(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . I Stand With Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-11-08 The US House of Representatives voted yesterday to censure the only Palestinian-American member of Congress. The vote was 234-188, with 22 Democrats joining Republicans to support the move. Four Republicans joined Democrats in opposing it. I stand with Tlaib because her voice, as a Palestinian woman, is needed now more than ever. Efforts to silence her are part of a persistent attempt to silence advocacy for Palestinians in the face of Israeli war crimes. As she watches the systematic and brutal collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, Congresswoman Tlaib had the temerity to speak out and demand a ceasefire. As Israel continues to cut off water, fuel, and electricity to 2.3 million people in an act of brutal collective punishment of civilians; and as Israel expelled 1.2 million people from their homes, forcing them to move south to “safety” where they were also bombed (1/3 of Gaza’s death toll is from the southern Gaza Strip which was supposed to be “safe” from Israeli bombs); and as Israel uses white phosphorous on densely populated areas (another war crime); and as hospitals run out of fuel that power NICU incubators; and as Israeli leaders use dehumanizing, racist language to refer to Palestinians; and as the death toll in Gaza is today higher than that in Ukraine and the Bosnian genocide and goes higher by the minute, Congresswoman Tlaib has raised her voice to say this is not acceptable. Enough is enough. Ceasefire now. The given reason Congresswoman Tlaib was censured was her use of the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which supporters of Israel argue is anti-Semitic. Palestinians, who live under Israeli rule from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, have long used this phrase to demand their freedom from conditions that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, Nelson Mandela, and Desmond Tutu (among many others) have described as a form of apartheid. Palestinians citizens of Israel, those in the West Bank, and those in Gaza live under a system of oppressive rule that denies them equal rights based on their ethno-religious status as Palestinian Christians and Muslims (i.e., non-Jews). I urge you to read the reports of these human rights organizations: www.amnesty.org/… www.hrw.org/… www.btselem.org/... The first casualty of any conflict is critical thinking and nuance. For Tlaib, who has condemned the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians multiple times, “from the river to the sea” means full equality for all Palestinians and Israelis living in the land of historic Palestine. She has ALWAYS advocated this. Congresswoman Tlaib has spoken out against anti-semitism throughout her career. We must ask ourselves: Why is there no litmus test for supporters of Israel to declare that they support equal rights for occupied Palestinians? Why are supporters of Israel not required to condemn Israeli apartheid before speaking as a sign of their humanity? This only applies to occupied and stateless Palestinians. I grew up as an Arab American in the metro Detroit area. The Arab American community deserves to be heard. We will not accept our own dehumanization. As has been widely reported, President Biden has lost the Arab-American community’s support with his administration’s position on this war. I have heard the angry condemnations from those who tell us we simply must vote for Biden to save our nation from Trump. Please do not insult us. Do not tell us we must support an administration that aids and abets another government committing genocide against our people. Nobody would expect Jewish Americans to vote for politicians that support the collective punishment and mass killing of Israeli civilians. For Arab-Americans (Christian and Muslim), a line has been crossed. I can only believe that Joe Biden has made the decision that our votes—hundreds of thousands of them in Michigan alone—do not matter. Finally, if you have the time, listen to this Palestinian voice. Human rights lawyer and Professor Noura Erakat speaks on the current moment, joined in solidarity at the Union Theological Seminary in New York by towering intellects Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michelle Alexander, among others. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/8/2204411/-I-Stand-With-Congresswoman-Rashida-Tlaib-D-Michigan?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/