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Democratic lawmaker Rashida Tlaib has introduced a resolution in the United States Congress to recognise Israel\u2019s brutal assault on Gaza as a genocide.<\/p>\n
While the proposal released on Friday has little chance of passing in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, it underscores the growing criticism of Israel in US politics.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n If the resolution did pass, it would officially recognise that \u201cIsrael has committed the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza\u201d and call for an end to the transfer of weapons suspected of being used to commit atrocities to the US ally.<\/p>\n The bill also backs \u201cfacilitating investigations and domestic proceedings and taking action, including imposing targeted, lawful sanctions, with respect to the State of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n The resolution has been co-sponsored by 20 other Democratic members of Congress, including some prominent legislators.<\/span><\/p>\n Key progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, potential presidential candidate Ro Khanna, and Gen Z Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who is seen as a rising star in the party, are backing the measure.<\/span><\/p>\n The resolution comes as the 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that granted Israel $3.8bn in US military aid annually is set to expire next year \u2013 likely renewing the debate over the assistance as Israeli officials seek a new package.<\/p>\n Over the past two years, the US government provided additional assistance to Israel to help fund the war on Gaza \u2013 totalling more than $21bn.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, including at least 20,000 children, and turned most of the territory into rubble.<\/p>\n Throughout the war, Israel imposed a blockade on aid to Gaza, sparking a deadly famine in the enclave.<\/p>\n Even after a US-brokered ceasefire came into effect last month, Israel has continued to restrict the entry of food and fuel to Gaza. The Israeli military has also been carrying out air strikes and shootings in Gaza daily in violation of the truce.<\/p>\n Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, said the genocide in Gaza is ongoing.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the so-called \u2018ceasefire\u2019 was announced, Israeli forces haven\u2019t stopped killing Palestinians,\u201d the congresswoman said in a statement on Friday..<\/p>\n \u201cImpunity only enables more atrocity. As our government continues to send a blank check for war crimes and ethnic cleansing, Palestinian children\u2019s smiles are extinguished by bombs and bullets that say \u2018made in the USA\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n United Nations investigators and leading rights groups \u2013 including Amnesty International and Israel\u2019s B\u2019Tselem \u2013 have concluded that the Israeli offensive is a genocide.<\/p>\n A UN convention defines genocide as \u201cacts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group\u201d.<\/p>\n Genocidal acts include killing and injuring members of the targeted group, preventing births and imposing \u201cconditions of life calculated to bring about\u201d the physical destruction of the group.<\/p>\n Tlaib\u2019s resolution quotes public statements by Israeli political and military officials \u2013 including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog \u2013 calling for mass violence and collective punishment against Palestinians.<\/p>\n \u201cThis place will be a fallow land. They will not be able to live here,\u201d Colonel Erez Eshel said in November 2023.<\/p>\n Despite the growing consensus among rights experts that the war in Gaza is a genocide, only a fraction of Congress members have adopted the label when describing the Israeli offensive.<\/p>\n In addition to the 21 House Democrats backing the resolution, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and progressive Senator Bernie Sanders have also accused Israel of genocide.<\/p>\n Experts say the description is important because the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide invokes a global responsibility to stop the atrocities and hold the perpetrators responsible.<\/p>\n More than 100 rights groups have endorsed Tlaib\u2019s congressional proposal.<\/p>\n \u201cThis resolution is an important step towards recognising Israel\u2019s actions against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip for what they are \u2013 genocide,\u201d Elizabeth Rghebi, Middle East advocacy director at Amnesty International USA, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US ratified the Genocide Convention, which imposes a duty on states to prevent and punish the crime. Amnesty International calls on all members of Congress to urgently support this resolution and ensure the US begins taking the actions necessary to prevent and punish Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Democratic lawmaker Rashida Tlaib has introduced a resolution in the United States Congress to recognise Israel\u2019s brutal assault on Gaza as a genocide. While the proposal released on Friday has little chance of passing in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, it underscores the growing criticism of Israel in US politics. 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