XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.politics.libertarian, alt.politics.democrats   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, talk.politics.misc, mi.misc   
   From: remailer@domain.invalid   
      
   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   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)