Rep. McGovern describes ‘hostile’ response by Israel lobby to his support for Palestinian human rights groups

Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts, a leading voice on human rights in the Congress, said last week that he has “seen no evidence up to this point that would justify” Israel’s effort to ban six leading Palestinian human rights groups as terrorist-linked.

McGovern had written to Secretary of State Tony Blinken last month and called on him as an “urgent” matter to “firmly and unambiguously denounce” the Israeli designation of October.

McGovern was asked what followed from his letter in a Boston Review forum on Middle East peace on November 9. He responded:

We have not heard back yet but I expect we will. We have had some conversations with State Department officials as well as U.N. officials on that. Again, I believe that human rights organizations are not to be criminalized nor should they be labeled as terrorist. And I have seen no evidence up to this point that would justify that. I would like to think that’s an area of common ground no matter where one’s perspective is on this issue.

McGovern’s language about the human rights groups was far more muted in that forum than it was in his original letter, when he wrote:

I urge you to take up the matter directly with the Government of Israel
and ask that it reverse this decision… 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.

During the forum, McGovern expressed the view that both sides ought to agree that human rights groups should have the freedom to report.

McGovern has curbed his language because he got taken to the woodshed by the Israel lobby. Here’s what he said on the forum:

I sent a letter to Secretary of State Blinken criticizing the Israeli government for listing six Palestinian human rights organizations as terrorists. And by the way I checked with the UN rapporteur on human rights, I checked with the State Department beforehand just, to say, Am I missing something? I waited. But I asked, Was I missing something.

Most of the feedback I got from pro-Israel forces was pretty hostile. I will give you an exception though. The Jewish Federation in central Massachusetts that called me, we had a pretty constructive conversation. I said to them I considered myself a friend of Israel. I always have, But friends can be critics.

As for urgently firmly unambiguously denouncing — Even as McGovern held his forum Thursday, Blinken was meeting in Washington with Benny Gantz, the defense minister who issued the hateful designation, and saying nothing publicly about the designation.

McGovern, co-chair of the Lantos Human Rights Commission in the Congress, valorized the role of the Israel lobby, telling the forum last week the left needs to hear that perspective.

We need more candid conversations. We ought to have conversations with people who represent very very strong pro Israeli government views at the table. Because quite frankly we need to find out whether there is any common ground at all on this stuff.

He said the reaction to his letter was an example of the ideological polarization in Washington — you can’t work on any issue, big or small, with someone else unless you agree on everything.

And he offered a second example of the polarization, in which he faulted the left for having blinders.

J Street recently had a congressional delegation with some very progressive members who visited Israel, including a new freshman from New York, Jamaal Bowman. Barbara Lee [of the Bay Area in California] was on that trip as well. When they returned to the United States, they were pretty heavily criticized for their trip. I mean, they met with all different perspectives. You met with them right? [Addressing Sally Abed and Alon-Lee Green of Standing Together, an Arab-Jewish group in Israel] Yet they get heavily criticized for meeting with the prime minister of Israel. And at the time nobody really knew what he said. But the pushback was kind of jarring.

McGovern said that “great passion and strong objections” make politicians stay away from an issue: “Here in Washington, I’m not saying it’s the way it should be, I’m saying it’s the way it is, politicians tend to not want to gravitate toward issues that are polarizing or that engender the wrath of whatever constituency is out there.”

Rep. Jim McGovern (lower right) with (clockwise) Jim Zogby, Alon-Lee Green, Omar Dahi, Noam Chomsky and Sally Abed. Dec. 9, Boston Review discussion. Screenshot.

I focus on McGovern because he is a leading liberal in the House, and yet he continually emphasized the need to include the pro-Israel perspective in a human rights context. He said, “I have focused a lot of attention on human rights, on the suffering of the Palestinian people, also, you know, on the challenges that the Israeli people face. Often we talk about this in generalizations… Countries are complicated.”

Palestinian solidarity activists reject that type of analysis because it rationalizes apartheid as “complicated” and treats a grossly unequal power-dynamic as a both-sides situation.

McGovern has no choice politically, because he made it clear that there are many pro-Israel forces in his own district he has to listen to.

In my congressional district, I could participate in a forum on this very topic with people with sharply different perspectives [from those represented on the forum]– that would be much more in favor with what the Israeli government is now advocating. That’s just a reality here in the United States. What we need to do is to figure out if there is a way to see if there is any common ground…

There are people who are strongly pro-Israeli government who have their strong points of view who I would not equate as [rightwing Reps.] Marjorie Taylor Greene or Louie Gohmert. We could disagree with them but I think those people need to be engaged…. There needs to be a better job done of humanizing the conflict.

McGovern is addressing the role of the Israel lobby in the Democratic Party. You progressives may see it as regressive, but it can’t be marginalized as a Marjorie Taylor Greene is– I have to deal with them.

His criticism of Israel throughout the forum was nuanced, careful.

The final thing is, We need a better strategy on the expansion of settlements. It is unacceptable and it is obliterating– I hate to go down this road, one state, two state, everyone has their own opinions. The bottom line is it is making it much more difficult to get to a peaceful resolution of all that is going on right now in the region.

But would the Congressman ever support measures with teeth to end the occupation? No. Neither will Blinken. Israel supporters are simply too important inside the Democratic Party.

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