U.S. Reps. Dingell and Kilpatrick vote ‘present’

The U.S. House and Senate backed Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the Gaza Strip in two strongly-worded, non-binding resolutions last week, despite hundreds of letters that activists said were sent to representatives begging for action toward an immediate ceasefire.

The Senate unanimously passed the resolution “recognizing the right of Israel to defend itself against attacks from Gaza and reaffirming the United States’ strong support for Israel in its battle with Hamas,” on Jan. 8.

Extensively quoting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the resolution placed blame for the death and destruction exclusively on the Palestinian side, despite widespread, outspoken condemnation by international human rights groups of many of the Israeli attacks. Both Hamas and the Israeli government have been accused of war crimes by international human rights groups.

The House passed a similar measure on Jan. 9 with a vote of 390-5, with 22 representatives, two from Michigan, voting “present.” No Michigan representatives voted directly against the resolution.

On the same day the Senate resolution was passed, Israel rejected U.N. Security Council-approved terms for a cease-fire.

Also on Jan. 8, Israeli forces killed two U.N. humanitarian aid workers as they attempted to provide relief supplies. The International Red Cross released a statement asserting that the Israeli military had “failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded.”

The group Doctors Without Borders noted that “Palestinian humanitarian aid and health workers have been killed, and hospitals and ambulances have been bombed.”

U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit

Reps. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, voted “present” on the House resolution. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, to the surprise of many Arab Americans and peace activists, voted in favor of the resolution.
Conyers has a history of standing up for Palestinian and Arab American rights, even when unpopular. His office did not provide comment on the vote as of press time Thursday.

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, who co-sponsored the Senate resolution, could not be reached for comment.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.

Local activists felt betrayed and ignored after demonstrations in several cities and ongoing campaigns of contacting elected representatives were launched from the time the strikes began at the end of December.
George Khoury, of the pro-Palestinian group Friends of Sabeel North America, said his group alone sent hundreds of letters to their senators and representatives.

Other groups including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee did the same, facilitating communication with Congress through email.

The five in the House who voted against the measure were Reps. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, Maxine Waters, D-Calif, Gwen Moore, D-Wis., Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., and lone Republican Ron Paul, of Texas.

“When these events occur, there’s almost a knee-jerk reaction of Congress that endorses 1,000 per cent what Israel is doing,” Rahall, a Lebanese-American, told Reuters news agency.

“Israel is our ally… It always has been, with which I perfectly agree. But I don’t believe in allowing that to blind us to what is in our best interests, or giving knee-jerk approval to anything Israel does. We don’t do that with any other ally,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio

Kucinich told Democracy Now!: “I am someone who has spent his entire career working for peace, and I don’t think that resolution expressed a sentiment that will get us to peace, because it was incomplete. It didn’t truly address the humanitarian crisis. It didn’t address the nature of the blockade. And it did not talk about the broad issues of occupation. Nor did it set a path that could truly get us out of this crisis. So I’m continuing to talk to the leaders of the House about the urgency of America taking a more balanced approach in reaching out to all the parties to show that we understand the suffering that’s going on there, we understand the humanitarian disaster that’s been visited upon the people of Gaza.”
Kucinich on Thursday spoke on the House floor after Israel pushed deep into Gaza City with a series of strikes on the United Nations’ headquarters, a major hospital and the offices of international media groups.

“The attack on the United Nations headquarters in Gaza is further proof that a post-legal era in world affairs has taken shape,” he said, “where law and moral principles are irrelevant, where might makes right, where retribution and vengeance, even against innocent children, fails to shake us from moral lethargy or political paralysis.

A Palestinian girl, who according to local medics was wounded during Israel’s offensive, is carried in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip January 13, 2009. Israeli forces tightened their hold around the city of Gaza on Tuesday and Israel’s top general said “there is still work” ahead against Hamas in an 18-day-old offensive that has killed more than 900 Palestinians. REUTERS/Ismail Zaydah

“Collective punishment, disproportionate use of force, using U.S. planes, helicopters and munitions to attack a wounded, starved and thirsty civilian population of mostly children trapped in a box called Gaza has become acceptable, perhaps because we have already accepted the deaths of over one million innocent civilians in Iraq in a war based on lies.”
Kucinich introduced a resolution calling for “the Government of Israel and representatives of Hamas to implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and to allow unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza.”

The resolution cites that over 95 percent of the deaths incurred since the escalation of violence beginning Dec. 27 have been Palestinians, that over 50 percent of the population of Gaza is under the age of 14 and that since the beginning of the Israeli imposed blockade in February 2006, about 200 Palestinians in Gaza have died due to lack of access to medical goods and aid.

Rep. Conyers, along with seven others, co-sponsored the resolution.

 

 

U.S. Senators from Michigan on Resolution 10, passed unanimously, “Recognizing the right of Israel to defend itself against attacks from Gaza and reaffirming the United States’ strong support for Israel in its battle with Hamas, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process”:

Levin, Carl

Co-sponsored resolution.

Washington D.C. office:

269 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

202.224.6221 • Fax: 202.224.1388

senator@levin.senate.gov or email through website: levin.senate.gov/contact

Stabenow, Debbie

Washington, D.C. office:

133 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

202.224.4822 • Fax: 202.228.0325

senator@stabenow.senate.gov or email through website: stabenow.senate.gov

U.S. House representatives from Michigan on Resolution 34, “whereas Hamas was founded with the stated goal of destroying the State of Israel”:

Stupak, Bart, D-Menominee, Mich.

1st district • Voted yes.

Washington D.C. office:

2268 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

202.225.4735 • Fax: 202.225.4744

stupak@mail.house.gov or email through website: www.house.gov/stupak

Hoekstra, Pete, R-Holland, Mich.

2nd district • Voted yes.

Washington, D.C. office:

2234 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

(202) 225-4401 • Fax: (202) 226-0779

tellhoek@mail.house.gov or email through website: hoekstra.house.gov

Ehlers, Vernon J., R-Grand Rapids, Mich.

 3rd district • Voted yes.

Washington D.C. office:

2182 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515

202.225.3831 • Fax: 202.225.5144

rep.ehlers@mail.house.gov or email through website: www.house.gov/ehlers

Camp, Dave, R-Midland, Mich.,

4th district • Voted yes.

davecamp@mail.house.gov

Washington D.C. Office:

341 Cannon Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

202.225.3561 • Fax: 202.225.9679

davecamp@mail.house.gov or email through website: camp.house.gov

Kildee, Dale, D-Flint, Mich.,

5th district • Voted yes.

Washington, D.C. office:

2107 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515

202-225-3611 • Fax: 202-225-6393

dkildee@mail.house.gov or email through website: www.house.gov/kildee

Upton, Fred, St. Joseph, Mich.,

6th district • Voted yes.

Washington, D.C. office:

2183 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

202.225.3761 • Fax: 202.225.4986

fred.upton@mail.house.gov or email through website: www.house.gov/upton

Schauer, Mark, D-Battle Creek, Mich.,

7th district • Voted yes.

Washington, D.C. office:

1408 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

202.225.6276 • Fax: (202) 225-6281

Email through website: schauer.house.gov

Rogers, Mike, R-Howell, Mich.,

8th district • Voted yes.

Washington, D.C. office:

133 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

202.225.4872 • Fax: 202.225.5820

www.mikerogers.house.gov or email through website: mike.rogers@mail.house.gov

Peters, Gary, D-Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

9th district •Voted yes.

Washington, D.C. Office:

1130 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

202.225.5802 • Fax: 202.226.2356

Email through website: peters.house.gov

Miller, Candice, R-Harrison Twp, Mich.

10th district •Voted yes.

Washington D.C. office:

228 Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515

202.225.2106 • Fax: 202.226.1169

candice.miller@mail.house.gov or email through website: candicemiller.house.gov

McCotter, Thaddeus, R-Livonia, Mich.

11th district • Voted yes.

Washington D.C. office:

1632 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515

202.225.8171 • Fax: 202.225.2667

thaddeus.mccotter@mail.house.gov or email through website: mccotter.house.gov

Levin, Sander, D-Royal Oak, Mich.

12th district • Voted yes.

Washington, DC office:

1236 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

202.225.4961 • Fax: 202.226.1033

slevin@mail.house.gov or email through Website: www.house.gov/levin

Kilpatrick, Carolyn, D-Detroit, Mich.,

13th district • Voted Present.

Washington D.C. office:

2264 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

202.225.2261 • Fax: 202.225.5730

website: www.house.gov/kilpatrick

Conyers Jr., John, D-Detroit, Mich.

14th district • Voted yes.

Washington, D.C. office:

2426 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

202.225.5126 • Fax: 202.225.0072

john.conyers@mail.house.gov

Dingell, John D., D-Dearborn, Mich.

15th district • Voted present.

Washington, D.C. office:

2328 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515

202.225.4071 • Fax: 202.226.0371

Website: www.house.gov/dingell