Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of apartheid.

Time
A Major Rights Group Says Israel Is Guilty of Apartheid. It Might Fracture the Status Quo in Congress

On Tuesday, the U.S.-based rights organisation, Human Rights Watch (HRW), accused Israel of two crimes against humanity: the crime of apartheid, and the crime of persecution. Other organisations, including Israeli ones, have previously made similar claims; but it is the first time that such designations have been made by an international organisation of this stature.

Moreover, the designations declared that elements of the crimes were applicable not simply in the occupied Palestinians territories but within the internationally recognized borders of Israel itself. The assessment was predictably met with ferocious indignation among supporters of Israel in Washington D.C.; but mostly from the right-wing of American politics and not the left. The HRW report is just one report, but it’s a significant milestone in a particular trajectory, leading us towards the moment when the bipartisan pro-Israel American consensus that has endured for decades breaks apart....

Democrats and Republicans might argue tremendously in Congress but would always unite over Israel. Congress will regularly pass bipartisan motions supporting Israel, and there was cross-party consensus in Congress on moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, many years before the Trump administration actually did so....

It’s important to note that President Joe Biden was instrumental in ensuring the 2020 Democratic platform was squarely behind Israel, and the Republican Party is even more so.

But Biden’s move didn’t go unchallenged in his party. That follows a public fracturing of the bipartisan consensus on Israel in American politics. Progressive Democratic congresswomen, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, were at the heart of that shift going against the party line. Their support for a boycott movement aimed at pressuring Israel to change its policy toward Palestinians was met with resistance from the overwhelming majority of House Democrats in 2019, who supported a resolution to condemn that movement....

The more progressive wing of the Democratic Party, with whom Tlaib and Omar are immensely popular, is growing in strength due to simple demographics. Disproportionately, younger Americans, and Americans of color, are more likely to be progressive. They are more likely to favor civil rights for minorities, whether it’s the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement in the U.S. or overseas. It’s hard to square that with support for the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, say, where Israeli settlers are granted substantially more privileges as compared to the indigenous Palestinian population. As the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, said in 2019: “There are new voices that are more critical, single-mindedly toward Israel and they’re obviously making themselves heard.”

The Republican Party remains stalwart in its support for the Jewish state; but that’s a complex situation. White supremacist thinking appeals to many Trump supporters; and that ideology contains a strong element of anti-Semitism. At the same time, mainstreaming of white supremacy in the Republican Party only invigorates progressive activists on the Democratic side — and because of the deep polarization of American politics, it makes sense for the Democrats to resist fracturing at all costs, and hold a united front against the Republicans. That means, inevitably, more, not less, progressive influence within the party. And, invariably, that will mean more critical voices on Israel.

There’s little chance of immediate changes in American policy; the U.S. president, and the Democratic leadership in both houses of Congress, are still solidly in favor of the consensus. But the direction is becoming clear – we’re on a path toward the end of uncritical bipartisan support for Israel’s policies towards Palestinians.

I admit the offense of not paying very much attention to Israel, reprehensible, I know. I will leave discussion of that small country to those who are better informed. My cynical take away here is that Schumer and his backers are getting really worried about his reelection. The reason I say that is that as I see it, he literally can't win without inner city minority voters, who are increasingly no longer willing to be taken for granted.

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@humphrey haven't been allowed to say so before now.

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Mary Bennett

In reference to what he told President Xi of China about the issue of human rights violations in his country...
"I told him what I said to many world leaders, that America will not back away from our commitments, our commitments to human rights and our fundamental freedom and our alliances. I pointed out to him, no responsible American president could remain silent when basic human rights are being so blatantly violated. An American president has to represent the essence of what our country stands for."

So when is Joe going to speak to Netanyahu about Israel's violations of the rights of Palestinians?

When is any media person in this country going to ask the President to do so?

Never.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

I only have so much outrage I can keep up with. The more I’d read about it, the more pissed it would make me. Maybe this will change things. Who knows?

And as an aside on Schumer, I’ve seen some commentary in the lefty YouTube sphere speculating that Chucky is nervous. There was some stupid MSM article out there about how the Trump era “radicalized” him and he’s all progressive now. As if. It does seem like they’re trying to figure out how to rebrand that old dog food.

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

@Dr. John Carpenter nervous ever since Engel lost his seat. Chuckie needs inner city votes to win, and were he to be primaried by the likes of Letitia James or Antonio Delgado, he might not get those votes. James has already shown she can win a statewide election. Delgado, I think, is more of an Obama like centrist, but he could be very competitive in rural areas, having made it his business to learn about rural issues.

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Mary Bennett