Friends Of The Devil

On the heels of the Republican majority capitulating to the extreme MAGA wing in order to elect a speaker, the House enacted a resolution 420-10, with six members voting “present,” all Democrat and five of whom has co-sponsored the resolution. Here’s the breakdown of representatives who did not vote for the resolution.

Nay votes (10)
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)
Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO)
Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)
Rep. Al Green (D-TX)
Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA)
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)

Present votes (6):
Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX)
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX)
Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL)
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)

The resolution in issue was to condemn Hamas for its terrorism, to demand the return of Israeli hostages and to affirm and support Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism.

“It condemns in the strongest possible terms the atrocities of Hamas and reiterates Israel’s right to defend herself along with America’s unwavering support for the state of Israel,” Mr. McCaul said on the House floor, arguing the resolution “will send a clear message across the world that terrorists and their sponsors will be held to account.”

One would have thought that the condemnation of terrorism would be one of the few uncontroversial questions posed to the House of Representatives. One would be wrong. Other than Massie, the lone Republican who explained his vote as being against financial and military support to Israel, there is one common thread among the “nays” and the “presents.” They are the Squad, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party which has broken from the majority of their party and, perhaps, its president.

For all the insanity of Trump, the Hamas terrorist attack may have precipitated the downfall of President Biden and given Trump a boost that he could never have gotten on his own.

There are two pivotal events that seem to have ignited the new era of solidarity between some young American activists and the people of Palestine. The first came in the form of Palestinian activists expressing support on social media for the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Mo., which activists describe as an uprising, not just a series of protests. Palestinians provided not just moral support, but offered practical tips that, as activist Cherrell Brown told me, included advice for protesters about how to protect themselves from tear gas.

The second event was a 2015 pilgrimage to Israel and the Palestinian territories organized by Ahmad Abuznaid, a Jerusalem-born Palestinian American who co-founded the Dream Defenders, a group of activists who came together in response to the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin.

The small delegation included some people who would also become central in the American movement, like the journalist and scholar Marc Lamont Hill.

In the scheme of history, Jews have provided foundational support for black people. Freedom riders? NAACP? But that was then, and Charles Blow is talking about now, where Palestinian activists enmeshed their cause with Black Lives Matter when few were watching, such that now the two are so deeply embedded as to be inseparable.

College campuses are erupting with protests, some being characterized as pro-Palestinian while others are pro-Hamas. Tearing down posters of kidnapped Israel children has become a symbol of “resistance,” as if the kidnapped children are responsible for anything. By wrapping themselves in the Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh, silly children pretend they aren’t being anti-Semetic, but merely pro-Palestinian, without grasping that their inability to condemn terrorism against Jews supports terrorism against jews.

And indeed, a great many college campuses, including Brandeis, where a student resolution to condemn Hamas failed. Or George Washington University, where students projected “Glory to our Martyrs” onto the wall of the Gelman Library. Something happened at Cooper Union yesterday, where Jewish students were holed up in the library while pro-Hamas protesters pounded on the door. Or not. the characterizations being suspect all around due to reporters’ sympathies and “moral clarity.”

But the vote of the ten members of the House of Representatives on a resolution five of them co-sponsored before they learned that their activist constituents were for the terrorists is not in doubt. They voted, and they voted not to condemn terrorism. They voted, and they voted against supporting the target of terrorists. They voted against Jews and for terrorists, as the pretense that some fantasy land exists where they can excuse rape and murder of women, babies and the elderly because of their twisted grasp of recent Palestinian history.

The woke left, including Jews who cling so desperately to their tribal affiliations, has gone full Jew hating. And the Squad is their voice in Congress. For those who fancied themselves progressives but can’t bring themselves to wish glory to the martyrs, or aren’t prepared to be raped and murdered for the cause themselves, they are about to find out that there is no home on the left edge of progressivism for heresy.

When Black Lives Matter mostly peaceful protests were at their apex, apologists made nonsensical excuses for burning and looting, “reparations” and “the voice of the unheard.” The same is being done for raping and murdering, beheading and burning, even though the acts are far more barbaric than pedestrian looting.

In 1765, Voltaire said “Certainement qui est en droit de vous rendre absurde, est en droit de vous rendre injuste.” This has been commonly translated as “Certainly anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit atrocities.” Indeed.