DaysofPal – US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives formally recognizing Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza as a genocide, marking one of the most direct challenges yet to Washington’s longstanding support for Israel.
Although the bill, which was introduced on Friday, is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House, its introduction highlights a growing shift in US political discourse where criticism of Israel’s actions is becoming more widespread.
If adopted, the resolution would formally acknowledge that “Israel has committed the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza” and would call for an immediate halt to the transfer of weapons suspected of being used in atrocities. It also urges support for investigations and legal proceedings, including targeted sanctions on Israeli officials responsible for grave violations.
The proposal has been co-sponsored by 20 Democrats, including several leading figures in the party: progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, potential presidential contender Ro Khanna, and Maxwell Alejandro Frost, the first Gen Z member of Congress and a rising party star.
The initiative arrives at a critical moment. The 10-year US–Israel Memorandum of Understanding, which guarantees Israel $3.8 billion annually in military assistance, is set to expire next year.
Israeli officials are already pushing for a renewed aid package, even as scrutiny of US support intensifies. In addition to the annual assistance, Washington has provided more than $21 billion in supplemental military aid to Israel over the past two years to support its war on Gaza.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, including at least 20,000 children, and reduced much of Gaza to rubble. Throughout the war, Israel enforced a blockade on humanitarian aid, triggering famine conditions across the enclave.
Even after a US-brokered ceasefire took effect last month, Israel has continued to restrict food and fuel and has carried out near-daily airstrikes and shootings in violation of the agreement.
Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, said the genocide is ongoing.
“Since the so-called ‘ceasefire’ was announced, Israeli forces haven’t stopped killing Palestinians,” she said on Friday.
“Impunity only enables more atrocity. As our government continues to send a blank check for war crimes and ethnic cleansing, Palestinian children’s smiles are extinguished by bombs and bullets that say ‘made in the USA.”
Her resolution cites public statements by senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and high-ranking military officers, describing Palestinians collectively as targets and calling for the depopulation of Gaza.
“This place will be a fallow land. They will not be able to live here,” Israeli Colonel Erez Eshel said in November 2023.
Major rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Israeli group B’Tselem, as well as UN investigators, have concluded that Israel’s actions constitute genocide under the UN Convention, which defines the crime as acts intended to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group “in whole or in part.”
Such acts include killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, preventing births, or imposing conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s destruction.
Despite the growing international consensus, only a small number of US lawmakers have publicly described the Israeli campaign as genocide. In addition to the 21 Democrats backing Tlaib’s resolution, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Senator Bernie Sanders have also used the term.
Rights experts say the language matters. Once genocide is acknowledged, the Genocide Convention obliges states to act to prevent the crime and hold perpetrators accountable.
More than 100 human rights organisations have endorsed Tlaib’s resolution. “This resolution is an important step towards recognising Israel’s actions against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip for what they are, genocide,” said Elizabeth Rghebi, Middle East advocacy director at Amnesty International USA.
“The US has a legal duty to prevent and punish genocide. Congress must urgently support this resolution and ensure the United States takes the actions necessary to stop and hold accountable those responsible.”
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