and she couldn\u2019t get medical care for a month.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu is a war criminal. It\u2019s a shame he is addressing our Congress. Our tax dollars should not be spent on killing children. pic.twitter.com\/aqkYjCZAnh<\/p>\n
\u2014 Congressman Jamaal Bowman (@RepBowman) July 24, 2024<\/p>\n
Stephen Miles, president of the peace group Win Without War, said in a statement that \u201cwe are grateful to the many, many members of Congress who chose to not attend Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu\u2019s speech to Congress today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a political stunt dreamed up by a House speaker trying to score political points and embraced by the prime minister as a desperate ploy to try and blunt the massive global condemnation and domestic political opposition he faces,\u201d Miles added. \u201cIt\u2019s a speech that never should have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also the Senate president, did not preside over Wednesday\u2019s meeting. Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in the wake of President Joe Biden\u2019s withdrawal from the race earlier this week, is scheduled to meet privately with Netanyahu on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s speech\u2014which was met with frequent uproarious applause from lawmakers and other attendees\u2014took aim not only at Hamas \u201cmonsters,\u201d but also against \u201cIran\u2019s axis of terror,\u201d which he said \u201cconfronts America, Israel, and our Arab friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was there. It was disgusting. <\/p>\n
\u2014 Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) July 24, 2024<\/p>\n
I only regret that an arrest warrant for his war crimes has not yet been issued by the ICC, as I would have gladly served it to him on the House floor.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Netanyahu doesn\u2019t stand for peace in the Middle East. pic.twitter.com\/6mNEfSsrif<\/p>\n
\u2014 Rep. Mark Pocan (@RepMarkPocan) July 24, 2024<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a clash of civilizations, it\u2019s a clash between barbarism and civilization, between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life,\u201d said the leader of a nation whose armed forces have killed or wounded more than 130,000 Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu condemned what he called the \u201cslanders that paint Israel as racist and genocidal\u201d that are \u201cmeant to demonize the Jewish state and demonize Jews everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taking aim at pro-Palestinian protests across the United States\u2014 many of them Jewish-led\u2014Netanyahu lamented that \u201cmany anti-Israel protesters choose to stand with evil. They stand with Hamas. They stand with rapists and murderers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor all we know, Iran is funding the protests that are taking place outside right now,\u201d Netanyahu said, citing unsubstantiated Biden administration claims. \u201cWhen the tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting, and funding you, you have officially become Iran\u2019s useful idiots.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming, \u2018Gays for Gaza,’\u201d he mocked. \u201cThey might as well hold up signs that say, \u2018Chickens for KFC!’\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese protesters chant, \u2018From the river to the sea,\u2019 but many don\u2019t have a clue what river and what sea they\u2019re talking about,\u201d the prime minister added.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of Jewish-led demonstrators were arrested inside a congressional building on Tuesday while protesting the U.S. government\u2019s continued support for Israel\u2019s assault on Gaza and Netanyahu\u2019s then-forthcoming address. Thousands more protesters took to the streets of Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, where peace groups planned to surround the Capitol.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a war criminal in town,\u201d Council on American Islamic Relations national executive director Nihad Awad saidin a speech to protesters. \u201cThis war criminal Netanyahu has a long history of crimes against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thousands of protesters are currently starting marching in DC towards the Capitol to protest Netanyahu\u2019s visit to Congress today while police are seeming to try to stop the march \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8 pic.twitter.com\/LattoOSpG6<\/p>\n
\u2014 Gerard (@GerardDalbon) July 24, 2024<\/p>\n
During his speech, Netanyahu also thanked Biden \u201cfor his heartfelt support for Israel after the savage attack on October 7,\u201d which the prime minister said was \u201clike 20 9\/11s in one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden has expressed his \u201cunwavering\u201d support for the key Middle Eastern ally and has approved billions of dollars in new military aid and more than 100 arms sales to the country since October. The Biden administration has also vetoedseveral United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu implored the U.S. to give even more, saying, \u201cGive us the tools faster, and we will finish the job faster.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe war in Gaza could end tomorrow if Hamas surrenders, disarms, and returns all the hostages,\u201d added the prime minister, who for years facilitated massive financial support for the militant resistance group\u2014whose political arm rules Gaza\u2014in order to weaken the Palestinian National Authority.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Tlaib said that Netanyahu should be arrested while in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cNetanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people,\u201d she argued. \u201cIt is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress. He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court.\u201d<\/p>\n
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including extermination committed on and after October 7.<\/p>\n
During his speech, Netanyahu accused the ICC of \u201cblood libels\u201d against Israel, saying the tribunal \u201cshamefully accused Israel of deliberately starving the people of Gaza\u201d\u2014allegations echoed by the South Africa-led genocide case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), United Nations experts, and human rights groups.<\/p>\n
During his speech to Congress, Netanyahu says Israel has allowed in aid equal to 3,000 calories for every man, woman, and child in Gaza. <\/p>\n
It’s been 291 days. That’s 10 calories a day. <\/p>\n
\u2014 Miranda Cleland (@MirandaCleland) July 24, 2024<\/p>\n
U.N. World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain said in May that there is \u201cfull-blown famine\u201d in Gaza, where dozens of Palestinians\u2014mostly children\u2014have died due to malnutrition, dehydration, and lack of medical care, and hundreds of thousands of others are on the brink of starvation.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu also accused the ICC of lying about Israeli forces \u201cdeliberately targeting civilians,\u201d over 39,000 of whom including 16,000 children have been killed since October.<\/p>\n
The prime minister claimed that Israel \u201chas implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history, and beyond what international law requires.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ICC is trying to shackle Israel\u2019s hands and prevent Israel from defending itself,\u201d Netanyahu said. \u201cAnd if Israel\u2019s hands are tied, America\u2019s are next.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hands of the Jewish state will never be shackled,\u201d he added. \u201cIsrael will always defend itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu further claimed that civilian casualties during Israel\u2019s recent Rafah offensive were \u201cpractically none,\u201d ignoring hundreds of Palestinians including many women and children who died in Israeli attacks on the city and its environs, including multiple massacres of refugees in tent encampments.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu\u2019s congress speech was lie after lie after lie: he says no civilians killed in Rafah: but worse still, applauding his speech is a stain on America pic.twitter.com\/Xnwg93vuPs<\/p>\n
\u2014 Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) July 24, 2024<\/p>\n
Israeli forces \u201cshould not be condemned for how they\u2019re conducting the war in Gaza, they should be commended for it,\u201d Netanyahu asserted.<\/p>\n
Israel Defense Forces troops have been accused of torturing, raping, and summarily executing Palestinian civilians, including children. U.N. Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres last month added Israel to his so-called \u201cList of Shame\u201d of countries that kill and injure children during wars and other armed conflicts.<\/p>\n
In addition to its ICC woes and the ICJ genocide case, the latter tribunal ruled last week in a separate case that the 57-year Israeli occupation of Palestine is an illegal form of apartheid that must end \u201cas rapidly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
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