The Bronx Anti War Coalition Condemns US House Resolution 888: An Appalling Congressional Approval of the Israeli Ethnostate

We of the Bronx Anti-War Coalition condemn Resolution 888, and all US Representatives, especially those in the Bronx, who voted for it, voted “present” or abstained.

Though disingenuously presented as a condemnation of anti-semitism, Resolution 888 is, in actuality, an attempt by Democrats and Republicans to defend Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinian people – both in its current attacks on Gaza and the West Bank’s civilian population, and since 1948. 

Free speech, self-determination, and the UN-recognized human right to take arms against an occupier are principles that lie at the core of this conflict. Via gross misframing, Resolution 888 not only deflects from discussion of such essential principles, but it does so in a manner that furthers anti-semitic tropes and exploits and gravely insults the memory of Jewish Holocaust victims as well. 

Crimes against humanity are not defined by the “identity” of a victim – but rather, by the act itself.  Nazi Germany’s ethnic cleansing, creation of concentration camps, and dehumanization of targeted groups are what make that historical tragedy a lesson we must all take to heart. 

Such atrocities cannot be “atoned” by simply shifting the violence to a different group. Israel’s creation echoed the same horrors as the Holocaust itself: the violent ethnic cleansing of a population (indigenous Palestinians), accompanied by dehumanizing rhetoric and claims of special privileges for the oppressor (colonizing Zionists).  The ominous parallels continue with the blockade of the Gaza Strip. A criminal act of siege warfare, Israel has controlled the flow of food, medicine, and other essentials of life to the Gaza Strip since 2007 - thus creating what is internationally described as an open-air concentration camp.

Such historical and current facts must be recognized, which Resolution 888 fails to do. 

In regards to the Resolution’s Four Points, we of the Bronx Anti-War Coalition call out the House’s MISrepresentations below:

1) “Reaffirming the State of Israel’s Right to Exist”

Founded on the concept of unequal rights, Ethnostates and Theocracies are fundamentally undemocratic and unjust. That political principle holds true universally, whether one contemplates Nazi Germany, South Africa, or Israel.  No state has an inherent “right to exist.”  This right only applies to people. And in any instance where nations violate human rights, such is the case with Israel, we must act to completely dismantle them. Only the indigenous Palestinians, who suffer under genocidal military occupation, can claim the right to exist and the right to self-defense.

2) “Recognizing that Denying Israel’s Right to Exist is a Form of Antisemitism”

In its attempt to deflect from Israel’s human rights violations, Resolution 888 ironically pushes antisemitism itself. Nazi Germany claimed to be Christian. Yet none today would argue condemnation of that nation constituted an attack on Christianity. Similarly, criticism of Israel cannot be conflated with an attack on Judaism. To draw such an inference is, in and of itself, the antisemitic dual loyalty trope.

3) “Rejecting Calls for Israel’s Destruction and the Elimination of the Only Jewish State.”

Palestinian calls for the Right of Return, Land Back, and Equal Citizenship are common sense legal principles, ones which Western countries claim to champion.  To label such calls for restitution as “destruction” is a rejection of justice itself. Also note our response to Item One: Nations – and particularly Ethnostates and Theocracies - have no “right to exist.”

4) “Condemning the Hamas-led Terrorist Attack on Israel”

As observed in the Genova Conventions of 1949, occupied and colonized people have a right to resist by any means necessary.  Palestinians have been occupied by the Zionist state of Israel for 75 years, with ever-increasing dispossession of land. Other Israeli crimes against humanity include imprisonment in the Gaza concentration camp, murder of unarmed Palestinian civilians, and the unlawful taking of thousands of hostages, including women and children, into the Israeli occupation prison system. 

To frame October 7th as a “terrorist attack” blatantly ignores such context. While the harm of noncombatants/civilians is to be condemned, Resolution 888 turns a blind eye to multiple factors in this conflict: 

A) The high percentage of Israeli citizens who are active or retired IDF/IOF or armed settlers – and thus definitionally combatants of an occupying force.

B) The growing evidence that the majority of Israeli casualties on October 7 were not the actions of Hamas but rather “friendly fire” by the IOF, specifically from US-supplied Apache helicopters.

C) The credulous acceptance of Israeli claims of atrocities, despite that nation’s track record of pushing propaganda, which is almost immediately debunked.

No one would object to the events of October 7th being investigated by an objective, unbiased third-party tribunal. But the House’s willingness and haste to paint Hamas as a “Terrorist Aggressor” to be unquestioningly “condemned” is ahistorical, a biased refusal to even acknowledge the power dynamics in this conflict and Israel’s provocations to date.

Human rights matter. Though it purports to defend the same, H.R. 888 is, in truth, a document that attempts to prioritize Israeli special “privileges” of theocracy, ethnostate, and genocide – while implicitly denying Palestinians rights at all.

The recent passage of HR 888 with a vote of 412 to 1 is shameful, a testament to the moral bankruptcy and illegitimacy of Congress and US politics in upholding basic human rights.

All politicians who voted yes, present, or abstained on HR 888 DO NOT deserve your votes, donations, or continued support.  

It is our obligation, disappointment, and displeasure to note such a list includes Bronx  “Representatives” Adriano Espiallat, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman, and Ritchie Torres, all of whom voted “Yes.”

Lending consent to such blatant propaganda is an unacceptable betrayal of the Palestinian people and a demonstration of political cowardice and corruption in real-time.