Jeffrey St. Clair put it this way in Counterpunch: “As Israeli bulldozers were flattening Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, the House voted 398-17 (with 5 voting present) to condemn US citizens for exercising their First Amendment right to boycott for Palestinian rights.”
I wouldn’t single out Pressley except that 1) she supposedly represents my district, and 2) she supposedly is part of the “Squad”, whose other three members voted “no”.
Why did she vote this way? There is no way to tell. She has “explained” at length but to call her explanations gibberish would be a slur against gibberians. See for yourself at [this link].
https://mondoweiss.net/2019/07/progressive-pressley-solidarity/
I would link to the Globe but apparently they haven’t covered this story. Presumably they were unable to find an angle that included the opening of any new restaurants.
This is disappointing to say the least.
I think the Boston Globe hasn’t yet found a way to tie any of this into the Boston Red Sox.
This is a vote on a largely symbolic and divisive boycott that has thus far done nothing to stop the occupation and done a lot to divide opponents of the Netenyahu government. I know a lot of anti-occupation American Jews who oppose BDS and others who support it. They both have good reasons for their positions. In my view, it’s been going on for almost a decade and has been largely ineffective at changing Israel’s behavior.
A much better litmus test for members of Congress and presidential candidates would be making American military aid conditional on an end to settlement construction and a resumption of genuine dialogue toward a two state solution. Peter Beinart lays out the case here. I would strongly urge Ayanna Pressley and others to support that move.
I don’t follow the logic here. BDS has been pretty effective, I think. I’ve seen it described as an “existential threat to Israel” in pro-(srael fund raising letters.
Sure, we can all hope that Pressley does better next time. That’s no reason to excuse this atrocious vote.
I wouldn’t call pro-Israel fundraising letters credible sources either, they probably think rocks thrown at tanks are existential threats too.
If this is the vote I think it is I don’t see what business it is of Congress’s where private citizens and entities put their money.
^this is probably the best take. I’d probably vote against these symbolic condemnations on free speech grounds.
I agree that this should be an easy vote on free speech grounds. The fact that 398 Representatives voted against free speech. (This includes the entire Massachusetts delegation) is pretty depressing, Also, attacking a non-violent tactic while supplying $4 billion in lethal military aid to the other side is inexplicable.
A couple months ago Ayanna Pressley was an anti-semite, once removed, for quoting Alice Waters. Of course, you’ll have to take my word for it, because knee-jerk anti-anti-semitism forced removal of much of the discussion because we were coming too close to something…
Now she’s an Afrikaans-American, which is quite a different specie of slur… I bet you even thought you were being clever.
It’s clear that, for Ayanna Pressley, the space between saint and sinner is thinner than Trumps overcomb… I wonder why that’s the case?
However, it’s clearly the case that, for the second time since she has been elected, somebody at BMG owes her an apology.
“First you bite the bullet,
then you chew it… “ Roy Orbison
Err… Alice Walker.
Carry on.
Petr, is there some other way to interpret her vote besides it being a vote in support of apartheid? If you can think of one, or can find some place where Pressley has given a coherent explanation, I would love to hear it. Until then, her vote is what it is.
“try and tell the truth,
and some folks scream ‘unfair!”Abbey Lincoln
If she had voted the other way, it would have affirmed her anti-semitic bona-fides. She votes this way, at least she doesn’t have to deal with that… It’s kinda strange that, in our world, a vote against anti-semitism turns out to be Hobson’s worst nightmare and one you see as for apartheid… I’m interested to know how you would have voted, were you in a similar position as Pressley. (Hint: I’m not sure it would be much different. Ouch)
You forgot the rest of the Orbison lyrics in your attempt to quote Abbey Lincoln, and here I thought you prided yourself on being clever:
And you’re the only one who is all alone
the only one whose love is gone
the only one who has given in
the only one who will give again
And you’re the only one with a broken heart
the only one who’s afraid of the dark
the only one in a crowded room
the only one who sees the blue moon
You had to have known that accusing a black person of voting for apartheid was an awfully loaded way of making your point!
Certainly it was loaded, Christopher, but I would argue that given the suppression of the Palestinians and the conditions there, particularly in Gaza, it’s not an unfair characterization.
The resolution that the House of Representatives, if you read it, is much more loaded. And you are right to assert that you ” . . . don’t see what business it is of Congress’s where private citizens and entities put their money.”
I would have opposed this resolution, no matter what the “circumstances.”. Your previous comment seems to indicate that you would have opposed it too.
As I said before, Pressley represents the district I live in. I voted against Mike Capuano, who I thought was an excellent Congressman, because I thought that she could be even better. So this is particularly disappointing to me.