Leading Dem calls on Blinken to get over his hesitancy and ‘unambiguously denounce’ Israeli action against Palestinian human rights orgs

Only one thing will cause Israel to reverse the totalitarian decree of three weeks ago that six leading Palestinian human rights and civil society groups are “terrorist” organizations. Pressure from the White House. And only one thing will bring about that pressure: the willingness of Democrats and “Jewish leaders” to take on Israel and its lobby and give the White House political permission to do the same.

Yesterday brought great news. Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern, who has represented Worcester for 25 years and is co chair of the Lantos Human Rights Commission in Congress, which monitors international human rights and the rule of law, issued a stiff letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying it is “urgent” matter for him to get past his “initial leeriness” about the Israeli decision and to “firmly, unambiguously denounce” the action against the respected groups. McGovern writes:

This week I asked @SecBlinken to firmly, unambiguously denounce the Israeli Defense Ministry’s misguided decision to designate six prominent, internationally respected human rights & civil society groups as so-called “terrorist organizations.”

His letter says that it is not enough to express concern about the designation and then do nothing.

Mr. Secretary, it is not enough to have expressed an initial leeriness regarding Israel’s decision to designate these six organizations as terrorist groups. It is now time to firmly and unambiguously denounce the actions taken and urge the Israeli government to reverse its decisions.

McGovern’s letter is significant because he is a longstanding, mainstream Democrat– and we need for the Democratic leadership to take a stand. Progressive members of the House, including the famous Squad, have come out against the hateful designation in forceful resolution introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum soon after Israel issued the decree against the respected groups. A total of 11 Democrats are on that bill.

McGovern’s letter, opening with his “grave concern” about Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s designation, suggests that morality may be contagious on this vicious action.

McGovern’s comment about “initial leeriness” and then zilch speaks to the political reality here. Democrats are generally too afraid of the campaign-fundraising clout of the Israel lobby to cross it. So the State Department has tiptoed around the hateful terrorism designation and even liberal Zionist groups that know how repressive this action is have put out brief statements against the designation then gone to ground.

Haaretz has picked up the story. “Senior Democrat urges Blinken” to push Israel to reverse the designation.

More from McGovern’s letter about Israeli intolerance:

The Israeli government has targeted these organizations for decades because of their human rights activism, arresting and detaining staff, raiding their offices, targeting them for surveillance by state intelligence agencies, and making similar accusations to these organizations’ donors. According to recent media reports, intelligence surveillance included using Pegasus spyware to hack their personal phones.
Past Israeli accusations that these groups are linked to terrorist groups have been investigated and rejected by the United Nations, the European Union, and U.S. officials.

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