For the second time this year, the United States Congress voted to send Israel billions of dollars in military funding. Of course, there’s nothing unusual about that specifically, but what is interesting is how progressives in Congress chose to coordinate their votes.
On both occasions, members of the so-called squad, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Presley, and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, either voted in favor of funding Israel or refused to take a concrete stance against it.
So do these self-styled progressives actually support the Palestinian cause, or are they just all talk and trying to protect their careers and political ambitions in Washington DC?
On September 20th, 2021, New York, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, or AOC, proposed an amendment seeking to limit arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Israel.
This came on the cusp of the third anniversary of the murder of Saudi journalists and dissident, Jamal Khashoggi.
AOC’s amendment to block an arms sale to Israel, worth over $700 million in Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAM bombs, comes four months after Israel used these very munitions, manufactured by Boeing, to kill Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians.
In light of these events, the amendments proposed by AOC not only seemed quite sensible but also drew support from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and applause from human rights and pro-Palestine advocates.
This didn’t however stop the Israeli ambassador to the US from calling the congresswoman antisemitic for trying to restrict the sale of one weapon.
The next day, another good move from the progressives came when they removed the Iron Dome provision from a government spending bill. The proposal would have seen another additional $1 billion sent to the Israelis to replenish their rocket interception system.
House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, likely added the Iron Dome provision to the government spending bill in an attempt to win over support from Republicans.
This didn’t work, and without Republican support, the bill was destined to fail, it could only pass by a simple majority if a handful of progressives in Congress agreed to it.
They didn’t. They said that if it’s included in the bill, they won’t vote for it by acting as one collective block, they successfully removed the Iron Dome provision from the spending bill.
Naturally, it’s assumed that Israel would end up getting the money anyway, but this was the right thing to do and was in line with their stated principles of supporting human rights and standing up for Palestinians.
For once, it seemed that progressives had finally gotten their act together, but unfortunately, this was short-lived.
Just a few days later funding for the Israeli Iron Dome was brought up for a separate vote in a standalone bill by House Appropriations Committee Chair, Rosa DeLauro.
Naturally, funding Israel is a much higher priority than raising the debt ceiling or making sure that the government doesn’t shut down; so that had to come first.
And as expected, the bill passed in a landslide of 420 to 9 votes. One Republican and eight Democrats voted against it, including members of the squad, such as Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Presley, and Cori Bush.
However, the most famous of the group, AOC mysteriously switched her vote from No to Present at the last minute.
AOC and her progressive colleagues apparently want to play both sides. She wants to appear like she opposes the establishment, but without actually doing anything to stand in the way.
She wears a tax the rich dress while attending a $30,000 ticket event. She wears a Medicare for All mask while helping elect a house speaker and a president who refused to support Medicare for All.
And so we have AOC pretending to support Palestinians while refusing to take a clear stance against funding Israel.
Well AOC is, after all, not just a US politician, but also a congresswoman from New York. Asked about her present vote on Mahdi Hassan’s show, this is what she had to say:
Was it worth doing ‘Present’, because it didn’t really satisfy anyone; supporters of Israel are mad at you for not voting for it; critics are mad at you for not voting against it. Do you regret that?
Mahdi Hassan
You know, it is something that I weigh because there’s the, there’s always the macro, and then there’s the micro, and in the macro of narrative, of politics, of national impact.
You know, I probably should have just gone with my value, but in the macro, which would be to vote no, but in the micro, I do believe that this created a window in our community to be able to bring all folks to the table because my great fear is that we are going to import the same sort of contention around this issue.
New York, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
Well I don’t know about you but that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, macro, micro, what is she talking about? Is she against the violent illegal occupation of Palestine or not?
It is a very simple question, Jamal Bowman, also a New York congressman and a so-called progressive were also asked why he voted to fund the Iron Dome.
Your squad colleagues, Ilhan Omar Rasheeda Talib, Ayanna Presley voted no, AOC controversially voted present, but you voted yes. How come?
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It’s important for me to make sure I represent everyone within my district, not just some people within my district, and this was an issue that was very important to many people in my district.
Jamal Bowman, Congressman, New York
So when Jamal Bowman says that funding Israel’s Iron Dome is representing his constituency. What does that mean exactly; is he a congressman in Israel, or in the United States?
I think what AOC and Bowman are talking about is not their constituents; they’re talking about their peers, their superiors, and special interests groups in Washington. You see by not voting against Israel’s Iron Dome, specifically, they are showing, they are demonstrating that their criticism of Israel is all talk, it’s just an act. They’re telling the establishment and the Israelis don’t worry, because when it comes down to an actual vote, we’re not going to stand in the way.
And now pay attention because this, this is the most important part, you need to understand what’s going on here.
When it came to funding the Iron Dome, you saw who voted no, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Presley, and Cori Bush, but a few months earlier they had done the exact opposite. In July those very same politicians had voted, to give Israel $3.8 billion in military funding.
That bill in July barely passed with 217 votes in favor and 212 against. And if they wanted to, they could have said, No, we’re not voting for this we are not giving Israel billions of dollars, eight weeks after they just butchered Palestinians in Gaza. but they did, they voted for it.
And now when it comes to the Iron Dome, when they know that it’s going to pass anyway, they vote no, and only then do they vote no because it’s symbolic, so they can keep up the act, they can keep pretending that they are in support of Palestinians.
This is all such an elaborately deceitful act, and they don’t just do this with funding Israel, they also do this with the $15 minimum wage, with reelecting Nancy Pelosi, every time there is a crucial vote, an ugly vote, some of the progressives will vote No, but just enough of them have voted Yes, to make sure that it passes.
We already know that politics is theatre; we already know that politics is a dirty game but they are especially good at it. They’re playing both sides, trying to keep their supporters and their constituents happy and maintain their street credibility, whilst making sure not to upset the establishment, which is the most important factor at play.
And what’s interesting here is that there’s an entire debate about the Iron Dome you see people on both sides of the aisle saying it’s purely defensive, how can you vote no? Of course, we should fund Israel’s Iron Dome it saves lives.
If the Iron Dome is purely defensive can the Palestinians have one too? Can Iran, Syria, or anyone else? Give the Palestinians billions of dollars to build anti-aircraft batteries. Do Palestinians also get to defend themselves from aerial attacks and rockets? Because if we look at the numbers, if we look at the facts to see who is really in danger here, It’s undeniably the Palestinians, the majority of casualties are always Palestinians, and always Palestinian civilians.
So logically it is the Palestinians who need protection the most, they need protection from Israeli jets that bomb them almost weekly. Who in the US Congress is going to stand up and say that Palestinians also have a right to defend themselves? Are they not human beings, are they not equals like you and me?
Once again you can clearly see the double standards applied how they dehumanize Palestinians, deprive them of a home, deprive them of a state, deprive them of dignity, and even the basic right to self-defense.
Every time an American or European politician speaks on the matter all they talk about is Israel’s right to defend itself. And they use this to justify the mass murder of Palestinians, war crimes, bombing UN schools, bombing the press, and bombing medics.
So again I asked you, what about the Palestinians, where is their right to self-defense?
Some commentators and politicians even have the nerve to say that the Iron Dome saves Palestinian lives!? Which Palestinians, the ones who are living under Israeli occupation?
This is like saying that German bunkers and German anti-aircraft batteries in occupied France were built to protect the French from Allied bombs.
This is how sick and twisted they sound, this is their logic; Israelis are the only ones who can defend themselves, and anyone else is not important.
