USPCN Stands with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar

Wednesday, February 13th, 2019

To: U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar
From: United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)

Dear Representative Omar,

The members of the National Coordinating Committee of USPCN thank you for leveraging your elected position to speak up against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC’s) financial influence over your colleagues in the U.S. Congress. We recognize that the backlash against you–from Israel’s apologists, from AIPAC (commonly known as the Israel Lobby) itself, from the leadership of both political parties, including so called “progressive” Democrats, and from the ultra-right–is littered with racist, anti-Black, anti-Muslim undertones, and we salute you for your bravery in the face of these attacks!

We re-assure you, Representative Omar, that what you tweeted was absolutely accurate. AIPAC exists for the sole purpose of providing unconditional support for Israel in the United States. Its job is to give money to pro-Israel politicians, to ensure continued political and financial support for the war crimes committed by the state of Israel against the Palestinian people.

We also re-assure you, Representative Omar, that your apology was unnecessary. The state of Israel and its lobbyists are on the defensive and have increased their attempts to silence Israel’s critics by accusing them of anti-Semitism. We firmly believe that you did the right thing; criticism of Israel is NOT anti-Semitic. Criticism of unequivocal support for Israel is NOT anti-Semitic.

You exercised your right to freedom of speech, and as Arabs and Palestinians in the U.S., we stand with and support you. As representatives of communities that have also been pushed off our lands and forced into exile or refugee status like your family and community, we stand with and support you. And understanding that these personal and political attacks take a heavy toll on the health and well-being of our communities and its members, we stand with and support you.

It is a shame that Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic Party leaders condemned your brave words. We would like to remind Nancy Pelosi that the shared values of the U.S. and Israel that she wrote about are not democracy, free speech, and human rights. They are white settler-colonialism, land theft from indigenous people, and a legacy of war and human rights violations.

USPCN believes that some U.S. Congresspeople are influenced by AIPAC, yes, but the main reason this country’s executive and legislative branches have historically and unequivocally supported the apartheid state of Israel is because it does the bidding and protects the economic interests of the U.S. in the Middle East. And this support from the most powerful country on earth has led to over 70 years of continued ethnic cleansing, occupation, and colonization of Palestine at the hands of white European settlers and the illegitimate state of Israel.

With people like you and Rashida Tlaib in office, and with ongoing community organizing and agitation that challenges the status quo and Israeli exceptionalism in the U.S., the tide is beginning to turn on Israel in this country’s political sphere and media.

We hope to be afforded the honor of meeting with you one day to discuss opportunities to help make it happen even more quickly.

Sincerely,

Members of USPCN’s National Coordinating Committee

The U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) is a Palestinian and Arab community-based organization, founded in 2006 to revitalize grass-roots organizing in the Palestinian community in the U.S., as part of the broader Palestinian nation in exile and the homeland. Our guiding principles are: 1) Self-determination and equality for the Palestinian people; 2) The right of all Palestinian refugees, and their descendants, to return to their original homes and lands in historical Palestine; and 3) Ending zionist occupation and colonization of all Palestinian and Arab lands.