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Save the Congresspersons, Save the World

Juan Cole 01/11/2009

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Regarding the Congressional resolution on Gaza, The breakdown of the vote is here. (h/t Antiwar.com. You may be looking at an endangered species list.
Cont’d . . .

Actually, although the vote appeared overwhelmingly to favor Israel, it may be only because the resolution was not worded in that way. The representatives were only asked to say that Israel has “a right to defend itself,” the the US supports Israel, and that they back the peace process. Hell, I could sign that if it were a statement made with no context (i.e. in a situation where I did not know that ‘right to defend itself’ is a euphemism for ‘right to massacre Gazan children’).

Still 5 representatives read it exactly that way and said ‘no,’ and 22 voted ‘present’ as a way of abstaining. These American politicians risk being targeted and unseated in 2010 by the israel lobbies. Could somebody please do up a page with their names and hotlinks to pages where donations can be made to their campaign funds? It is no good applauding their courage if we just stand by and let them be unseated by money coming from outside their states on behalf of a foreign power. If you don’t give some of these campaigns at least some money, you have no right to belly-ache about US policy toward the Middle East. Here is the info:

BILL TITLE: Recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming the United States’ strong support for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process

Answered “No”:

Kucinich

Moore (WI)

Paul

Rahall

Waters

—- ANSWERED “PRESENT” 22 —

Abercrombie

Blumenauer

DeFazio

Dingell

Edwards (MD)

Ellison

Farr

Grijalva

Hinchey

Johnson (GA)

Kilpatrick (MI)

Lee (CA)

McCollum

McDermott

Miller, George

Moran (VA)

Olver

Payne

Sanchez, Loretta

Stark

Watson

Woolsey

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

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Gaza Yet Stands


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