Your
Congressmember
At Work—For Israel
edited by C.A. Matthews
It
took over a month and
a multitude of
repeated attempts
to
contact
Congresswoman Marcy
Kaptur. Local activists phoned, emailed, and even
held several very loud protests
in front of the building where her district office in Toledo
is located before they garnered
her attention. The
Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition formulated and submitted a letter
signed by many activist groups and others asking for Rep. Kaptur to
co-sponsor a ceasefire in Gaza bill in the US
House of Representatives.
Within a week after sending the letter, a
Zoom call was set up between Kaptur and constituents to discuss the
reasons behind why she isn’t
open to supporting a Gaza
ceasefire
bill in the House.
The following excerpts from
the Zoom transcript reveal
her attitudes toward her constituents, especially Palestinian and
Arab
Americans who
comprise a sizable minority in the Toledo area where Kaptur was born, grew up in, and currently serves as a representative in Congress.
First,
a
little
background information about her: Marcy
Kaptur (D)
is
77 years old. She serves
as the US representative from Ohio's 9th congressional district, a
strangely shaped, gerrymandered district which includes the western suburbs
of Cleveland as well as most of the city of Toledo.
Now in her 21st term, Kaptur
has been a Congresswoman since 1983.
She is the longest serving woman in Congress in
history and
presently sits on the appropriations committee.
According
to Open Secrets, the
current total Political Action Committee (PAC) money accepted by
Kaptur for the 2023-2024 season is $370,550 and
comes primarily from business (46.21%) and ideological (39.49%) PACs.
The
pro-Israel “JStreetPAC”
has
given her $1,000 so far this year.
JStreetPAC has a strong link to *AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, according to the Jewish independent publication Forward. AIPAC has been a contributor to her earlier campaigns. Kaptur has also been endorsed by the Jewish Democratic Council of America.
The following
are some of the questions and answers discussed in the Zoom call with Rep. Kaptur. They have been edited slightly for punctuation and grammar, as the transcript was in a rough draft form.
Imam
Farooq Aboelzahab of
the
Islamic Society of Toledo
made
these
comments:
“Why
has the US slept on this issue for 75 years? Kids have right to go to
school, have fun, learn, live honorable lives. What do you expect
after many generations of tragedy? Expect them to be tolerant and
kind to the occupier? If we aren’t doing our job we cannot blame
others for what they’re doing. Lack of justice anywhere is lack of
justice everywhere. Badly failing for years... president after
president, no one showed interest in solving it. Billions of dollars
in war machines to kill more innocent people—those dollars could
build a future instead. Ceasefire is needed, but not the answer—otherwise after two months or years, the bloodshed will start again.”
Kaptur’s
response:
“After
9/11 I came and circled around your mosque to protect it, and I sent
that photo around the world.”
(Editor’s
note: Apparently
Marcy Kaptur is thinking more about a photo opportunity
she
took advantage of from
more than two decades ago than the fact there is currently a genocide
going on in Gaza. This
was her only reply given to
the
Imam.
Its brevity and self-centeredness are telling.)
Jasmin
Abu-Hummos representing American Muslims for Palestine, Toledo chapter, provided
a slideshow and
made these remarks as
she shared
her
photos
and graphics
with Rep. Kaptur:
“[I]
met with folks last night. Here are points they want me to cover.
CEASEFIRE NOW is our main plea right now. My father was expelled from
Rafah in 1948... My uncle was shot and killed at age of 15 in 1989,
and I never got to meet him.
Kaptur:
“Where was he shot?”
Jasmin:
“He was shot in Ramallah by Israeli forces for attending a funeral.
That’s what brings us here today. We have similar stories and
struggles. It appears that you don't have time for us, don’t care
for our suffering pain. We watched you attend and mourn [at]
Israeli
vigils, posted in their favor, in your stories on Instagram,
etc. You’ve sent statements for their events. We also mourn these
lives, but we can’t help but notice your lack of regard in standing
by [your]
Palestinian
constituents.
I’m
the only Palestinian on this panel today—that
shows something.”
“It’s
insulting, how you refuse to vote for a ceasefire. You’re enabling
collective punishment and genocide. What does it take for you to call
for a ceasefire? What are your criteria?”
“During
the ‘ceasefire’ that (ended) in 2014, Israel was sending in
Apaches, killing 3 year-olds, during your so-called ‘ceasefire.’
When it’s broken from one side, you say it’s ‘gruesome, tragic,
violates all rules of modern warfare.’ You fail to call it gruesome
when it’s the attacks
on October
8th… These
are the bombs you’re paying for, your bombs, dropped by Israel
funded by US. Those bombs don’t fall
on
combat people, but on children. Here are their faces—here
are the kids in Al-Shifa hospital.” (The
slide show displays photos
of dead babies lying
on a stretcher and
sickly
premature
babies in incubators. Jasmin
continues.)
“How
do you want these kids to evacuate the hospital? Here are gruesome
images that you don't want to call
‘gruesome’. Maggots
coming out of wounds.”
“These
(photos)
are
the Israeli leaders you are so happy to back and support, saying ‘We
will turn Gaza into ruins.’ (Photos
of Netanyahu and others Israeli government
officials with
quotes that
said:)
‘Focus
on destruction not accuracy.’ ‘Burn Gaza now.’ This is the
government you’re backing and giving the green light to. How can
you be anti-genocide while backing this government?”
“Co-sponsor
Cori Bush’s resolution, or write another resolution for a
ceasefire, whatever you need to do. I see my family dying every day
on the screen. When I was little I looked up to you… blindly voted
for you. Now a
disgrace to be represented by you. I remember my brother giving you a
rose and a hug, and I said, ‘Marcy’s for us, she’s with us,’
but now those thoughts aren’t clear anymore. That’s what the
majority of your people are also thinking.”
Kaptur’s
response:
Thank you, that took a lot of courage and depth to say that
publicly. I don’t agree with some of what you said regarding my own
efforts, but I respect your delivering them in such a respectful
manner, and this is how you make progress. And I especially liked how
you said I could make my own resolution because Cori Bush’s
resolution would not pass, and we want to be much more thorough in
what we’re proposing."
(Editor’s
note: Marcy
Kaptur seems to want to do things her own way and not work
in
a cooperative manner with a fellow Democrat like Cori Bush. Her
response doesn’t provide any comfort to
Jasmin, her
constituent,
or
the others in the call. She doesn’t even
provide
a
deadline as to when we
could
expect to see her
proposed
resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza. Also
notice how
Kaptur
doesn’t deny that she is biased by her sympathetic
actions toward Israelis and by her ignoring the pain of Palestinians in
the past. She didn't even make a remark about the very powerful imagery of dead and dying babies from Gaza that
Jasmin displayed in
her slide show.
You’ll
notice that Rep.
Kaptur
also didn’t make
any comments about
the lack of clean water causing death and disease in Gaza since the Israelis cut off
water to Gaza. She doesn’t seem to see or acknowledge the suffering
of Palestinians
at
all. Perhaps they are invisible to her, but she’s clearly
supportive of Israel as indicated by her recent endorsement.
She praises Jasmin for acting in a “respectful manner,” as if this isn't the usual way a Palestinian acts. It’s almost as
if Kaptur
agrees with the Israeli Defense Minister who labeled Palestinians “human animals.” Animals don't have “manners,” now do they?
The
takeaway from this exchange is that Palestinians
are simply
not
worthy of Kaptur's tears
or efforts
to establish a temporary ceasefire or a permanent peace.
One wonders if she
could even be diagnosed as a sociopath since
she demonstrates a total lack of empathy toward
the
suffering
of
Palestinians and the fears and concerns of her constituents such as Jasmin.)
Adam
Smidi gives his comments:
“Any
taking of life is sickening. The narrative right now is that there is
no such thing as an innocent Palestinian life. … One doctor, from
Doctors Without Borders, said this is the ‘worst humanitarian
crisis she’s ever experienced.’
These are the people we should be listening to, humanitarian people,
people on the ground. An acronym was invented, ‘WCNSF,’ unique to
Gaza. It stands for ‘wounded child no surviving family.’ This
acronym shouldn’t exist.”
“There
is a natural human impulse to protect children. Right now, that
impulse is broken, and disincentivized by our representatives.
Muslims in Ohio are diverse and civically engaged. We will elect
those that hear us. Your legacy in the local Muslim community has
been so positive, all we ask is to be brave enough to stand with us
and be on the right side of history on this thing. Stop the bombing, ceasefire,
ending of innocent lives lost. Two thirds of Americans agree. (…) A
local family near to us, the (Abu Shaban?) family, lost 35 members,
age 2 weeks
to 85 years, all in one sitting.”
Kaptur’s
response:
“In [the]
Middle East, this war could expand. The US cannot operate alone, must
have allies in region that help all of us. Keep that wider scope in
mind as we look towards a solution. (...) This will take a united
front, global. We need many nations on board, first to help us keep
honest as a country, and second to help us heal that wounded region.”
(Editor’s
note: Once again, Rep. Kaptur seems not to have heard or understood
the concerns Adam voiced about the deaths of innocents and entire
families and how a ceasefire could prevent further suffering. She’s
focused on the US fighting in other parts of the region and making
“allies” in a global conflict that would only continue the
senseless and immoral killing of children and innocents. It’s
like she needs a “moral hearing aid” to hear and understand that
her constituents’ concern is not about war strategies and
politics—it’s about saving endangered human beings and ensuring their
health and safety.)
 |
Protest outside Kaptur's district office.
|
A
brief excerpt from the
Q & A section that
ended the Zoom call:
Jasmin:
“As our representative, a lot of people here today understand that
all that work needs to be done, to figure out a two-state or
one-state or five-state solution. We don’t care about that right
now. We want you as our representative to back a ceasefire
immediately.”
Kaptur:
“Who’s going to stop the shooting?”
Jasmin:
“What do you mean?”
Kaptur:
“If we pass a nonbinding resolution—and, I’ll tell you, this
resolution isn’t going to pass.”
Jasmin:
“We’re asking you to take that stance, and go on the record. We
want to know that we feel supported by our representatives.”
Kaptur:
“I can’t make it happen. I’m just a representative.”
(Editor’s
note: It seems odd that Rep. Kaptur feels she is powerless. Here she has been elected to Congress over twenty times and has sat on many committees and has many connections in Washington, DC, but she has no political pull at all according to her. She says, “I can’t
make it happen” when it comes to addressing a life and death issue
such as genocide. “I’m just a representative,” she whines. She
can’t even speak out against ethnic cleansing on the floor of Congress?
Why would any voter
support a candidate with so little belief in their own agency? Is
Kaptur just a puppet—not her own person—going whichever way the
wind blows? Possibly it explains her long tenure in office. She’s
the perfect party hack with no original thoughts or sense of morality of her
own. She does as she's told by whoever pays her the most money.)
Jasmin:
“You’re our representative, and we’re asking you to do this.”
Kaptur:
“I’ll do what I can. And what I can do is what I am doing. And
that’s strengthening our allies’ voices who are negotiating, our
top advisors working with Hamas and our allies. I don’t have a
voice in that, I can just encourage them. Right now, we could try to
pass this resolution in Congress, but it’s not related to the
future or any kind of truce to stop the killing.”
Jasmin:
“What’s the harm in supporting the resolution?”
(Editor’s
note: A good question. If there’s no harm in it, why not? Even a
symbolic gesture to say you’re standing with the Palestinian people
would be of great comfort to Jasmin and other Palestinian American
voters, wouldn’t it?)
Terry
Lodge, Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition: “Vote against the
appropriations, cut off the weapons now. This has to stop. It’s
madness and will
get worse.”
Kaptur:
“That bill did not move.”
Terry :
“It’s only temporarily on hold, will be up again quickly.”
Kaptur:
“It could be.”
Terry:
“This
is an emergency. I agree this will take a community to stop this, but
it begins by advocating, using your voice to put on the brakes.
Please put on the brakes.
Please tell the rest of
Congress that YOU want this to stop, take immediate steps. I remember
in 2003 when you were one of the brave voices who voted against the
invasion of Iraq! You’ve demonstrated courage in the past.”
(Editor’s
note: Alas, Marcy Kaptur hasn’t demonstrated much courage this time
around—except
for courageously representing the pro-Zionist lobby. She
sits on the appropriations committee, but she can’t even promise
that she’ll attempt to stop the spending on the weapons of
genocide. There’s so much Kaptur could do and say, but, in the end,
she says and does little to nothing.)
These
excerpts from the Zoom call with Rep. Kaptur aren’t meant to
dissuade you from ever contacting your representatives in Congress, but they are
to give you an idea of the resistance you’ll be up against. The
pro-Israel, AIPAC lobbyists are very rich and very powerful. Be ready
to counter each and every excuse they’ve given to your
representative whenever you communicate with them. Bought-off politicians are always looking for an
excuse to ignore you and, when they can’t hold you off any longer,
a way to gaslight you.
Don’t
let your Congressmember get away with it. There’s a genocide going on in Gaza. It’s not a picnic or
a football game. There’s no time for sweet talk and niceties. Show your representative the horrific photos of dead children. Give them the numbers of deaths and wounded. Don’t
let them tell you they’re powerless to affect real change.
Anyone who can spend that much time and
energy on gaslighting their constituents has enough time and power
to spend on doing good things for them instead. Let your representative know you will no longer support them in their re-election bid if they won't represent you. Let them know that you know which lobbyists (PACs) are paying them off to act against their constituents' best interests. And let them know that you're not afraid to take stronger measures to re-establish democracy in the future.
*More on AIPAC from Hamas: Winning by Not Losing
AIPAC
was founded in 1953 as the American Zionist Committee for Public
Affairs–the lobbying division of the American
Zionist Council in
an effort to whitewash reports of Israeli atrocities—specifically
the Qibya
massacre.
In 1963,
it was reconstituted as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
– AIPAC—which has had immense influence in Congress—despite
being out of step with mainstream Jewish opinion. Zionism also made
inroads in the media and entertainment industries. Not to mention
academia.
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