Members on the Record (Automated) for Mon January 16, 2023

Israel - Palestine

Allred (D-TX-32) 01/15/2023: Tweet – “The attack on Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville one year ago was horrifying, something no community should have to endure. In Congress, I am committed to protecting our places of worship and rooting out anti-Semitism wherever it exists. A year after attack, Colleyville's community, congregation are ‘fundamentally unafraid'... | dallasnews.com”

Blackburn (R-TN) 01/15/2023: Tweet – “Leftist college students are chanting in support of the intifada. To the left, bombing innocent Jews is pursuing peace. We must condemn this hateful rhetoric.”

Casten (D-IL-6) 01/16/2023: Twitter thread – “Take a few minutes out of your day today to read MLK's "Mountaintop" speech - the speech he gave the day before his assassination. It gets so much closer to understanding what he stood for - and why he was a threat - than "I have a dream". Short thread: “I've Been to the Mountaintop” by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.... | afscme.org 1/ Make no mistake, "Dream" is a fantastic speech. The poetry, the rhetoric, the vision. But it's been coopted. Especially that one line. Way too many white people of low character will ask you today not to judge them... by the color of their skin. 2/ "I have a dream" was also given in 1963. There was an optimism. Non-violence was working. Ruby Bridges integrated her elementary school. JFK sent the national guard to desegregate U of Alabama. It is a speech that says there is more to do but celebrates progress. 3/ That was rhetorically necessary, but if you find political value in telling America that the civil rights era ended discrimination in this country, all now have equal opportunity and we need to put the past behind us... it's easy to use that speech to tell an inaccurate story. 4/ To be sure, King didn't say all was hunky dory. This introduction to I have a Dream is just as true today. Link to image 5/ But the bulk of the speech can be taken out of context not only to say that we shouldn't judge people by the color of their skin, but also that this is only a southern problem, and that it can only be solved with non-violence "meeting physical force with soul force". 6/ So now fast forward to 1968 and the Mountaintop speech. In the 5 years since I have a Dream, 4 girls were killed at the 16th St. Church bombing. Malcolm X had been shot. Bloody Sunday in Selma. Non-violence, to some, was looking naive. Progress seemed less certain. 7/ MLK was managing a debate among his friends, but also was fighting against the oldest trope in our racial history - namely, using race to convince poor white people that they would gain if they aligned with their race but would lose if they aligned with their class. 8/ The Poor People's Campaign was an effort to shift the struggle from one of race to one of class. And on April 3, he was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. It is a radical speech, for the same reason the Sermon on the Mount is a radical speech... 9/ Because it dared to say that the meek and the persecuted are not only blessed, but that the world must change to give them equality. We have over 2000 years of human history to prove that people who make that kind of talk risk state-sponsored execution. 10/ And many of the folks who will today quote I Have a Dream and tell you that we don't need affirmative action anymore because everyone is now equal... are precisely those who are afraid of the message in "Mountaintop". The speech given by an older, wiser MLK. A few lines: 11/ "...the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around..." 12/ "...we have been forced to a point where we're going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history... it is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence..." 13/ "...whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it... He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together... that's the beginning of getting out of slavery..." 14/ "...the preacher must be an Amos, and say, 'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream'... the preacher must say with Jesus, 'The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor'..." 15/ "... It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preachers must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do..." 16/ "...individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor... [but] all of us together, collectively... We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year... That's power right there, if we know how to pool it..." 17/ "...go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola... not to buy Sealtest milk... Wonder Bread... Hart's bread... up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain... then they can... tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right..." 18/ "...Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness..." 19/ "...Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be..." 20/ This MLK day, take that as your mantra. Do not delude yourself into thinking that others have already fixed all that was broken. Take an obligation on yourself to make America what it ought to be. It is radical. It is dangerous. And it is - sadly - still necessary. /fin”

Cruz (R-TX) 01/15/2023: Twitter thread – “Today we mark a year after the anti-Semitic terrorist attack on Jewish worshipers celebrating Shabbat at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville. 1/x The heroism of the hostages on that day was extraordinary, as was the display of strength and unity demonstrated by the Jewish community and all Americans in the aftermath of that evil attack. 2/x”

Rosen (D-NV) 01/15/2023: Tweet – “We also met with Foreign Minister Bourita to discuss the long-standing relationship between our two countries, Morocco's leadership in normalization with Israel, and how they are a model to the world of the many ways the Abraham Accords are directly improving the lives of people. Link to image”

Tenney (R-NY-24) 01/15/2023: Tweet – “Today, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas begins his 19th year of his 4-year term as Chairman. This is yet another reason that there cannot be any equivocation between the democratic State of Israel and the autocracy of the Palestinian Authority.”

Syria

Van Orden (R-WI-3) 01/16/2023: Tweet – “Scotty was a friend and Teammate. Fair Winds and Following Seas. Until Valhalla Link to quoted tweetScotty Wirtz a former SEAL & DIA intel officer. Scotty had been deployed almost constantly since 9/11. Scotty welcomed Shan to Syria when she arrived & helped her get settled into the mission. (Link to twitter.com)”

Iran

McCaul (R-TX-10) 01/16/2023: Tweet – “CHM @RepMcCaul: “Today marks 7 long years since American hostage Siamak Namazi was left behind in Iran. The Iranian regime must urgently release ALL U.S. hostages including Siamak, Emad Shargi, & U.S.-U.K. citizen Morad Tahbaz.” #BringThemHome Link to quoted tweetAmerican hostage in #Iran Siamak Namazi has begun a 7-day hunger strike protesting the US's continued failure to free him 7yrs after it first left him behind. I'll be sharing daily updates here & he'll be posting his own on @sianamazi. Full press release: (Iran/Namazi: American Hostage Siamak Namazi Announces Hunger Strike... | mailchi.mp) (Link to twitter.com)”

Menendez (D-NJ) 01/15/2023: Tweet – “I applaud Canada for taking action to hold regime insiders, kleptocrats, & propagandists complicit in the repression of Iranian protesters to account. Important that the world speak with one voice against the Iranian regime. Link to quoted tweetThe Iranian regime must answer for its brutal repression of brave Iranian voices.   In response, Canada is imposing sanctions on 2 Iranian individuals and 3 Iranian entities that are complicit in these activities.  #زن_زندگی_آزادی #WomenLifeFreedom #FemmeVieLiberte (Link to twitter.com)”

Jewish, Anti-semitism

Banks (R-IN-3) 01/15/2023: Tweet – “What does @GWtweets plan to do about this blatant discrimination? Jewish Students Reported a Professor for Anti-Semitism. Their University Retaliated Against Them.... | freebeacon.com”

Cleaver (D-MO-5) 01/16/2023: Retweet of @KCStar – “Let Rep. Emanuel Cleaver paraphrase Mark Twain on this Martin Luther King Jr. holiday: The supposed fracture between African Americans and Jews has been greatly exaggerated. Racists, antisemites and other bigots simply hate the other. Missouri, stand together | Opinion”

Jackson Lee (D-TX-18) 01/16/2023: Twitter thread – “Lauren, you would think now that you're in the majority, you would actually consider reading the bills you tweet about. Or, maybe even hire someone who could help you. This tweet is inflammatory and fact-less and you know it. Link to quoted tweetIn case you weren't aware of what the Democrats were prioritizing in the 118th Congress, just take a look. When they're not bankrupting our country, they're busy making a mockery of the First Amendment. (Congressman introduces bill that criminalizes criticism of a "non-White person" by a White... | national-conservative.com) For starters, it took me about 32 seconds of reading the article you cited to understand that none of you know what you are talking about. H.R. 61 simply deals with adding white supremacy to a list of reasons to be convicted of a hate crime. So when the article states that “only white people can be charged with” this crime, that's flagrantly false. Your argument *assumes* that only white people can hold white supremacist views and that only certain groups of people can perpetrate violence motivated by white supremacy. I would hope now that your argument would not shift to “why is white supremacy being added to this law?” That would be egregious. If so, are you going to deny that white supremacy played a role in the Charlottesville attack when Nazi-sympathizers belched “Jews will not replace us?” Who is “us?” Further, are you going to deny that white supremacy played a role in the Buffalo shooting after the shooter cited “replacement theory” as his motive to begin a murderous rampage at the closest zip code with the highest black population? And then, are you going to deny that the Trump-appointed Director of the FBI testified in March 2021 under oath, under penalty of perjury, that white supremacy was the greatest domestic terror threat facing our country in the Senate Judiciary committee hearing, March 2nd, 2021? It is because of these acts, that my bill, the LAWS Act, adds to Section 249(a)(1) of title 18 of the U.S. criminal code after the words “race, color, religion, national origin,” the language “or because a white supremacy based motivation against any person.” Yes, white supremacy should be added to this law. Why? Because as Director Wray testified, it's a major domestic terrorist threat. As the nation begins to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday and my mind is focused on his legacy, you have the audacity to take time out to spout off and misuse your Twitter account to discuss a bill you either you don't understand or you haven't even read! Now let me be clear, I'd be happy to sit down with you to explain the importance of this legislation. Or on the other hand, if you desire to defend acts of white supremacy or maybe even be one if your heart desires, that is your choice to make; it's protected by the first amendment; and I fully support the protections of the first amendment for every American. With that being said, I hope we can all now honor Dr. King's legacy together.”

Jacobs (D-CA-51) 01/15/2023: Tweet – “I was so excited to celebrate the grand opening of the long-awaited Glickman Hillel Center! I learned about giving back from San Diego's Jewish community, and I'm so glad that students from around the country, and around the world, will get to learn from them as well. Link to image”

Van Duyne (R-TX-24) 01/15/2023: Tweet – “Today marks one year since we saw a heinous, anti-Semitic attack on our community in North Texas. Read more below: Link to image”

Afghanistan

Burchett (R-TN-2) 01/16/2023: Tweet – “Of all the horrible things the Taliban has done, this is the line in the sand for the United Nations. Taliban asks to keep getting UN aid money despite ending education for women... | yahoo.com”

Gonzales (R-TX-23) 01/15/2023: Retweet of @starsandstripes – “Eight military bases across the country will spend almost $260 million to repair damage caused by the tens of thousands of Afghan evacuees that the installations housed after American forces withdrew from Afghanistan. Military bases that housed Afghan refugees spending $260 million to repair damages... | stripes.com”