Summer Lee joins Tlaib’s Nakba resolution accusing Israel of apartheid, genocide
The Squirrel Hill rep is one of only 12 co-sponsors of the resolution
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, who represents Squirrel Hill, is a cosponsor of Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s resolution “Recognizing the Ongoing Nakba and Palestinian Refugees’ Rights,” which she reintroduced in Congress on May 14.
“Nakba” is Arabic for “catastrophe” and refers to the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel.
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Lee repeatedly has accused the Jewish state of genocide, apartheid and intentionally targeting civilian populations in Gaza. She is one of only 12 House members to cosponsor the anti-Israel resolution.
Tlaib first introduced her “Nakba” resolution in 2022, with six cosponsors.
The resolution alleges that in 1947, “almost immediately following the United Nations partition plan”— which would have divided the land and created two states for two peoples — “Zionist militias began a deliberate and systematic effort to expel Palestinians from their lands, a campaign which included massacres and other atrocities against civilian populations.”
The resolution goes on to accuse Israel of apartheid, genocide of Palestinians and ethnic cleansing. It accuses the United States of being “complicit in Israel’s ongoing Nakba against the Palestinian people by providing Israel with weapons and diplomatic support even as its leaders openly announce and carry out plans to ethnically cleanse and depopulate Palestinian communities today.”
The United States, the resolution proclaims, should “commemorate the Nakba through official recognition and remembrance.”
In Tlaib’s statement issued in connection with her reintroduction of the resolution, she said: “War criminal Netanyahu and his cabinet have repeatedly threatened to ethnically cleanse the entire Palestinian population in Gaza, annex the land, and permanently occupy it. Today, they are extending these same threats towards southern Lebanon. As we mark the 78th anniversary of the Nakba, we honor all of those killed since the ethnic cleansing of Palestine began and all those who have been forced from their homes and violently displaced from their land. This immense trauma, including the loss of their loved ones and connections to the communities they grew up in, needs to be repaired. True peace must be built on justice and the inalienable right of return for Palestinian refugees.”
The legislation is endorsed by several anti-Israel organizations, including the Pittsburgh Palestine Solidarity Committee, CODEPINK, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Democratic Socialists of America, Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), IfNotNow Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace Action and the Palestine Justice Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Lee has been endorsed by PAL PAC, a new political action committee “committed to supporting champions for Palestinian rights running for Congress,” according to an email distributed by the PAC. The endorsement coincides with the withdrawal of support from JStreetPAC, a political action committee affiliated with J Street that was created in 2008 “to explicitly promote American leadership to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” and which supported Lee in her 2022 and 2024 campaigns. PJC
Toby Tabachnick can be reached at ttabachnick@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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