Rashida Tlaib says you cannot hold progressive values yet back Israel’s apartheid government

Washington (QNN)- US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said “progressive” lawmakers could not call themselves progressives if they continued to back “Israel’s apartheid government” during an online seminar, calling out the lack of investigation by the US into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh.

In her five-minute speech in an online advocacy seminar held on Tuesday by Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action), and co-sponsored by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Tlaib told attendees, “It has become clear that you cannot claim to hold progressive values yet back Israel’s apartheid government.”

“We will continue to push back and not accept this idea that you are ‘Progressive except for Palestine’,” Tlaib added.

“I don’t have to tell you all that our struggle for justice is not an easy one. The Palestinian people are fighting against occupation, apartheid and political exploitation at every single turn,” she noted during the seminar.

“We all know that international laws and human rights meant to protect the oppressed are ignored when it comes to the apartheid government of Israel.

“While they expand settlements, Palestinian rights are systematically denied and apartheid and oppression remain the laws of the land.”

Tlaib also slammed the lack of investigation by the US administration into the shooting death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Despite wearing a protective helmet and blue bulletproof vest clearly marked as “PRESS,” the 51-year-old veteran journalist was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the head while she was covering an Israeli military raid into the Jenin refugee camp on May 11, sparking international outrage and calls for accountability for attacks on journalists. The slain journalist covered events and Israeli aggressions in the occupied Palestinian territory for 25 years.

Her family has called on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to investigate the killing. On Tuesday, lawyers representing the family of Abu Akleh asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a new investigation into her killing.

Previously unseen footage published on Wednesday, which is a collaboration between Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and the U.K.-based research agency Forensic Architecture, revealed new evidence concluding that Abu Akleh was killed deliberately by Israeli forces.

At the online seminar, Tlaib said that Abu Akleh’s case had “opened the eyes of many of my colleagues and countless decent people around the world to the brutal reality of living under apartheid Israel. It’s nothing short of outrageous that our government continues to refuse to hold Israel accountable for these killings”.

Tlaib added that she would continue to push for a fully transparent investigation, and demand full accountability for Abu Akleh’s killing.

Tlaib had previously called for a US probe into the killing, rather than relying on ‘Israel’ to investigate its own actions. In May, she held a moment of silence on the floor of the House of Representatives to honor Abu Akleh.

“People woke up to the killing Shireen Abu Akleh and I would like to do a moment of silence [over this] this shocking news, a journalist of over twenty years, a Palestinian-American killed,” said Tlaib on the House floor.

Tlaib, the first Palestinian Progressive Democrat and was born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrant parents, has been one of the most outspoken politicians on Israeli occupation of her homeland, Palestine.