The Hulk Felt the Bern, by Carlos Latuff. Mark Ruffalo apologized for sharply critical statements about Israel, at the same time as Bernie Sanders said of the “apartheid” label that progressives should “tone down the rhetoric.”
Even as support for Palestine grudgingly enters into popular consciousness in the West, the racist dehumanization of Palestinians continues to undermine meaningful support. The most obvious example of this is the repeated attempts at policing the tone and rhetoric of support for Palestine and associated apologies when the arbitrary line is crossed.
For example, Mark Ruffalo has apologized for comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza to “genocide,” implying that strong rhetoric could incite violence against Jews. In a similar vein, Bernie Sanders has implied that accusing Israel of apartheid like several of his Congressional colleagues, Human Rights Watch, Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, most South African
Kevin McCarthy Unveils Bill to Crack Down on Antisemitic Hate Crimes
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
25 May 2021
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) introduced a bill on Tuesday that aims to target antisemitic hate crimes as the United States experiences a surge in attacks on Jews following a bloody 11-day war started by Hamas against Israel, Fox News reports.
The bill, entitled the Preventing Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes Act, would direct the Department of Justice to assign an official to speed up the review of reported anti-Semitic hate crimes over the next three years and would also mandate that the attorney general issue periodic reports to Congress.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and fellow Republican David Kustoff introduced a bill to prevent anti-Semitic crimes. He blasted Squad members AOC, Cori Bush, and Rashida Tlaib.
It called on Biden to “work to end the underlying conditions of occupation, blockade, and settlement expansion that led to this exceptionally destructive period in a 73-year history of dispossession and ethnic cleansing.”
Israel and Egypt maintain a blockade on Gaza to prevent terror groups from importing arms and material to build fortifications. The letter appeared to blame Israel for the recent conflict, in which more than 4,000 rockets were fired at Israel during the 11 days of fighting.
One Israeli soldier and 12 civilians in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, were killed in the rocket fire, and hundreds were injured.
Palestinians receive the dose of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a clinic in Gaza on April 18, 2021. Photo by Osama Baba (c) APA Images
It would be easy to relax a moment, to think that the narrative on the struggle in Israel/Palestine is changing with the global protests (including within Israel) associated with the latest massacres in Gaza; growing support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement; and the increase in more accurate reporting language in the mainstream media (though not NPR by the way). Even the Sunday
placed the evictions in East Jerusalem in the context of the indignities and injustices of the longstanding Israeli occupation.