New Trend Magazine
http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1562.htm
On August 2, 2014 the House of Representatives voted to approve $225 million in "emergency aid" for Israel on account of their feeling "attacked." The Senate had just passed the bill unanimously, but in the House, it only passed 395 to 8.Four Democrats and four Republicans voted against it.
Four Democrats and four Republicans voted against it. At least we can say our patriots are bipartisan. The four Democrats were Keith Ellison (MN-05), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Jim Moran (VA-08), and Beto O'Rourke (TX-16). The four Republicans are Justin Amash (MI-03), Walter Jones (NC-03), Tom Massie (KY-04), and Mark Sanford (SC-01).
Keith Ellison has been calling for an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza but nobody else in Congress has backed him up on that one. He penned a letter to President Obama and Secretary Kerry urging a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Palestine on July 18, 2014 that was also signed by Reps. Jim Moran (D-VA), John Conyers (D-MI), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Alan Lowenthal (D-CA).
John Conyers, who has a long track record of always doing the right thing, astonished many, to approve funding for Israelis to commit genocide. He was the guy who got Rosa Park a job after she was blacklisted. When Detroit held a town meeting at the Unitarian Church to talk about the sanctions on Iraq, he quoted his voters verbatim. So if he voted for Israel it means nobody contacted him to say anything about Palestine but a lot of people called to say they support Israel. I know he listens to his constituents.
Israel has a GDP of over $300 billion however, and, at the end of last year, experienced its highest ever GDP per capita. It is a developed country with a booming tech sector. Israel has the ability to pay for its defense system itself. Israel does not need us. Which is good, since Americans are losing emotional interest in funding them.
David Palumbo-Liu, the Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor at Stanford University writes for salon.com that "international support for Israel is ebbing because the Holocaust narrative can no longer offer an omnipotent shield against a critique of the second [Palestinian] narrative regarding the founding of the state of Israel... In sum, there is now a widening band of light in between the heretofore seamless merger of the Holocaust and founding narratives, resulting in a weakening of the former in its capacity to act as an alibi for the latter."
Younger Americans do not accept the Holocaust narrative as a good reason to support the horrible killings in Gaza. As they learn more, their support will wane further. Israel is in fact risking losing the narrative war altogether. Israel's actions are now increasingly regarded not as survival tactics but as violent colonial tendencies, reports Liu.
Women who say "Israeli actions are unjustified" outnumber the pro-Israel American female by 44 to 33 percent. Nonwhite, by 49 to 25 percent. "That's two-to-one, reflecting the attitudes of the young," reports mondoweiss. 18 to 29-year-olds regard Israel's actions as "unjustified" by 51 to 25 percent. Among 30-49 year olds, a similar attitude: 43 to 36 percent. Since 2006, the number of people who "don't know" if Israel has gone too far has increased from 14 to 25 percent while those who think Israel has acted rightly has decreased from 44 to 35 percent, reports the Pew Center.
"While all age groups north of 30 years old clearly blame Hamas more than Israel for the current violence, young adults buck the trend in a big way. Among 18 to 29-year olds, 29 percent blame Israel more for the current wave of violence, while 21 percent blame Hamas," reports Aaron Blake in the Washington Post.
"Latest Gallup poll shows young Americans overwhelmingly support Palestine," reports mondoweiss.net. Most support for Israel comes from ages 50 and up."
Americans over the age of 65 are most likely to think that Hamas is at fault for the death toll in Gaza by 53 vs 15 percent.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) officially stated on July 31: "Any person who thinks that the Iron Dome is unnecessary needs to go to the floor and tell us why, why we don't need to help Israel right now."
It sounds like a dare for us to talk to our Senators and Representatives. They may just need us to give them the words.
No comments:
Post a Comment