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THE LONG-TERM PROBLEMS BETWEEN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Pocan) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Wisconsin?
There was no objection.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, today's Special Order hour is not just about the violence that has occurred in the last week in Israel and Palestine. It is not about the activities of the last month, including the displacement of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, that have been largely overlooked in this region. But, in many ways, it is about what has happened over the last year, the last decade, the last several decades that has dehumanized and violated the human rights of too many people in this important region.
No one should have to face the reality of missiles shot at them. Hamas is causing great danger to the very people it purports to want to protect in Gaza by doing so, and those missile attacks should be condemned.
But that doesn't make it a ``both sides'' issue. We must acknowledge and condemn the disproportionate discrimination and treatment that Palestinians face versus others in this region.
No one should suffer the loss of life, liberty, or dignity that the Palestinian people have suffered under the Netanyahu and previous administrations in Israel during the 50-year occupation of the West Bank.
When serious human rights abuses compound, such as the recent attacks on places of worship, like the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the forced removal of people from their homes, most recently in East Jerusalem, but ongoing in the West Bank for way too long, the jailing and military court trials for Palestinian children, the dehumanization of the lives of the Palestinians by having roads and entrances that are separate for some people--which all too often looks like a former South Africa, the blockade and open-air prison conditions for the people in Gaza, where food and clean water is often scarce.
When those types of human rights abuses occur, we are not just putting the lives of Palestinians and Israelis at risk, but we are also putting the United States at greater jeopardy, and eventually, that could mean the lives of men and women from the United States getting involved in a greater escalation of violence in the region, which none of us want to see.
Today, we want to talk about the very long-term problems that have been, for too long, ignored by U.S. policies in the region. Fortunately, now more and more Members of Congress are wanting to address peace in this region in a more forthright way.
As human rights giant South African Desmond Tutu said, ``If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.''
We must treat everyone in Israel and Palestine with equal respect and dignity. That is the U.S. policy that we are speaking out for.
I am pleased to be joined by a number of my colleagues tonight who have taken leadership positions in talking about peace in the Middle East for all people.
I now yield to my colleague from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib), the first Palestinian American to serve in Congress.
Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I believe I am actually the second, but I am the only Palestinian-American Member of Congress now, and my mere existence has disrupted the status quo. This is so personal for me. I am a reminder to colleagues that Palestinians do, indeed, exist, that we are human, that we are allowed to dream. We are mothers, daughters, granddaughters, we are justice seekers and are unapologetic about our fight against oppressions of all forms.
Colleagues, Palestinians aren't going anywhere, no matter how much money you send to Israel's apartheid government.
If we are to make good on our promises to support equal human rights for all, it is our duty to end the apartheid system that, for decades, has subjected Palestinians to inhumane treatment and racism.
Reducing Palestinians to live in utter fear and terror of losing a child, being indefinitely detained or killed because of who they are, and the unequal rights and protections they have, under Israeli law, it must end.
One of Israel's most prominent human rights organizations, B'Tselem, has declared Israel an apartheid state. Human Rights Watch recently recognized it, too. This is what Palestinians living under Israel's oppression have been telling us for decades.
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I have been told by some of my colleagues who dispute the truth about segregation, racism, and violence in Israel toward Palestinians that I need to know the history.
What they mean, unintentionally or not, is that Palestinians do not have the right to tell the truth about what happened to them during the founding of Israel. They, in effect, erase the truth about the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Israel that some refer to as the Nakba, or catastrophe.
As Palestinians talk about our history, know that many of my Black neighbors and indigenous communities may not know what we mean by Nakba, but they do understand what it means to be killed, expelled from your homeland, made homeless, and stripped of your human rights.
My ancestors and current family in Palestine deserve the world to hear their history without obstruction. They have a right to be able to explain to the world that they are still suffering, still being dispossessed, still being killed as the world watches and does nothing.
As Peter Beinart, an American of Jewish faith, writes: ``When you tell a people to forget its past, you are not proposing peace. You are proposing extinction.''
The Palestinian story is that of being made a refugee on the lands you called home.
We cannot have an honest conversation about U.S. military support for the Israeli Government today without acknowledging that, for Palestinians, the catastrophe of displacement and dehumanization in their homeland has been ongoing since 1948.
To read the statements from President Biden, Secretary Blinken, General Austin, and leaders of both parties, you would hardly know Palestinians existed at all.
There has been no recognition of the attack on Palestinian families being ripped from their homes in East Jerusalem right now or home demolitions; no mention of children being detained or murdered; no recognition of a sustained campaign of harassment and terror by Israeli police against worshipers kneeling down and praying and celebrating their holiest days in one of their holiest places; no mention of Al-
Aqsa being surrounded by violence, tear gas, and smoke while people pray.
Can my colleagues imagine if it was their place of worship filled with tear gas? Could you pray as stun grenades were tossed into your holiest place?
Above all, there has been absolutely no recognition of Palestinian humanity. If our own State Department can't even bring itself to acknowledge that the killing of Palestinian children is wrong, well, I will say it for the millions of Americans who stand with me against the killing of innocent children no matter their ethnicity or faith.
I weep for all the lives lost under the unbearable status quo, every single one, no matter their faith or their background. We all deserve freedom, liberty, peace, and justice, and it should never be denied because of our faith or ethnic background.
No child, Palestinian or Israeli or whoever they are, should ever have to worry that death will rain from the sky.
How many of my colleagues are willing to say the same, to stand for Palestinian human rights as they do for Israelis?
There is a crushing dehumanization to how we talk about this terrible violence.
The New York Post reported the Palestinian death toll as Israeli casualties.
ABC says that Israelis are ``killed'' while Palestinians simply
``die,'' as if by magic, as if they were never human to begin with.
Help me understand the math. How many Palestinians have to die for their lives to matter?
Life under apartheid strips Palestinians of their human dignity.
How would you feel if you had to go through dehumanizing checkpoints two blocks from your own home to go to the doctor or travel across your own land? How would you feel if you had to do it while pregnant, in the scorching heat, as soldiers with guns controlled your freedom?
How would you feel if you lived in Gaza, where your power and water might be out for days or weeks at a time, where you were cut off from the outside world by an inhumane military blockade?
Meanwhile, Palestinians' rights to nonviolent resistance have been curtailed and even criminalized.
Our party leaders have spoken forcefully against BDS, calling its proponents anti-Semitic, despite the same tactics being critical to ending South African apartheid mere decades ago.
What we are telling Palestinians fighting apartheid is the same thing being told to my Black neighbors and Americans throughout America who are fighting against police brutality here: There is no form of acceptable resistance to state violence.
As long as the message from Washington is that our military's support for Israel is unconditional, Netanyahu's extremist, rightwing government will continue to expand settlements, continue to demolish homes, and continue to make the prospects for peace impossible.
Mr. Speaker, 330 of my own colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, 75 percent of the body here, signed a letter pledging that Israel shall never be made to comply with basic human rights laws that other countries that receive our military aid must observe.
When I see the images and videos of destruction and death in Palestine, all I hear are the children screaming from pure fear and terror.
I want to read something a mother named Eman in Gaza wrote 2 days ago. She said: ``Tonight, I put the kids to sleep in our bedroom. So that when we die, we die together and no one would live to mourn the loss of one another.''
That statement broke me a little more because my country's policies and funding will deny this mother's right to see her children live without fear and to grow old without painful trauma and violence.
We must condition aid to Israel on compliance with international human rights and an end to apartheid. We must, with no hesitation, demand that our country recognize that the unconditional support of Israel has enabled the erasure of Palestinian life and the denial of the rights of millions of refugees, and it emboldens the apartheid policies that Human Rights Watch has detailed so thoroughly in their recent report.
I stand before you not only as a Congresswoman for the beautiful 13 District Strong but also as a proud daughter of Palestinian immigrants and the granddaughter of a loving Palestinian grandmother living in the occupied Palestine.
You take that and combine it with the fact that I was raised in one of the most beautiful, Blackest cities in America, a city where movements for civil rights and social justice are birthed, the city of Detroit.
So, I can't stand here silent when injustice exists and where the truth is obscured. If there is one thing Detroit instilled in this Palestinian girl from Southwest, it is you always speak truth to power even if your voice shakes.
The freedom of Palestinians is connected to the fight against oppression all over the world.
Lastly, to my Sity in Palestine, `` `aqaf huna bsbbik.'' I stand here because of you.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her very personal words about the situation in Palestine.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. Omar).
Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I extend my gratitude to Marie Newman for helping lead this important discussion, and I thank all the Members who are here and showed up in solidarity.
Mr. Speaker, as someone who has experienced war firsthand, I have a deep understanding of the suffering that comes along with it. As a child, I lived through a violent civil war that destroyed my home, ripped my family apart from each other, and killed many of my family and friends.
I can still remember, at just 8 years old, hiding under the bed, hearing bombs go off outside my window, and wondering if we were going to be hit next.
It is trauma I will live with for the rest of my life.
So, I understand, on a deeply human level, the pain and the anguish families are feeling in Palestine and Israel at the moment, and the helplessness people feel here in the United States who have family in the region, including many of my constituents. And it is for this reason that I abhor violence.
Whether rocket attacks or airstrikes, violence does nothing to make people more secure. It only furthers the interests of the powerful while costing lives, futures, and families.
But we must speak out truthfully and forcefully about the seeds of this conflict and about what is happening today. The truth is that this is not a conflict between two states. This is not a civil war. It is a conflict where one country, funded and supported by the United States Government, continues an illegal military occupation over another group of people.
This is not my description of it. This is the description of conservative Israeli leader Ariel Sharon, who, in 2003, said: ``To hold 3.5 million Palestinians under occupation is, in my opinion, a very bad thing for us and for them.''
``It is occupation,'' he said. ``You might not like this word, but it is really an occupation.''
To understand what is taking place at this moment, we must understand how it began.
In 1948, 700,000 Palestinians were forcefully removed and uprooted from their homes in what has come to be known as the Nakba, or the catastrophe. Seventy-eight percent of their land was taken from them. Now, consider that: 78 percent of their land was taken from them.
Since then, 5.6 million Palestinians have been continually displaced from their homes in one of the largest and longest-lasting refugee crises in human history.
For decades, the United States, the United Nations, and many Israelis and Palestinians have pushed for a Palestinian state in which the Palestinians can enjoy the same rights afforded to their Israeli counterparts. But in the past several years, that hope has increasingly slipped away.
The Israeli Government and the far-right ethnonationalist leader Benjamin Netanyahu have legally razed Palestinians' ancestral homes, leveled entire neighborhoods, and violently suppressed any resistance.
This is all to make way for illegal Israeli settlement outposts designed to displace Palestinians from their homes and prevent a future Palestinian state.
Since 1993, when the first Oslo peace accord was signed, illegal settlements have increased by nearly 400,000. And Netanyahu has made explicit his goal to annex much of the West Bank, home to over 3 million Palestinians.
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On top of that, Palestinian movement, speech, and economic activity are severely limited. Palestinians are not allowed to leave the Gaza Strip except in extreme cases.
Medical shortages are rampant. Youth unemployment was already at 40 percent before the pandemic hit. People who protest, including young children, are routinely shot by the IDF soldiers--often killed--with no consequences in Israeli courts.
As a recent report by Human Rights Watch detailed, this can only be described as an apartheid.
All of which brings us to the current crisis. This week, the Israeli authorities were planning more forced displacement in Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem--home to Palestinian refugees who had already been displaced.
On Thursday, settlers began harassing and attacking Palestinians who were breaking their Ramadan fast during a protest vigil in Sheikh Jarrah.
The deputy mayor of Jerusalem joined to mock Palestinians, saying to one protestor: ``Did they take the bullet out of your ass?'' ``It is a pity it didn't go here,'' pointing to his head.
Then, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, Israeli military forces stormed al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, firing stun grenades, teargas, and rubber bullets. Over 300 people were injured; 200 of them were hospitalized.
What happened next is well known: Hamas fired rockets into Israel, which has taken the lives of six Israelis. And the Israeli military launched air strikes into Gaza, targeting civilian buildings, which have already killed 69 people, including 16 children.
Let me be clear: Every single death in this conflict is a tragedy. Every rocket and bomb that targets civilians is a war crime.
I feel the pain of every child who is forced to hide under their beds because they fear for their life, and every parent who deals with that anguish. And I wish we, as a nation, treated that pain equally; but right now we are not.
And instead of condemning blatant crimes against humanity and human rights abuses, many Members of Congress have instead fallen back on a blanketed statement defending Israel's air strikes against civilians under the guise of self-defense, without even a mention of the children getting killed, much less what happened at al-Aqsa or in Sheikh Jarrah.
When the 15-member United Nations Security Council proposed a resolution this week calling on the Israeli Government to cease settlement activities, demolitions and evictions, and urging general restraint, the United States reportedly blocked it from happening.
We are currently blocking the United Nations Security Council from calling on ceasefire. And to this day, we, as Members of Congress, have not had yet a hearing or a briefing on this conflict or gotten answers on whether our weaponry or money is being used to commit human rights abuses.
So I must ask: When we defend the Israeli citizens' right to peace and security, how can we at the same time ignore the 5 million Palestinians living under occupation?
When we say that Israel has the right to self-defense, how can we ignore the home demolitions, settlement violence, and forced annexation of Palestinian land that is happening?
And how can we say they, themselves, do not have the right to defend themselves?
How can we pay lip service to a Palestinian state, yet do absolutely nothing to make that state a reality while the Israeli Government we fund tries to make it impossible?
I will end with this: Today is Eid, the final day of Ramadan, one of the joyous days in the Muslim calendar. And while I would rather be spending it with my family, I know there are families who are mourning the death of their children because of this, and I owe it to them to speak out on their behalf.
So I am here today to stand for our common humanity, to say that every child deserves a life free of violence and oppression. Every child deserves advocates for their humanity, for their safety, and for their security. And it should not be controversial to say the same for Palestinian children.
Eid Mubarak.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Omar for those words.
As we speak, it was just announced a little while ago that the Israeli military was going into Gaza. It is not clear if it is going after rocket attacks or Hamas leaders or what is happening. But that is happening at this very moment.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), a senior, a very powerful Member of this Congress, the chair of the Subcommittee on Defense of the Committee on Appropriations, and a lifelong advocate for equality for Palestinians and for Israelis.
Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Mr. Pocan, for his kind remarks and for being one of the organizers for tonight's Special Order.
Tonight, I am here to condemn violence. I am here to speak out in support of human rights, political rights, and peace. For days, Hamas and extremists in Gaza have been firing rockets into Israel that have caused death, destruction, and fear among Israeli citizens.
I condemn Hamas' actions. These attacks must stop.
For 54 years, Israel has been enforcing a brutal military occupation in the West Bank that has terrorized Palestinian families. And I condemn Israeli's occupation of Palestine. Israel's occupation must end.
What we are witnessing in Israel, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank are the bitter fruits of discrimination that has empowered Jewish extremists and Palestinian extremists. People seeking justice, equality, and peace, and opportunity are sidelined, silenced, and dismissed.
We are witnessing the all too familiar cycle of violence between Israel and Hamas. And, today, we are witnessing Israeli cities at war. Israeli citizens are attacking each other. Israeli citizens, who are Jewish and Palestinian, are fighting each other. Adding to this hatred is Israel's nation-state law and other structural policies of discrimination that treat Palestinians as second-class citizens.
Now, I want to be clear. Israel has the right to have their security, and it must be able to defend itself against rockets. But Palestinians have universally recognized human rights, rights that are not recognized under Israeli military occupation.
Palestinians have become people without a nation. Palestinians have no government to defend them when they seek justice when their children are abused or tortured by Israeli military security forces. Palestinian families cannot defend themselves when Israeli bulldozers destroy their homes and turn their land over to Jewish settlers.
Israel is an ally of the United States, and Congress supports Israel by providing military aid. And I vote for that aid package. The Iron Dome missile defense system that is stopping Hamas rockets is funded out of the Committee on Appropriations' Defense Subcommittee, which I chair. And I support funding for Iron Dome and it will be in the bill that I write this year.
However, Congress sends $3.8 billion to Israel in the form of military aid to be unrestricted and unconditioned. No limits. Proponents of this unrestricted aid to Israel wrote to the Committee on Appropriations: ``U.S. support of Israel makes the region safer and bolsters diplomatic efforts at achieving a negotiated two-state solution, resulting in peace and prosperity for both Israelis and Palestinians.''
To those who support that statement, here are the facts: There are no diplomatic efforts to achieve a two-state solution. The Prime Minister of Israel has repeatedly stated he is committed to annexing Palestinian lands. There is no peace for Palestinians in East Jerusalem or the West Bank. There is an Israeli military occupation that abuses and tortures Palestinian children, demolishes Palestinian homes, and steals Palestinian land.
The unrestricted, unconditioned $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid enables--it gives a green light to Israel's occupation of Palestine because there is no accountability and there is no oversight by Congress. This must change. Not one dollar of U.S. aid to Israel should go towards the military detention of Palestinian children, the annexation of Palestinian lands, or the destruction of Palestinian homes.
I support everyone's universal human rights, including Palestinian rights, to live in freedom; to live with equality, with security, with opportunity. I want peace for the people of Israel and the people of Palestine, and I am willing to do my part to work for justice.
Rockets fired from Gaza must stop. The eviction of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem must stop. The burning of synagogues and Arab businesses must stop. And the rightwing extremists that chant
``Burn the Arabs,'' well, that must stop, too.
There is enough hate and there is enough blame to go around. And this conflict will not end until there is responsible leadership on both sides. Peace will not take root until the United States stands up for human rights and security for all people, and that includes human rights and security for the Palestinian people.
The Biden administration must work for peace and direct some tough love to the Israeli Government and to the Palestinian Authority. End the violence. End the discrimination. End the occupation. Israel deserves security, and Palestinians deserve self-determination and freedom.
Tonight, no child should go to bed under the constant fear of violence. We should all want every Israeli and every Palestinian child to live with peace, opportunity, hope for the future. And that is what I am working to achieve with my colleagues.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative McCollum very much for those words.
Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 26 minutes remaining.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts
(Ms. Pressley), my colleague.
Ms. PRESSLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the deep trauma and loss of life perpetuated by systems of oppression here in the United States and globally.
Many times I have stood at this dais and affirmed that our destinies are tied. That was clear when protestors took to the streets in the face of police murders, seeking to build a nation where Black lives matter.
That was clear when our democracy and our lives were put at risk by violent white supremacists, who shattered glass and broke doors while wearing anti-Semitic phrases on their chests, carrying the Confederate flag, erecting a noose on the west lawn.
That was clear when students protesting to end poverty and oppression in the streets of Bogota were shot dead.
That was clear when families kneeling during this holy month at the third holiest site in Islam were met with teargas, rubber bullets, and hand grenades.
Our destinies are tied. As a Black woman in America, I am no stranger to police brutality and State-sanctioned violence. We have been criminalized for the very way we show up in the world.
Last summer, when Black Lives Matter protestors took to the streets to demand justice, they were met with force. They faced teargas, rubber bullets, and a militarized police, just as our Palestinian brothers and sisters are facing in Jerusalem today.
Palestinians are being told the same thing as Black folks in America: There is no acceptable form of resistance.
We are bearing witness to egregious human rights violations. The pain, trauma, and terror the Palestinians are facing is not just the result of this week's escalation, but the consequence of years of military occupation.
In Sheikh Jarrah, the Israeli Government is violently dispossessing yet another neighborhood of Palestinian families from homes they have lived in for decades.
We cannot stand idly and complicitly by and allow the occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people to continue. We cannot remain silent when our government sends $3.8 billion of military aid to Israel that is used to demolish Palestinian homes, imprison Palestinian children, and displace Palestinian families.
A budget is a reflection of our values. I am committed to ensuring that our government does not fund state violence in any form anywhere.
Many say that ``conditioning aid'' is not a phrase that I should utter here, but let me be clear: No matter the context, American Government dollars always come with conditions.
The questions at hand are: Should our taxpayer dollars create conditions for justice, healing, and repair? Or should those dollars create conditions for oppression and apartheid?
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Now, while I hold due space for the storied history and the unique lived experiences on the ground globally, there is a through line here.
And whether we are talking about the militarization of our communities or weapons of war, the question is the same. If our budgets are a statement of our values, what do we value? Whose lives do we value? We have seen footage of Israeli and Palestinian children huddled fearfully while rockets blanket their homeland. No child should live in fear. No child should grow up in the midst of a conflict that robs them of a childhood. And Palestinian children do not have the same protections afforded to them.
Without the U.S. exerting pressure on Israel to deescalate, the explosive situation in Jerusalem is igniting further violence not just in the city, but beyond. It is clear there is a grave asymmetry of power here. Palestinians do not have a sovereign state and the protections that come with it.
Following forceful violence against the Palestinians simply seeking to remain in their family homes, militant groups in Gaza have launched rockets at Israeli cities, resulting in seven deaths, including a child. In response, the Israeli military has launched severe attacks on Gaza, killing 83 people, 17 of whom are children. This is devastating.
The destinies of the Israeli and Palestinian people are tied. Our outrage at the pain, violence, and oppression they face must be clear and unapologetic. Equal outrage for violence perpetrated against all people, and moral clarity when state-sanctioned violence is claiming the lives of innocent mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons.
From Jerusalem to Boston, from Randolph to Gaza, from Colombia to Yemen, our destinies are tied, and everyone deserves to live from fear and to know peace.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for those remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to ask the rest of my colleagues if we can try to keep it to 3 to 4 minutes each. The good news is there are many people who are very passionate about human rights in the Mid-East, the problem is we have an hour total, and I would appreciate that consideration.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Ocasio-
Cortez).
Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Mr. Speaker, I know this has been a very difficult week for us as a global community, as communities that are concerned for human rights, all human rights in general, and in particular, the rights of Palestinians and Israelis alike that have been impacted by the fear and violence of this week.
Now, what I think is, you know, important is that--I will start with a story. As a little girl, my family comes from the island of Puerto Rico, and I grew up visiting my family on the island of Vieques, communities on the island of Vieques, where the United States bombed its own territories, its own communities.
And I would go to sleep as a little girl to the sound of U.S. bombs detonating. Practice is what it was called at the time. Practice. And when I saw those air strikes that are supported with U.S. funds, I could not help but wonder if our communities were practice for this.
This is our business because we are playing a role in it. And the United States must acknowledge its role in the injustice and human rights violations of Palestinians. This is not about both sides. This is about an imbalance of power.
When I first got here in 2019, the Israeli Government refused to admit two Members of the United States Congress, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, into the country. They banned Members of this very body because of who they were. They said it was a sign of weakness.
We have to have the courage to name our contributions, and sometimes I can't help but wonder if the reason we don't do that, if we are scared to stand up to the incarceration of children in Palestine, is because maybe it will force us to confront the incarceration of children here on our border.
If by standing up to the injustices there, it will prompt us to stand up to the injustices here. We have a responsibility. And if we have historically said and committed to a role as an honest broker, then we must fulfill that role. That means we have to be honest with ourselves, with what our aid supports. We have to be honest and ask ourselves questions like why we are using our veto power on the U.N. Security Council in preventing statements from being released about concerns for this violence alike.
The President and many other figures this week stated that Israel has a right to self-defense, and this is a sentiment that is echoed across this body. But do Palestinians have a right to survive? Do we believe that? And, if so, we have a responsibility to that as well.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for those words.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. Bush).
Ms. BUSH. Mr. Speaker, St. Louis and I rise in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in memory of our brother, Bassem Masri, a Ferguson activist who was with us on the front lines of our uprising for justice following the police murder of Michael Brown, Jr.
Bassem was a St. Louis Palestinian. Bassem also lived in Jerusalem, Palestine. Bassem was one of us. He showed up ready. As a Palestinian, he was ready to resist, to rebel, to rise up with us as our St. Louis community mourned Mike Brown, Jr.'s state-sanctioned murder, and as we demanded an end to the militarized police occupation of our communities.
Palestinians know what state violence, militarized policing, and occupation of their communities looks like, and they have lived that reality of having to go through checkpoints while trying to live their lives. They know this reality and the reality of so much more.
So when heavily militarized police forces showed up in Ferguson in 2014, Bassem and so many others of our St. Louis Palestinian community, our Palestinian siblings showed up, too.
I remember sitting in a circle on the grass near where Michael Brown, Jr., was murdered, and I remember them describing to us what to do when militarized law enforcement shot us with rubber bullets or when they tear-gassed us. I remember learning that the same equipment that they use to brutalize us is the same equipment that we can send to the Israel military to police and brutalize Palestinians.
I remember Bassem putting his life on the line with us. I remember him live-streaming for the whole world to see our struggle. I remember our solidarity. And I remember the harassment, the extortion, the brutalization he faced for resisting with us.
That harassment, that extortion, that brutalization by heavily-armed militarized presence in our community, that is what we fund when our government sends our tax dollars to the Israeli military.
St. Louis sent me here to save lives. Bassem's loved ones in his community, our St. Louis community, sent me here to save lives. That means we oppose our money going to fund militarized policing, occupation and systems of violent oppression and trauma.
We are anti-war. We are anti-occupation. We are anti-apartheid. Period.
If this body is looking for something productive to do with $3 million, instead of funding a military that polices and kills Palestinians, I have some communities in St. Louis City and in St. Louis County where that money can go, where we desperately need investment, where we are hurting, where we need help. Let us prioritize funding there. Prioritize funding life, not destruction.
So, today, we remember Bassem. We remember his resistance in the face of militarized police occupation as a St. Louisan and as a Palestinian.
We lost him to a health crisis, but we remember his words today. Until all our children are safe, we will continue to fight for our rights in Palestine and in Ferguson. We stand with you in solidarity.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time we have remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 13 minutes remaining.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky), a great colleague and mentor of mine.
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I am horrified and saddened by the ongoing escalation of violence in Gaza and in Israel.
We have now seen over 1,800 rockets being fired indiscriminately at Israel's citizens, who are now fleeing for their lives. Yes, I believe that Israel does have a right to defend herself.
Now, 103 Palestinians and seven Israelis are dead, including children. It is so painful. The cycle of violence that we see over and over again. Yes, I believe Israel does have the right to defend herself. But in the end, there are no winners.
The United States can play a role. The Biden administration has dispatched the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, his name is Hady Amr, to Israel, and his job is to deal with the situation in Israel and Palestine. I am hopeful that we will see a deescalation and a ceasefire. But a return to status quo is simply not enough.
Earlier this week, prior to the attacks, I was deeply disturbed by the intentional and the intended evacuation of Palestinian families, some of whom have been in their homes for decades. The Biden administration, through its National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, has also conveyed its consternation, its concern, about the evictions, and has called and has urged the administration to remain heavily involved, to address the root causes of this violence, including ongoing evictions, displacement, and occupation, as it works to secure a ceasefire.
The violence must end now, and we must work to enable dialogue that can lead to a just, safe, and secure future for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for those words.
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Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Garcia).
Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Pocan for yielding.
To Members of the body, the occupation must end, and there must be a just solution for both peoples. We cannot keep turning a blind eye to the practices that rob people of their generational homes or detaining children. Israeli and Palestinian families want to raise their children in safety and in peace, and we have got to take firm, diplomatic steps to support those goals.
While the evictions in west Jerusalem and the hostilities around Al Aqsa Mosque seem to have provoked the latest escalation in violence. We have got to take a hard look at how the situation has changed in recent years. The Biden administration must reverse Trump's detrimental actions and take steps to ensure that U.S. aid to Israel cannot be used for the seizure or destruction of Palestinian homes. We have also got to continue humanitarian aid to Palestinian territories.
The use of war-grade weapons and the killing of civilians must stop. I have always strongly supported a rights-based approach and a two-
state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the current situation makes it more crucial than ever to pursue viable pathways toward equality, self-determination, and peace.
I sincerely thank Mr. Pocan and the Progressive Caucus for putting this Special Order hour together. I hope and pray that the death and self-destruction will end and that we may work toward a peaceful solution centered on the humanity and the rights of all involved.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for those words.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the State of Indiana (Mr. Carson). He is extremely patient because he has been here nearly an hour to speak.
Mr. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the Palestinian people as they face grave injustices, violence, and certainly abuse. I join the countless people around the world, Mr. Speaker, who are vehemently opposed to the planned, forced evictions of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah and saddened by the escalating violence that threatens Israelis and Palestinians alike.
We must condemn all forms of violence and mourn the loss of both Palestinian lives and Israeli lives.
I stand here today as one of the three Muslims serving in Congress on Eid day, heartbroken to see the attacks on the worshippers at the Al-
Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites of Islam in our holiest month of the year by the Israeli Government.
For decades, Israel has violated international law and basic human rights through its systematic displacement of Palestinians. For too long, America has looked the other way as Israel has engaged in this horrific campaign against Palestinians.
Israel is our security partner. In fact, the U.S. alone gives Israel billions of dollars per year. But we must make sure that our taxpayer dollars are not being used to fund human rights violations.
Enough is enough.
America has a moral obligation to use our influence to protect the victims of human rights violations including the Palestinian people. We must work to strengthen our work to bring peace to this region. This is our moral responsibility to do the right thing. It is not about Jews versus Muslims or Israel versus its neighbors. It is about right versus wrong.
Let me be clear: Israel's decade of forced displacement is wrong. That is why we are working hard in Congress to make things right. Our American Government must enforce international law and our own foundational principles, and our allies, like Israel, must be held accountable for human rights violations.
Now, we are going to keep working hard in Congress to pass much-
needed legislation that achieves accountability, equality, and justice for all.
America is great and powerful--probably the greatest nation in recorded history. But America is complex. It is a complicated work in progress. For centuries she has engaged in and enabled the mistreatment of countless people from the slavery enshrined in its Constitution against Africans to the taking of land from Native Americans, or the shameful support of dictators beyond our shores. But today we face an inflection point, a reckoning of whether we will stand up for the values we claim to cherish or if we will turn a blind eye to repeated violations of human rights.
We cannot turn our backs now. We must recognize that this is an international struggle and stick by the words of Dr. King when he said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
I am thankful for Dr. King and for the long list of great Americans who have helped bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice. We stand on the shoulders and march in their footsteps as we advance their legacy and boldly stand up to protect the human rights of the Palestinian people. By working together, we can ensure that America uses her power for good in Palestine and around the world.
Let's keep up this momentum. Let's help secure justice for the Palestinian people. Let's work for peace. Let's never give up.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his words.
I know we are short on time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Castro).
Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with grave concern about the ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine. The events of the last week and the deaths of so many Israeli and Palestinian civilians, including many children, are heartbreaking. My condolences to their families and my thoughts are with those in Israel and Gaza who continue to live in fear.
Rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant groups that intentionally target civilians are, of course, reprehensible, and I condemn them unequivocally. The escalation of violence is not in the interest of Israelis or Palestinians, but only extremists who thrive on conflict. The Biden administration needs to call on the Israeli Government to agree to a cease-fire and put pressure on Hamas to do the same.
I have consistently supported security assistance to Israel and voted to fund the Iron Dome, which is saving lives as we speak. Yet Israel's disproportionate response to Hamas' attacks, destroying entire buildings and public spaces, is exacerbating this horrible cycle of violence. These air strikes, which have already resulted in the deaths of civilians and at least 38 women and children, must stop. We need a cease-fire now, and the United States must help bring one about.
Beyond stopping the immediate violence, the United States must also urge Israel to support the creation of a Palestinian state--the only way to end this cycle of violence for good. The status quo of occupation and creeping de facto annexation is unjust and not sustainable. The forced evictions of Palestinian families in east Jerusalem are wrong, and it is not the first time that events like we saw last week in Sheikh Jarrah have happened.
I will wrap up by saying that I hope and pray for peace. I want to thank my colleague, Rashida Tlaib. I think part of what has been missing in Congress is hearing Palestinian voices.
Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 83
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