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Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on Saturday condemned Israel as a racist state, warning activists that there is an organized opposition against progressive critics of Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.

The sharp criticism from the lawmaker from Washington state marks among the highest-level condemnations of Israel, as several members of her caucus plan to boycott Israel President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress later this week.

Speaking on a panel at Netroots Nation, an annual progressive activist conference in Chicago, Jayapal was addressing pro-Palestinian attendees interrupting the session.

  • aloeha@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    She’s correct. Fuck Israel. (inb4 someone calls me an antisemite bc they conflate hating the nation of Israel to hating Jews which is the dumbest fucking thing ever, bc I am American and I hate the American government so I guess I hate myself and everyone who lives here?)

    • cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      Kicking people off their land so your own people can move in has a term, it’s called ethnic cleansing. It is considered a crime against humanity under the genocide convention.

      • Zstom6IP@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        a significant amount of jews moved to mandatory palestine before israel was even established, due to the loose immigration laws. the other portion of the israeli population arrived as refugees in the 50s after several states in the middle east expelled their jewish populations post independance. the people kicked out of their homes are not being kicked out for forigners to move in usually, but rather for native israelis to move into, though there are some small american groups in the west bank settler movement. (i am not pro israel or pro palestine, just trying to educate people)

        • generalpotato@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Right. Let me kick you out of your house that you’ve had for generations because I can “claim” the land as mine as my ancestors resided there a thousand years ago. This is the dumbest argument to justify ethnic cleansing. Stop trying to pass this revisionist idiocy off as “education”.

          • SwampYankee@mander.xyzEnglish
            0·
            1 year ago

            because I can “claim” the land as mine as my ancestors resided there a thousand years ago

            Actually, the Jewish National Fund purchased land from subjects of the Ottoman Empire. Often when the Jews showed up to claim their purchase, they found that there were Palestinian Arabs living there. That’s a result of misappropriations under the Ottoman Land Act of 1858.

            That doesn’t make the situation any less horrible, but it’s a far cry from the way you describe it.