I can't believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings. Just like anyone else. My city, my grandmother, like all [00:00:15] Palestinians, just wants to live her life with freedom and human dignity. We all deserve. Speaking up to save lives, Mr. Chair, no matter faith, no matter ethnicity, should not be controversial in this chamber. [00:00:31] Well, unfortunately, it turns out that defending Palestinian civilian lives absolutely is considered controversial in the chamber. Why? Well, the House has just passed a Republican led resolution to censure Representative Rashida Tlaib over her criticisms of Israel and Prime [00:00:48] Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza. While there's a clear consensus that Israel has the right to defend itself and root out Hamas following the terror group's October 7th atrocities, the Israeli Defense Forces have dropped more bombs on Gaza in a single week than the US [00:01:08] did most years of the Afghanistan war. In fact, why don't we take a look at the year that we dropped the most bombs in Afghanistan and do a little bit of a comparison on October 14th, just a week into the war, the Israeli Air Force said it had dropped 6000 bombs on Hamas targets in Gaza. [00:01:27] By contrast, a little more than 7300 bombs were dropped on Afghanistan by the US led coalition in all of 2019, which was the heaviest year of aerial bombardment there. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagar appeared to foreshadow the possibility [00:01:45] of targeting major hospitals. Of course, how could he not? Citing their alleged use by militants to fire on Israeli forces, he described medical facilities as a key part of Hamas's war machine and urged that they be evacuated. So where exactly are Palestinian civilians supposed to evacuate to? [00:02:04] Evacuate to the south, which is also being bombed by the IDF? Is that where they're supposed to evacuate to? And by the way, for context, Afghanistan is 252,071mi². Gaza, on the other hand, is just 141mi². [00:02:21] Israeli politicians have been pretty candid about how they view Palestinians as well. Some Israeli hardliners advocate keeping control of Gaza and permanently expelling its Palestinian residents. A Likud lawmaker, Ariel Kallner, has called for another Nakba [00:02:37] that would overshadow the original mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948. Quote, right now, one goal Nakba, Kallner said on October 8th, Nakba in Gaza and Nakba to anyone who dares to join, he added. [00:02:54] Some also mused about using nuclear warheads and wiping out Gazans altogether. A far right government minister, Amish Eliyahu, said on Wednesday that Gazan land should be given to former Israeli soldiers who fought in Gaza, or to former [00:03:11] Israeli settlers who lived in the enclave before Israel withdrew from it in 2005. Then on Sunday, he said that Israel should consider dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza, an idea that drew condemnation from Netanyahu [00:03:27] and other members of the government. But anyway, back to Taleb censure. The resolution against Talib, which was introduced by GOP representative Rich McCormick, advanced after a Democratic led effort to block the measure failed. [00:03:43] But make no mistake, nearly two dozen Democrats pathetically joined in on these efforts to silence Talib. The vote was 234 to 188, with four Republicans voting against and 22 Democrats voting in support of the censure resolution. [00:04:01] Talib, who is the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, has been outspoken about Israel's brutal humanitarian blockade and restrictions of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, along with its [00:04:16] relentless airstrikes in the region. The main point of contention is Talib's use of a video that has the phrase from the river to the sea. Now the Anti-Defamation League describes the chant from the river to the sea, [00:04:32] Palestine will be free as an anti-Semitic slogan and rallying cry that has been used by anti-Israel Israel voices, including supporters of terrorist organizations such as Hamas. Right. But see, the problem is that phrase is interpreted and used differently depending [00:04:49] on who you ask and who is using it. Talib has defended the phrase writing on x. Let's take a look. From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction or hate. [00:05:05] My work in advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people, no matter faith or ethnicity. And look, I think it's important to be crystal clear in messaging. So I personally would avoid using that phrase just to prevent any confusion [00:05:23] or bad faith smears. Let's keep it real about my intentions. And to be honest, I don't really question Talib's intentions at all because despite what her detractors might say, despite the way she's been smeared, she's not anti-Semitic and has actually proven herself to be someone who cares about [00:05:41] the dignity of Israeli civilians as well. In fact, let me show you the receipts. In May of this year, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on Talib's feelings about the possibility of displacing Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Now, here's the headline. [00:05:58] She said that the idea of uprooting Israeli settlements is something I struggle with. Let me give you some more context. So she was actually speaking to students. Students asked to leave about Israeli West Bank settlements, which much of the [00:06:14] international community considers illegal. In response, the Michigan representative invoked the Nakba, the term meaning catastrophe that Palestinians use to describe their displacement during and after the 1948 war. And then she tells the students this some settlements have [00:06:33] been there for so long, right. And just the idea around taking families that that's been their home, it's just completely uprooting, forcibly displacing and something I struggle with because we're doing it all over again. [00:06:49] Right. This happened during the Nakba. So she has the empathy to think about what that meant for the Palestinian people. Then she then turns to the possibility of that happening to Israeli settlers who have not been kind to Palestinians. [00:07:04] Let's be clear about that, who have built illegal settlements in the West Bank. Let's be clear about that. But she has enough humanity in her heart to not want to displace those people. Now, just thinking back at the disgusting statements said by members of Israel's [00:07:22] government in regard to Palestinians. Yeah, those statements are monstrous and bad enough. But I also want to be clear that the Israeli government is not all bark and no bite. They have no issues repeatedly bombing refugee camps, hospitals and schools, [00:07:37] knowing that the majority of those who will be killed are civilians, including children. Here's an example. At the Al-fakhura school, the classes have paused, but the lessons of war continue. Today, this child learns how to lift a decapitated body. [00:07:57] Look, it's this young boy. Says he was stood here when three bombs landed. And he helped to move those who did not survive. No child should have to carry the dead yet alone live expecting to join them. [00:08:17] So unless you're a heartless robot, it's not hard or confusing to understand where Talib is coming from. But you want to know what isn't confusing at all and happens to be pretty crystal clear. This crap. [00:08:32] Rashida Tlaib has the I don't even want to call it the Palestinian flag because they're not a state. They're a territory that's about to probably get eviscerated and go away here shortly, as we're going to turn that into a parking lot. We're going to go and turn that into a parking lot. That was Republican congressman, Republican Congressman Max Miller. [00:08:51] Okay. Salivating over the collective slaughter of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. I wonder how aroused this vicious man gets over images of Palestinian children bleeding out on the streets following an IDF airstrike. [00:09:08] I do not wonder about whether there are any consequences for his anti-palestinian bloodlust, because there haven't been any. No censures for him. Now, luckily, Democratic Congresswoman Sara Jacobs did file a censure resolution [00:09:24] against Republican Congressman Brian Mast. Mast demonstrated his loyalty to this great country by showing up to America's Capitol wearing an IDF uniform. He wore a foreign country's military uniform inside the United States Capitol. [00:09:43] Then on November 1st, he proceeded to say this on the House floor. I would encourage the other side to not so lightly throw around the idea of innocent Palestinian civilians, as is frequently said. [00:09:58] I don't think we would so lightly throw around the term innocent Nazi civilians during World War two. There's not this far stretch to say there are very few innocent Palestinian civilians. [00:10:18] So just think back at that child that we watched a video of. Okay. Brian Mast sees this person as a Nazi. Same as a Nazi deserves to be slaughtered. So while Rashida Tlaib uses a phrase that has multiple interpretations. [00:10:33] Mast made clear that he's a supporter of war crimes, including the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. Yet McCormick, who brought forth the censure against Rashida Tlaib, had no problem with mass, undeniably violent rhetoric. [00:10:50] And we should not forget the first Republican who tried and luckily failed to censure Rashida Tlaib. It was Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who in 2018 blamed California's wildfires on secret Jewish space lasers. [00:11:06] But that's okay. According to the GOP, the real problem is a Palestinian American woman who asks the country to just please consider the lives of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Tlaib has defended herself against the censure attempts, arguing [00:11:23] that they are an effort to silence her and saying that her colleagues have resorted to distorting my positions in resolutions filled with obvious lies. And you know what? She's right about that. Pramila Jayapal, who is usually pretty weak sauce, if you ask me, is the leader [00:11:41] of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Apparently, she grew a pair. She agrees with Tlaib, and she stood up for free speech and for Rashida in a comment to CNN after this disgusting, despicable censure vote. - Let's watch. - It is outrageous. [00:11:58] I am embarrassed for those Democrats who voted to censure their own colleague who voted against free speech. - It is an embarrassment. - Censuring. Censuring Rashida Tlaib is an effort to silence her. [00:12:13] Let's just keep it real. A censure resolution is one of the most severe forms of punishment in the House of Representatives. It has historically been saved for the most egregious offenses, like criminal convictions. [00:12:29] Tlaib won't be removed from Congress, but this is a way to basically get colleagues on both sides of the aisle to publicly condemn her. This sends a message do not criticize Israel's actions, regardless of what they do or how many civilians they kill. [00:12:45] Do not defend the Palestinian people. The common tactic is to lump those seeking justice for innocent civilians in Gaza with terrorist sympathizers. And look, in the past, smears and false allegations of anti-Semitism succeeded in silencing good people, real humanitarians who have no trouble seeing [00:13:04] the humanity of the Palestinian people. But guess what? We're living in a new era. No longer can Americans sit idly by as our resources and our weapons get shipped to Israel. So its far right government can brutalize innocent people in our name. [00:13:21] Legacy media can no longer hide the images and videos that we've all been seeing in independent outlets and social media pages. The Israeli people deserve peace and prosperity. This war in Gaza is not going to get them the peace [00:13:37] and prosperity that they deserve. It is radicalizing more people. The brutality leads to the reproduction of radicals. And guess what? While Israelis certainly deserve peace and prosperity, so do the Palestinians. [00:13:53] There's been a double standard for far too long, and we're not going to shut up about it. If you enjoyed this video, that's because of our members. They make us independent. They make us strong, and they make us honest. Become a member today by hitting the join button below.