By Ashlee BanksSpecial to the AFRO
Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus opted towards attending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint session handle to Congress.
On July 24, the Israeli chief spoke to members of the U.S. Home of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to debate the longstanding relationship between the Center Japanese nation and the USA.
Netanyahu additionally used the hour-long speech to declare that he would have “whole victory” within the Israel-Hamas battle.
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) didn’t attend Netanyahu’s speech and mentioned Congress shouldn’t lend its “platform to a warfare prison.”
“I proceed to grieve for practically 40,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army,” mentioned Pressley in a press release. “The violence and bloodshed we’ve got seen during the last 9 months is devastating.”
U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, (D-N.Y.) was additionally absent from the handle and mentioned Congressional leaders made a nasty name by inviting Netanyahu to the Capitol grounds.
“I’m disgusted and horrified by Netanyahu’s violent and bigoted speech to the joint session of Congress, however I’m not stunned,” mentioned Bowman in a press release. “It was fully predictable that he would use this as a possibility to fearmonger and inform lies to attempt to win help and funding for his indiscriminate bombing marketing campaign.”
In whole, greater than 100 Democratic members on each the Home and Senate aspect skipped the prime minister’s handle.
Lawmakers weren’t the one ones displeased with Netanyahu’s go to. Whereas the Israeli chief was talking to Congress, a big group of demonstrators gathered close to Union Station to protest Netanyahu’s speech. Throughout the demonstration, protestors eliminated three American flags and changed them with Palestinian flags. Whereas some protestors burned not less than one of many American flags, others spray-painted phrases like “Hamas,” “Gaza,” “Genocide Joe,” and “Little one Killers” on a monument simply ft away from the station’s entrance.
On the night of July 24, Home Republicans had been noticed changing the Palestinian flags with American flags.
The very subsequent morning, Washington, D.C. metropolis employees had been seen eradicating the graffiti from the monument.
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) condemned the protests, saying “there’s a distinction between lawful expression and disorderly conduct.”
“Defacing public property, desecrating the American flag, threatening Jews with violence and selling terrorist teams like Hamas is just not acceptable underneath any circumstance,” mentioned Jeffries in a press release.
The protest got here a day after pro-Palestinian demonstrators participated in a sit-in on the U.S. Capitol forward of Netanyahu’s go to. Almost 400 demonstrators with Jewish Voice for Peace staged the protest. At the least 200 had been arrested for crowding, obstructing or incommoding within the Cannon Home Workplace Constructing.
The Israeli prime minister’s go to comes practically 10 months after the Israel-Hamas battle started. On Oct. 7, Hamas launched an assault towards Israel, abducting 251 folks and killing 1,200 Israelis. Since October, Israel has engaged in numerous assaults towards Palestinians, ensuing within the deaths of practically 40,000 folks, largely girls and kids.
Bowman mentioned Congress must be targeted on the protection of Palestinians and guaranteeing that they don’t have to dwell in a continuing state of worry.
“It’s our duty to uplift the shared humanity of all folks and work collectively towards peace,” mentioned the Democratic lawmaker.
