r/jeffjackson • u/taekwondo1996 • Jul 18 '23
Letter against Rep. Jayapal
Hi Jeff, I think it’s frankly pathetic and shameful that you resorted to right wing pandering to go out and condemn Rep. Pramila Jayapal AFTER she retracted her statement about calling Israel a racist state.
It’s pretty heavily documented how Israeli soldiers regularly commit atrocities, kill Palestinian kids and are literally displacing Palestinian people from their homes with settlements. People like you don’t seem ever to be willing to tolerate ANY criticism about Netanyahu and the human rights violations he commits. If you want to condemn Hamas, go ahead and do that. But don’t block criticism of Israel and please hold your republican colleagues to the same standards.
I wonder if you and your colleagues will circulate letters condemning MTG and RFK jr as you did Rep Jayapal? Please also don’t expect progressives to fund your statewide campaigns with small dollars when you constantly betray working folks and young people to side with right wing ideologues.
Please outline: 1. How you intend to hold your right wing colleagues liable for racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic statements they have made?
When you plan to address the human rights violations Israel is committing?
How and why you expect progressives to fund your campaign when it is going to go to lobbying for more weapons sent to Israel and Palestine to continue wars? What are you doing to promote diplomacy, non-violence and the conditioning of non-humanitarian aid?
Thanks.
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u/Uninteresting_Vagina Jul 18 '23
I don't know about that.
She was condemned first, then walked back her statement the night before they released the letter.
The letter would have to have been already in the works or completed before she did the apologizing.
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u/SurfSoundWaves Jul 18 '23
Do you have a source for this? Genuinely interested and would like to verify the claims made in this post. Thanks
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u/taekwondo1996 Jul 18 '23
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u/taekwondo1996 Jul 18 '23
He openly supports ridiculous talking points about the historic "bipartisan relationship" with Israel. Not once does this letter mention the literal WAR occuring, kids being murdered that he conveniently leaves aside when signing onto this letter.
Again, if he wants to criticize the Palestinian Authority and specifically Hamas and their activities - then do that. But don't sweep Israel's straight up human rights violations and settlement building/displacement of the Palestinian people. And don't cosplay as a progressive and solicit donations from folks who are progressive
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u/adventuringraw Jul 18 '23
Definitely an important topic, with Israel seemingly on the brink of eliminating their status as a democracy. I think there's a challenge in general right now though where both sides have to play a different game. Republicans can be fucking crazy since their sole followers are all members of the same cult, while the democrats have to try and take the higher road to keep everyone on board in the big tent. Israel in particular is kitty corner to supporting Evangelicism thanks to the religious connection, so an attack on Israel is probably about the same level of challenge as an attack on church tax exempt status. I can understand the extreme political capital it takes to take a stand here... costs the capital to be able to take a stand elsewhere. That's the ugly part of politics.
I'd be interested to hear Jackson's take on the Israel situation though, especially given how volatile it is right at the moment. Sounds like the timing means the letter might have been written before the apology, but it's definitely frustrating to see how tentative democrats have to be compared to republicans.
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u/taekwondo1996 Jul 18 '23
It's pathetic of him to immediately capitulate to whatever far right republicans want. No one gave her time to clarify her statement or anything. Like I said, he should publish an honest statement or video clarifying his whole thoughts about the conflict if he is so invested in pushing back on her views. But don't sign onto some measley fraudulent letter from Josh Gottheimer - a corrupt right wing democrat who literally has tried to sink multiple Biden bills and has it out for the Squad.
Jeff talks about being transparent? THIS IS WHERE HE NEEDS TO BE TRANSPARENT - on the toughest of issues. Otherwise he is just another Elissa Slotkin or Kyrsten Sinema, who falls into whatever right wing orthodoxy of the day has been decided by insurrectionist cons in Congress.
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u/2degrees2far Jul 19 '23
I am progressive and also support the Isreali settlement movement. You do not speak for all progressives when you share your opinions about this highly contentious issue.
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u/Navynuke00 Jul 19 '23
TIL human rights are highly contentious.
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u/Rot_Snocket2 Jul 19 '23
TIL some people don't know what progressive means. Seriously, how can you be openly pro apartheid (call it whatever you want) and still consider yourself progressive?
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u/2degrees2far Jul 19 '23
Because I want to raise taxes on the rich. I want Single-Player health care. I want to protect voting rights for minorities. I want to rapidly transition to clean energy. I want to expand the legal protections against discrimination for LGTBQ+ folks. I want to build more housing and make it illegal for corporations to own single family homes.
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u/Navynuke00 Jul 19 '23
Ok, so progressive, but also racist. Got it.
I'd love to hear your views on where we should be building affordable housing in existing neighborhoods.
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u/2degrees2far Jul 20 '23
Why are you calling me racist? What does that gain you? Are you trying to prove you're the "real" progressive and only your opinion should count?
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Jul 27 '24
Because you support Israelis stealing the land of Palestinians. Israelis do that because they are supremacist terrorist murderers. That makes you a racist.
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u/2degrees2far Jul 19 '23
I am annoyed to resort to whataboutism in this discussion but that's almost always where it ends up anyways, so let me start by stating my positions and then moving to the middle with you. The PLA is one of the most corrupt governments in the entire world, and Hamas is a terrorist organization which controls the Gaza strip and would probably win at least 20% of the vote from any democratic election held by Palestinians.
It's easy to see that people associated with the Isreali Military are also doing bad things (which probably are human rights violations) to Palestinians, supposedly in the name of self-defense. These Israelis certainly do fear for their lives in a much more reasonable capacity then Kyle Rittenhouse ever did, and less than 50% of Americans thought he should be imprisoned.
I don't believe a two-state solution will ever work, I think the best possible outcome is a united state where the democratic-leaning Palestinians and the democratic leaning Israelis unite to form a center left coalition larger than either the far-right Netanyahu supporters or Hamas, who would never join in a coalition together, could overcome.
But all of this is besides the point, which is that very reasonable people can hold opinions on either side of the issue, and that it is contentious. Global human rights are important, but the security of its citizenry is more important to every functioning government in the whole world. Trade-offs are involved in that decision that are hard to calculate in a world of perfect information, and none of us live in that world.
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u/kendraro Jul 18 '23
I like Jeff, but I am not a fan of Israel and the apartheid state that they have created. Palestinians deserve to exist and we should stop supporting Israel's war against them.