While the vast majority of Congress joined together last Wednesday in a bipartisan vote to condemn Hamas and other terrorists, a group of Democrats sided with the aggressors who carried out the bloodiest attack that the Jewish people have experienced in the last seven decades.
Although the resolution penned by the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, obtained overwhelming approval with 412 votes, it is worrying that ten members of Congress decided to vote against it, and another six preferred to abstain from supporting a great ally of the United States that is defending itself from a war started by the radical Islamic terrorist group.
“This is a resolution to stand with Israel as it defends against the barbaric war launched by Hamas/other terrorists. This should have been a no-brainer for members. Yet 15 Democrats refused to support this legislation,” said Republican Representative Byron Lowell Donalds.
Last night, the House of Representatives passed H.Res.771.
This is a resolution to stand with Israel as it defends against the barbaric war launched by Hamas/other terrorists.
This should have been a no-brainer for members.
Yet 15 Democrats refused to support this legislation. pic.twitter.com/a0tEzXRYCA
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) October 26, 2023
House Representatives who voted against the resolution were Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Summer Lee (D-PA), Cori Bush ( D-MO), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), André Carson (D-IN), Al Green (D-TX), Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and Thomas Massie (R-KY).
In addition to this, the legislators who only stated “present” in the vote were Greg Casar (D-TX), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), Jesús “Chuy” Garcia (D-IL) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib
Omar and Tlaib are the first Muslim women to serve in the US Congress and have been frequent critics of Israel in the past. After the Hamas attack, the two have insisted that a ceasefire is the solution and that the Jewish State’s response has been excessive.
“I cannot support a resolution that fails to acknowledge and mourn the lives of Palestinians taken by the Israeli military. The resolution also fails to acknowledge the Israeli government’s military bombardment of Gaza,” said Omar, accusing the Jewish State of the explosion of the health center, omitting the investigations and analyses that affirm that the tragedy was caused by the failure of a rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
“I voted against this resolution because it is a deeply incomplete and biased account of what is happening in Israel and Palestine, and what has been happening for decades,” Tlaib said.
Jamaal Bowman
The Democratic representative has also used the narrative that Israel is attacking Palestinian civilians for the massacre of a terrorist group, and proposed having a debate “on the root causes” of the conflict to find a “peaceful solution.”
“We must remember that Palestinian civilians are not responsible for Hamas’s actions. We must ensure we center human rights and be clear-eyed about the loss of life that will unnecessarily be inflicted upon all innocent civilians,” he said in a statement shared on October 10.
Summer Lee
Although the representative from Pennsylvania says she condemns terrorism by Hamas, she assures that Israel is “punishing” all Palestinians and believes that the resolution could facilitate “a mass atrocity.”
She also stated that senior Israeli officials use “dehumanizing language” and make “calls for genocide.”
My full statement on today's resolution: pic.twitter.com/A1kwmKpVVS
— Congresswoman Summer Lee (@RepSummerLee) October 25, 2023
Cori Bush
The Missouri representative has not only urged President Joe Biden to deny Israel the opportunity to defend itself from the attack that killed more than 1,400 Israelis, but she even called on the United States to stop funding the Jewish government.
My statement on the ongoing violence in Palestine and Israel ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/NIt9G7aLMI
— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@RepCori) October 8, 2023
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
The socialist of Puerto Rican descent always seems to choose the wrong side. In the past, the representative of New York has already demonstrated her fondness for regimes that violate human rights, such as those of Cuba and Venezuela. Now, she sides with Israel’s aggressors by voting against the resolution that condemns the attacks of Hamas.
In a statement she shared earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez suggested that the terrorist group’s attack stemmed from “oppression and occupation” in the region.
Andre Carson
For the co-sponsor of the Ceasefire Now Resolution, the Hamas attack demonstrates the “urgent need for a just peace” that he says will be achieved by calling for an “end of Israel’s unfair, two-tiered rule over the Palestinian people.”
Delia Ramirez and Al Green
Both the congresswoman from Illinois and the congresswoman from Texas expressed that they cannot support a resolution that, according to them, is incomplete because it does not also mention a solution for the Palestinians.
“The resolution did not honor our shared humanity, did not advance a two-state solution, and did not recognize the interconnectedness of the Israeli and Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation and safety,” said Delia Ramirez.
Al Green shared a similar statement: “The resolution at hand does not mention a two-state solution in tandem with the necessity to provide aid to the Palestinians, yet both are part and parcel to any hope for lasting peace.”
Thomas Massie
Massie was the only Republican to vote against the resolution. The Kentucky representative said he fears the resolution could deepen the conflict. However, unlike the Democrats, Massie made it clear that he condemned the Hamas attack and considered that Israel has the right to defend itself.
I condemn the barbaric attack on Israel and I affirm Israel’s right to defend itself.
However, I will not be voting for House Resolution 771 today because:
1) It calls for sanctions on a sovereign country. Sanctions are a prelude to war and hurt the citizens of the country more…
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) October 25, 2023
A Democratic pattern of antisemitism
After the vote, the Republican Party shared a statement highlighting that far-left House Democrats have a “troubling pattern of siding with Israel’s aggressors.”
The GOP noted that in addition to the lack of support from these Democrats for the resolution, on several occasions, the left has sided with antisemitism and recalled the comments made by the members of ‘The Squad’ blaming Israel for the Gaza hospital explosion.
The statement also highlighted that Rashida Tlaib is scheduled to speak at a conference led by an anti-Israel coalition linked to Palestinian terrorists and that Pramila Jayapal accused Israel of being a “racist state.”
Likewise, the GOP pointed out that, although several current signs of right-wing anti-Israel bias have appeared, Democrats have an antisemitic record that includes failing to support Israel during the Hamas terrorist attacks in May 2021 and defending House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ antisemitic comments months before the Hamas attack.
“Leonard Jeffries [Hakeem’s uncle] has spewed antisemitic conspiracies that Jews control Hollywood, compared Jews to ‘skunks’ and called the Jewish community’ evil,’” the statement also notes.
“Failing to condemn Hamas and not standing with our greatest ally, Israel, weakens the global fight against terrorism,” the GOP explained.
