By Reginald Johnson
Commentary
It doesn’t
appear that members of Congress, including those from Connecticut, are very upset about the desperate conditions in Gaza.
The nation of Israel imposed a blockade on all shipments
of humanitarian supplies including food and medicine into Gaza for nearly 3
months, creating starvation conditions. In the last two days Israel decided to
lift the blockade, but only partially --- allowing a small number of trucks to
come in with food. UN officials said
that while they were pleased that the full blockade had been lifted, what has
been delivered represents only a drop in the ocean in terms of need.
Gaza health officials recently reported that there
have been dozens of cases of starvation and hundreds if not thousands of young
children are being treated for malnutrition in the few hospitals that are left
in the territory.
Despite these dire conditions, members of Congress
from Connecticut are not saying anything. They are not condemning Israel for
the illegal blockade that went on for so long and now has only been partially
lifted, and they’ve done nothing to urge President Trump to take action against
Israel for this embargo of desperately needed food.
I placed calls to Congressman Jim Himes, who
represents the Fourth Congressional District in Connecticut, urging him to make
a statement condemning the blockade and calling for urgent action to deliver
food. But his office indicated twice now in the last two weeks that he has not made
such a statement criticizing Israel. I indicated that I was extremely upset
over this and would not vote for him as a result in the future.
I also called
Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office twice and on one call his office indicated
that the senator as well had not made a statement criticizing Israel nor
indicated any concern about the desperate situation in Gaza. I don’t know
whether this has anything to do with the substantial donations that Blumenthal
gets from the Israeli lobby called AIPAC. I hope that there is no connection, but I suspect that there might be.
It is shameful that these representatives of ours in
Congress are not showing more compassion for the people of Gaza and recognize
their desperate plight. In addition to facing starvation conditions, thousands
of Gazans are being forced to move once again by the Israeli army which has
mounted a new offensive in the northern part of the strip. This is really a
barbaric situation and it has been condemned by many world leaders, officials
in the UN and human rights organizations.
Unfortunately,
most members of Congress are staying quiet. Again, I have to think that the widespread
contributions by AIPAC to members of our national legislature have something to
do with this. It appears that our elected representatives are putting their political needs
ahead of the needs of starving people overseas. How low is that?
It should be
noted as well, that my former profession, the press, has not stood tall in
regard to the terrible situation in Gaza. I’m hardly seeing anybody in television
news or in the newspapers denouncing Israel for the genocide taking place. There's also little hard news coverage of Israel's brutal bombing or reporting on the famine conditions. And
newspapers turn away opinion pieces that criticize Israel. I know this first-hand,
since the Connecticut Post failed to run my op-ed calling for an end to the
blockade.
It’s going
to be up to regular people on the ground to speak out on the catastrophe going
on now in the Middle East --- to condemn Israel, to condemn the Trump
administration for failure to stop Israel’s barbaric campaign and to push members
of Congress into taking action.
Only through
grassroots pressure will the horror of Gaza be brought to an end.
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