Minnesota Congresswoman: Israel ‘Abuses and Tortures Palestinian Children’ With ‘Military Occupation’ of West Bank

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) excoriated Israel on Friday, saying the country “abuses and tortures Palestinian children” in the West Bank.

“There are no diplomatic efforts to achieve a two-state solution,” McCollum said in a floor speech in the House of Representatives. “The prime minister of Israel has repeatedly stated he is committed to annexing Palestinian lands. There is no peace for Palestinians in East Jerusalem or the West Bank. There is an Israel military occupation that abuses and tortures Palestinian children, demolishes Palestinian homes, and steals Palestinian land.”

McCollum was one of several Democrats to deliver speeches critical of Israel on Friday, a response to this week’s violence between Israel and Palestine. Others included Reps. Rashida Tlaib (MI), Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY). The group has been pressuring President Joe Biden to condemn Israel for engaging in airstrikes against Gaza, which it has done in response to rocket attacks by Hamas.

The White House has thus far resisted that pressure.

“One of the things that I have seen, thus far, is that there has not been a significant overreaction,” Biden told reporters this week, speaking in reference to Israel’s counterstrikes. “The question is, how we get to a point where — they get to a point where there is a significant reduction in the attacks, particularly the [Hamas] rocket attacks that are indiscriminately fired into population centers.”

House Democrats, including McCollum, also took the opportunity to call on the administration to review American aid to Israel.

“The unrestricted, unconditioned, $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid enables — it gives a green light to Israel’s occupation of Palestine, because there is no accountability and there is no oversight by Congress,” McCollum said.

Watch above via CSPAN.