Three years ago today, 13 House Democrats saw the obvious. Israel’s response to Hamas’ October 7 attack was disproportionate, and it needed to be stopped.
In just ten days, Israel had killed 2,808 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 10,850 more. Entire families were killed inside their homes. One million Palestinians had been displaced, and hospitals were approaching collapse as Israel’s siege blocked food, water, and medicine.
“They are running out of body bags,” Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said through tears.
On October 16, 2023, only 13 House Democrats put their names on the Ceasefire Now Resolution: Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, André Carson, Summer Lee, Delia Ramirez, Jamaal Bowman, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Chuy García, Jonathan Jackson, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Nydia Velázquez.
They were trying to help prevent a genocide. The resolution never received a vote, and AIPAC and its allies later spent a combined $31,383,244 to defeat two of the original 13, Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.
Because of an AIPAC-bought Congress and two presidential administrations that supplied the money and weapons, Israel has carried its violence from Gaza into the West Bank. Israeli settler terrorists just nearly beat Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine to death while she documented Palestinian families harvesting their olives. Israeli soldiers did nothing to stop the attacks.
The next votes on weapons for Israel will be cast by the people we elect in 18 days.
Three years ago, 13 Democrats stood nearly alone.
This January, the Track AIPAC caucus will include 27 members – more than double the number who stood up three years ago today.
But there are still more races we can win, and we have 18 days left to get it done.