Congress Melts Down Over Israel Again

Deconstructed

The Intercept

News

4.8 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

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Summary

The House overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Tuesday pledging "the United States will always be a staunch partner and supporter of Israel” and that Israel is “not a racist or apartheid state.” This week on Deconstructed, Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, joins Ryan Grim to discuss the resolution sparked by recent remarks from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. Miller and Grim break down the bipartisan furor to swiftly condemn Jayapal calling Israel “a racist state” and promise unconditional support for the Israeli government, despite its decadeslong campaign to violently force Palestinians off their land.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Deconstructed, I'm Ryan Grimm.
0:06.7	At last weekend's Net Roots Nation Conference, demonstrators disrupted a panel discussion, protesting
0:11.7	on behalf of Palestinian rights, and leading to this response from Representative Pramila
0:15.6	Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
0:18.5	Can I say something?
0:19.5	Can I say something as somebody that's been in the streets and has participated in a
0:25.8	lot of demonstrations?
0:27.2	I think I want you to know that we have been fighting to make it clear that Israel
0:33.7	is a racist state, that the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy,
0:41.4	that the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away from us, that it does not even
0:50.8	feel possible.
0:52.8	It does not even feel possible.
0:55.2	And I want you to know that while you may have arguments with whether or not some of
1:04.2	us on stage are fighting hard enough, I do want you to know that there is an organized
1:09.3	opposition on the other side, and it isn't the people that are on the stage.
1:13.7	And with that exchange set off a week-long controversy in Washington culminating both
1:19.2	with a speech from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and also a vote on the House floor
1:25.2	insisting that the United States will always be an ally of Israel, and also that it is
1:31.8	not a racist state, and it is not also, in case anybody was wondering, in apartheid state,
1:38.4	and it also on top of that condemned anti-Semitism and xenophobia, which I thought was an interesting
1:45.2	thing to slot in there.
1:46.2	I was wondering if any of the Republicans would look at that and try to amend out the xenophobia
	...

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