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With Israel signaling a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in
response to last weekend's deadly attacks by Hamas, U.S. Rep.
Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, on Friday criticized President Joe Biden
and his administration for not doing more to restrain Israel or show
concern for ordinary Palestinians living in the war-torn region.

"Millions of people in Gaza — half of them children — have been
given an impossible 24-hour evacuation order, but they have nowhere
to go," Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, said,
referring to Israel's order to evacuate the northern section of the
strip of land between that country and Egypt. "The collective
punishment of Palestinian civilians is a war crime ... (but)
President Biden has not expressed one bit of empathy for the
millions of Palestinian civilians facing brutal airstrikes and the
threat of a ground invasion of Gaza."

Tlaib's statement on Friday reiterated one she gave exclusively to
the Free Press earlier this week that she considers both the deadly,
surprise attack on Israeli civilians orchestrated by Hamas, which
controls the Gaza Strip and which the U.S. has labeled a terrorist organization, and Israel's overwhelming response to be "war crimes"
in that civilians, including children, are being killed.

"I am calling for immediate de-escalation and cease-fire to save
countless civilian lives, no matter their faith or ethnicity," she
said Friday. "Our government must lead with compassion for all
civilians. I believe in my heart that the majority of Americans want
the killing and violence to stop. War crimes cannot be answered with
war crimes."

After the attacks last weekend that led to some 1,200 deaths, Tlaib,
long a critic of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, including a
blockade of Gaza in place since 2007, put out an equivocal statement
in part blaming Israel and American support for that ally for the
attack. She said she has received numerous death threats since then
and one Michigan colleague, U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet,
introduced a resolution to censure her.

But many people who have been critical of Israel have said it is
possible both to denounce Hamas' actions, as Tlaib has done, while
also urging Israel show restraint in its response. Since the
attacks, Israel has been firing rockets into the Gaza Strip and
cutting fuel, electricity and other services to the region, as well
as massing troops on the border, with Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu promising to exact an "unprecedented price" on Hamas.

The United Nations, meanwhile, is bracing for a humanitarian
catastrophe in Gaza, saying that Israel's evacuation order is
"impossible," given that there is no way out of the region. Israel
has imposed a blockade of Gaza since 2007, after Hamas — which was
founded on a desire to end Israel's existence — took political
control there, tightly controlling the flow of goods, services and
people to such a degree that it has impacted Palestinians' access to
food, jobs and health care. The country has been entirely locked
down since last weekend.

Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as most western
leaders, have expressed unequivocal support for Israel to defend
itself, though Blinken has said he has urged Israel to take all
possible steps to avoid loss of civilian lives. Hamas had told
people living in Gaza to disregard the order but on Friday it
appeared massive numbers of Palestinians were heading south.

Tlaib said the Biden administration must do more.

“American Muslims and Arab Americans do not feel represented by our government right now," she said. "Many families in the U.S. seeking
help to get their loved ones out of Gaza feel that Secretary Blinken
is not making their safety a priority. The Biden administration is
failing in its duty to protect all civilian and American lives in
Gaza. I cannot believe I have to beg our country to value every
human life, no matter their faith or ethnicity. We cannot lose sight
of the humanity in each other.”


https://www.yahoo.com/news/rep-rashida-tlaib-calls-president-
210530865.html

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