HRes 888 is a dangerous piece of authoritarian legislation, equating one extreme religious interpretation held by a violent government with an entire diverse religious group. Zionism is more commonly held as a Western Christian Evangelical fever dream than as a Jewish hope, which can be easily discerned by actually talking with the wide variety of Jewish people calling for Palestinian liberation, and by asking Evangelical Americans what they picture when they talk of Zionism. HRes 888 is essentially legislating what it means to be Jewish, a position with which many Jews disagree, and a power grab outside of political authority. The people of Israel, the government of Israel, the religion of Israel, are all varied, and to lump the whole into a monolith is racist, ignorant, and insulting. Where is the wisdom of leadership having done their homework and learned about the people they represent and the history of our place in fueling the fires of fear and dehumanization of the Palestinian peoples? Have we made no progress since David fought the Philistine Goliath? Do we care so little for humanity that we throw learning, growth, and generations of history out the window to assuage our guilt at only entering WW2 when it became financially expedient to do so? Jewish people deserve better than our guilty gun gifts and push towards more and more bloodshed. Jewish people are more than this one image of soldiers retaliating yet again in vastly disproportionate slaughter of their civilian neighbors. Jewish people attempting to be a light to the nations are being pushed to the margins and called heretic for daring to speak out for peace, and this resolution would criminalize them for reminding us of the promise of "never again." We are arming a government with our bloodlust and forgetting their humanity for our own political talking points. It is not only possible but responsible citizenship to call out our governments for abuses of power. This resolution is setting a precedent of criminalizing any critique of the powerful, which we have been watching happen across our own country as peaceful protestors are being arrested and charged for standing against police violence. Outlawing conscience and calls for humanity to remember our humanity is leading us to a harsh despair, away from our foundational ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We can stand with the people of Israel, and still stand against Netanyahu. Don't they have the right to defend themselves from being made into terrors, to defend themselves from becoming killers, to defend themselves from the Christian Zionists who would only use them as a pawn to get their Armageddon? We can understand that Jews are hurting and need protection without shoving guns in their hands and telling them that genociding their neighbors is the only and best answer. This is not the battle of Jericho, surely we have learned better of how to live with neighbors of different faiths.
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