Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and two fellow NYC progressives are among 13 congressional Democrats who are pushing a resolution calling for a ceasefire and “de-escalation” between Israel and Hamas.
As Israel prepares to launch a ground assault on Gaza, Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Nydia Velázquez joined in backing the one-page resolution calling “for an immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine.”
The group, which includes some of the staunchest supporters of the Palestinian cause, demanded the White House work to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and allow humanitarian relief to enter the beleaguered Gaza strip.
“We all know collective punishment of Palestinian is a war crime,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), another co-sponsor of the resolution, the first woman of Palestinian descent in Congress. “The answer to war crimes can never be more war crimes.”
The measure strikes a very different tone from two earlier congressional measures that sought to address the deadly conflict that erupted after Hamas terrorists killed hundreds of Israelis in the bloodiest attack on the Jewish state in decades.
The first bipartisan resolution introduced by Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks and Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, was designed to express support for Israel after the terror attacks.
The U.S. “stands with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists,” said that measure, which did not even mention Palestinian civilians.
Nearly 3,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in the Israeli retaliatory attacks, even before an expected ground assault.
A second congressional letter that was signed by nearly 100 Democratic members of the progressive caucus called for Israel to show restraint and to respect humanitarian law in Gaza.
But it pointedly avoided calling for a ceasefire.
The new letter has attracted support from only the handful of strident critics of Israel, like Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman.
The calls for an end to the violence may increase as hospitals in Gaza faces collapse and supplies of water, power food and medicine run out.
Fears are also rising that the conflict could spread to other parts of Israel and the occupied West Bank.
