{"id":115754,"date":"2024-09-20T17:00:45","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T15:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=115754"},"modified":"2024-09-17T07:35:27","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T05:35:27","slug":"17-00-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=115754","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Anti-Israel Congressional Black Caucus Event That Whitewashed Hamas, Rejected Zionism"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Inside the Anti-Israel Congressional Black Caucus Event That Whitewashed Hamas, Rejected Zionism<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Corey Walker<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) raises her fist as US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses a pro-Hamas demonstration in Washington, DC. Photo: Reuters\/Allison Bailey<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

An anti-Israel panel event held during a conference hosted by the US Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, DC on Thursday urged the audience to show \u201csolidarity\u201d with the Palestinian cause while rejecting Zionism and justifying the Hamas terror group\u2019s atrocities<\/a> against the Israeli people.<\/span><\/p>\n

The event, titled \u201cNobody\u2019s Free Until Everybody\u2019s Free: The Struggle for Black & Palestinian Liberation,\u201d discussed the necessity of black and Palestinian Americans joining forces to dismantle the Jewish state. The panelists \u2014 US Rep. Rashida Tlaib<\/a> (D-MI), US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), George state Rep. Ruwa Romman, progressive journalist Mehdi Hasan, and left-wing academic Marc Lamont Hill \u2014 attempted to draw parallels between the historical discrimination faced by African Americans with the alleged mistreatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

Panel at a conference hosted by the US Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, DC on Sept. 12, 2024. Photo: Corey Walker<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Speaking in front of a standing-room-only crowd, Bush lamented the looming one-year anniversary of the so-called \u201cgenocide\u201d and \u201cethnic cleansing\u201d  in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by Hamas. She argued that the \u201cviolence and turmoil\u201d the Palestinian population has endured at the hands of Israel has \u201ccontinued for decades.\u201d Notably, Bush made no mention of Hamas\u2019s Oct. 7 slaughter of roughly 1,200 people and kidnapping of some 250 hostages in southern Israel which kickstarted the ongoing war in Gaza.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hasan, a prominent critic of Israel, told the crowd that \u201c\u201dhere are no words\u201d that would adequately describe the Palestinian plight in Gaza. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe best writers in the world cannot do justice to what we have seen with our own eyes over the last year,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cIt is difficult to sit in the United States of America knowing as we speak, right now, that people are being killed in Gaza. Children are having limbs amputated in Gaza. Women are having C-sections without anesthetic in Gaza. People are being literally starved to death in 2024 by a US-armed and enabled and funded military in Gaza.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hasan, who was billed as the moderator of the panel, added that he was \u201ctired\u201d of the debate over the war in Gaza being minimized to an \u201cArab American\u201d issue. He pointed out that a coalition of over 1,000 black pastors from Georgia penned an open letter to US President Joe Biden to demand a ceasefire.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an issue that affects black people, brown people, young people, progressives, anyone with a heart,\u201d Hasan said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Romman reflected on her ascendance into the Georgia House of Representatives, claiming that her identity as a \u201cPalestinian American\u201d was considered \u201coffensive\u201d to conservative lawmakers in her state. She also lamented the passing of House Bill 30, legislation which codified the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance\u2019s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond classic antisemitic behavior associated with the likes of the medieval period and Nazi Germany, the IHRA definition includes denial of the Holocaust and newer forms of antisemitism targeting Israel such as demonizing the Jewish state, denying its right to exist, and holding it to standards not expected of any other democratic state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Romman added that she felt \u201csustained\u201d by a \u201cbeautiful multi-faith, muli-racial, multi-generational coalition that at the capitol in Georgia came and said, \u2018You\u2019re not doing this in our name.’\u201d The lawmaker seemingly referred to Jewish Voice for Peace<\/a> (JVP), a controversial anti-Zionist activist organization that has voiced support for Hamas terrorism against Jews and Israelis. JVP protested against the passage of HB 30 in January, stating that it is \u201cnot about protecting Jews from antisemitism, but to weaponize the definition to prevent free speech.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way that we move forward is together, and no matter how long it takes for national-level people to get it through their heads, we cannot win in a country that continues to see the rising tide of white supremacy, without centering the people who have faced it head on,\u201d Romman said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tlaib, the only Palestinian American woman in Congress, compared her family\u2019s experience traversing through checkpoints in the West Bank with the segregation and dehumanization that black Americans endured in the past. Over time, the lawmaker saw the \u201cconnectivity\u201d between the black American and Palestinian experiences, she said, also sharing that her legislative work on issues regarding water in the Michigan House of Representatives inspired her to connect domestic issues to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCutting off water is violent,\u201d Tlaib said. \u201cFrom Detroit to Gaza, water is a human right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hasan praised Bush for \u201csacrificing her career for the biggest moral cause.\u201d Bush then received a roughly 30-second standing ovation from the audience. <\/span><\/p>\n

Bush lost her reelection campaign<\/a> to St. Louis attorney Wesley Bell in August while making her opposition to Israel a key talking point of the race. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) flooded the race with a staggering $8.4 million to secure her ouster.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wiping tears from her eyes on Thursday, Bush said that she ran for office to \u201csave lives and do the work of those who have been directly, negatively impacted by policy violence.\u201d Reflecting on her experience leading the 2014 Ferguson protests after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri, Bush expressed gratitude to \u201cour Palestinian brothers and sisters\u201d for \u201cputting themselves on the line for [black people.]\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bush claimed that witnessing a white woman intervene in a violent confrontation between a police officer and a black youth inspired her to join the Palestinian cause. She added that during the Ferguson protests, a black 16-year-old chanted \u201cF\u2014k the police\u201d to a law enforcement officer, angering and provoking an attack from the officer. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe just kept saying it, and this police officer just got so mad, just at the words, he didn\u2019t touch anyone,\u201d Bush said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t touch him, and the police officer picked up his baton and was coming up to crack him over the head.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was this white woman. She reached up in the air, and she caught the baton in the air,\u201d Bush continued. \u201cAnd she just held it, and the police officer was looking like \u2018what just happened?’\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bush said that the police officer walked away from the confrontation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I just remember in that moment thinking, \u2018This is what we have to be!’\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bush has a long history of telling highly dubious stories. She previously told the press, for example, that teachers at her private school sprayed whipped cream on her homework and accused her of cheating on the entrance exam because they did not believe she could score the highest out of any applicant. The lawmaker wrote on her campaign website that her son was born with translucent skin and his ears inside his head. Bush also originally claimed that she caught a falling woman during the Ferguson protests, but then amended the story to claim she caught a falling baby from a car window. She also claimed to have chased down an armed man on foot to prevent him from murdering his family and committing suicide. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we save one life in Gaza, if we save one family in Gaza, it was worth it, and I wouldn\u2019t change it. I wouldn\u2019t take it back,\u201d Bush stated, seemingly describing herself as a martyr for losing re-election this year while attacking Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bush\u2019s conduct in the immediate aftermath of Hamas\u2019s\u2019 atrocities on Oct. 7 drew widespread outrage. Only nine days after the massacre, Bush called for an \u201cimmediate ceasefire\u201d between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group. As the war dragged on, her rhetoric toward Israel sharpened, with the congresswoman accusing the Jewish state of committing \u201cgenocide\u201d in Gaza and \u201capartheid\u201d in the West Bank. Bush has also accused Israel of inflicting a \u201cfamine\u201d in Gaza without providing evidence<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hill, an academic and anchor on Al Jazeera \u2014 a media outlet funded by the Qatari government, which hosts several top Hamas leaders \u2014 said that he has \u201cpaid a price\u201d to publicly advocate against Israel. He stated that there is a \u201clong history\u201d of African Americans siding with the Palestinian cause, noticing parallels with their own experience in the United States. The left-wing pundit stated that radical black activists such as Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party all supported the anti-Zionist movement. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey try to tell you that [Martin Luther King Jr.] was a Zionist. King wasn\u2019t no Zionist. What King said was that he believed that Israel had a right to exist, but not to exist as an ethno-nationalist apartheid state,\u201d Hill said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Arguing that anti-Zionist activists are part of a long tradition of \u201cfreedom fighters\u201d and \u201cliberators,\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStop it! Tell the truth! Stand up for freedom!\u201d he said. \u201cDo 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\u2014king sea!\u201d Hill said, triumphantly pumping a balled fist in the air. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the River to the Sea, Palestine shall be free<\/a>\u201d \u2014 a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists \u2014 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Algemeiner <\/i>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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we have this reflexive take in American media politics where we have to say, \u2018What about Hamas?’\u201d Hill said in response in a mocking tone, adding that invoking the terrorist group is \u201cunnecessary\u201d and \u201cexcessive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHamas hasn\u2019t surrendered because they\u2019re still under brutal occupation. Hamas hasn\u2019t surrendered because Israel has never given the Palestinian people one minute, one moment of self-determination, freedom, or liberation,\u201d Hill said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, when you talk about Hamas, when you talk about Oct. 7, you [should] also talk about Oct. 6. Because, history didn\u2019t start on Oct. 7,\u201d he continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hill went on to say that although it is against his \u201cmoral code\u201d to maim, rape, and slaughter thousands<\/a> innocent civilians or abduct hundreds of innocent bystanders, as Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists did on Oct. 7, he believes that it is not his \u201cjob to tell people how to liberate themselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The academic then defended Hamas as a \u201cdemocratically-elected organization that has been systematically undermined.\u201d He urged the audience not to talk about Hamas \u201clike they\u2019re some irrational crazy people,\u201d arguing that the Islamist group\u2019s actions are motivated by a \u201cbackdrop of Israeli settler-states that sexually abuse people, that steal land, that kill people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s have a real conversation about Hamas, not the neoliberal, dishonest, orientalist conversation about Hamas,\u201d Hill concluded. <\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u201cfree Palestine from the river to the sea,\u201d 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)<\/a>, 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> \u2014 a hate preacher who has referred to Jews as \u201ctermites\u201d and called Nazi leader Adolph Hitler \u201ca very great man.\u201d In 2019, Hill skewered mainstream media outlets<\/a> as \u201cZionist\u201d organizations, a nod to the antisemitic conspiracy theory notion that Jews control the media. The progressive activist also pushed an unsubstantiated<\/a> claim that Israel is \u201cpoisoning\u201d Palestinian drinking water.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following the panel, The Algemeiner<\/em> was pulled aside by a pair of individuals connected to the event and grilled about the publication\u2019s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and whether it supported \u201cblack solidarity with the Palestinian community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Inside the Anti-Israel Congressional Black Caucus Event That Whitewashed Hamas, Rejected Zionism Corey Walker US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) raises her fist as US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses a pro-Hamas demonstration in Washington, DC. Photo: Reuters\/Allison Bailey An anti-Israel panel event held during a conference hosted by the US Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115754"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115754"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115851,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115754\/revisions\/115851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}