Booker Calls for Congressional Action in Wake of Hamas Attacks Against Israel | U.S. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey
www.booker.senate.govWASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is calling on Congress to immediately pass additional security assistance to Israel, confirm key diplomatic and military appointments, and boost resources for programs that support the security of nonprofits that may be at increased risk here at home in the wake of violence in Israel.
“The harrowing images coming out of Israel and the rising toll of confirmed deaths and number of civilians being held hostage by Hamas -- including American citizens -- are devastating,” said Senator Booker. “We must do all we can to support the people of Israel who are facing unimaginable pain, innocent Palestinian civilians who are also victims of violence, and American families who have lost or are missing loved ones.
Booker continued, “In the wake of Hamas’ unprecedented and ongoing attacks and acts of terror, it is critical that Congress act quickly to pass additional security funding for our ally Israel, including Iron Dome replenishment.
“Additionally, the Senate must swiftly confirm nominees to key diplomatic roles in the region that have been stalled, including ambassador roles in Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, and Kuwait; the State Department’s Coordinator for Counterterrorism; and USAID’s Assistant Administrator for the Middle East. The unreasonable obstruction in the Senate holding up more than 300 US military nominees, including top officers who would command US forces in the Middle East, must end. At a time when hostilities abroad are escalating, America can ill-afford to have our military readiness and capability compromised in any way.
“We also cannot ignore the rise in antisemitism or threats to American religious communities, and we must take extra precaution here at home to ensure their safety and security. That is why Congress should increase funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which provides important resources to safeguard nonprofits that are at an increased risk of violence, including houses of worship and religious-affiliated groups across the country.”
I can see where you’re coming from, I’ll try to summarise with metaphor and will likely sound asinine but here goes:
If I’m a hitchhiker and I see a suspicious car pull over and offer me a ride, even in the wrong direction, I’m going to take it over the driver that stops, gets out with a chainsaw and runs towards me screaming “go back to your own country”, where you’re focusing on how this first option is a very bad option. I’m not in disagreement that it’s a bad option. It is most definitely a broken, non-functional option. It is however not the lunatic with a chainsaw, which I take as an incredible positive argument for it.
I don’t need a metaphor to understand your point, I’ve heard the argument before. My point is that if we view the historical response to labor organization, both drivers are chainsaw wielding murderers, just one of them puts on a more polite face. The task is the same regardless, it is not any easier if the murderer is more polite about the slaughter if the slaughter is the same.
I understand your point, sorry for a belaboured metaphor, it just helps me think.
Here’s my counterpoint: If both options are the same outcome then what is there? Wait for violent, government-toppling civil war before anything changes? If it is institutionalized oppression, both-sides etc, then I can only assume you don’t see the current administration as any different to the previous one, or any future DNC? If you think Biden was equivalent to Trump in terms of ‘just a nice face on a chainsaw wielding madman’, then you have no change in political stance now that Trump is in power and reshaping the constitution to allow indefinite rule? Both sides bad means it hasn’t become worse since the party change, as it was always going to be this bad no matter who won?
Follow the logic, I think it sounds grossly myopic.
My solution is labor organization and eventually revolution, I’m a Communist. The Working Class should form its own party and build it up, like PSL, rather than rely on bourgeois parties that serve the same interests.
Trump and Biden/Harris both serve the same ruling class. Nothing really happens without the genuine approval of that class, opposition from the DNC towards the GOP is theatrical in nature and not material. The conditions change with time, but the conditions don’t change as much with parties as they do as broader trends.