Congressman Pappas’s blind spot
Congressman Pappas’s letter to me on March 26 repeats the AIPAC assertion that Israel “has long been one of our country’s most important strategic allies” based on “shared democratic values and shared security interests.”
Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem, unlawful military attacks on Lebanon, Syria and Iran, murder of innocent civilians, including children, and its displacement of millions of families while generating environmental havoc contravenes the “democratic values” shared by most Americans. Congressman Pappas’s votes that supplied Israel with the weapons to commit these crimes undermine our nation’s “security interests.”
The West Bank Violence Prevention Act, co-sponsored by Pappas, remains stalled in Committee while Israeli settlers rampage the West Bank and expand Israel’s illegal settlements with impunity.
The Israeli Knesset passed a new discriminatory death penalty bill aimed at Palestinians that shortcuts procedural safeguards and mandates execution by hanging within 90 days. Since October 2023, 89 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons from torture, starvation, and medical neglect. This new law will kill Palestinians by hanging with less scrutiny. Adam Coogle of Human Rights Watch said, “The law entrenches discrimination and a two-tiered system of justice system, both hallmarks of apartheid.” This is what unconditional support for Israel has wrought.
Pappas apparently shares President Trump’s and AIPAC’s inability to distinguish “democratic values” from fascism or to understand that Israeli/U.S. warfare throughout the Middle East undermines our “security interests” and drains our national budget. Any politician unable to discern these distinctions is ill-suited to be New Hampshire’s next Senator.