November 5, 2009

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed an extremely problematic resolution condemning a U.N. fact finding report about Israel's actions during the war on Gaza earlier this year. The Muslim Public Affairs Council today called on its members to thank the 36 members of the House who opposed House Resolution 867, and the 22 members who voted "present."

In a letter to President Obama last week, Justice Richard Goldstone, who authored the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, expressed his concern about the text of the proposed resolution, stating it "includes serious factual inaccuracies and instances where information and statements are taken grossly out of context."

Co-sponsored by Reps. Howard Berman (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the resolution is deeply flawed and an example of the kind of deeply misguided messages from the U.S. to the international community about our attitude toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Why hasn't the House of Representatives taken any action to invite Judge Richard Goldstone, who authored the report, for a hearing to understand and engage this issue more deeply?" said Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati. "In the interest of seeking the truth of what took place, it is imperative that we support the three dozen members who opposed this extremely biased resolution and the two dozen who voted 'present' rather than supporting it."

As Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) said in a "Dear Colleague" letter last week, "What will it say about this Congress and our country if we so readily seek to block 'any further consideration' of a human rights investigation produced by one of the most respected jurists in the world today, a man who has led the investigations of abuses in [Apartheid] South Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Kosovo, and worked to identify and prosecute Nazi war criminals as a member of the Panel of the Commission of Enquiry into the Activities of Nazism in Argentina?"

ACTION REQUESTED:

Please take FIVE MINUTES TO CALL THE HOUSE MEMBERS FROM YOUR STATE to express your appreciation for their vote of "no" or "present" on HR 867.

MEMBERS WHO VOTED "NO":

Arizona: Edward Pastor (D), Raul Grijalva (D)
Arkansas: Victor Snyder (D)
California: Lynn Woolsey (D), George Miller (D), Barbara Lee (D), Fortney Stark (D), Lois Capps (D), Maxine Waters (D), Bob Filner (D)
Indiana: Andre Carson (D)
Kentucky: Geoff Davis (R)
Louisiana: Charles Boustany (R)
Maryland: Donna Edwards (D)
Massachusetts: John Olver (D), James McGovern (D), Stephen Lynch (D)
Michigan: Carolyn Kilpatrick (D), John Dingell (D)
Minnesota: Betty McCollum (D), Keith Ellison (D)
Missouri: William Clay (D)
New York: Yvette Clarke (D), Maurice Hinchey (D)
North Carolina: David Price (D), Melvin Watt (D)
Ohio: Dennis Kucinich (D)
Oregon: Earl Blumenauer (D)
Texas: Ronald Paul (R), Lloyd Doggett (D), Eddie Johnson (D)
Virginia: James Moran (D)
Washington: Brian Baird (D), James McDermott (D)
West Virginia: Nick Rahall (D)
Wisconsin: Tammy Baldwin (D)

MEMBERS WHO VOTED "PRESENT":

A legislator votes "present" when s/he feels that a vote either way would be a politically tough decision. This signals that there may be division among his/her constituents over the issue at hand.

California: Xavier Becerra (D), Anna Eshoo (D), Sam Farr (D), Mike Honda (D), Zoe Lofgren (D)
Georgia: Hank Johnson (D), Jackie Speier (D)
Hawaii: Mazie Hirono (D)
Iowa: Dave Loebsack (D)
Massachusetts: Bill Delahunt (D), John Tierney (D)
New Mexico: Martin Heinrich (D), Ben Ray Lujan (D)
North Carolina: Walter B. Jones (R)
Ohio: Marcy Kaptur (D)
Oregon: Peter DeFazio (D), David Wu (D)
Pennsylvania: Kathy Dahlkemper (D)
Tennessee: Jim Cooper (D), John Duncan (R)
Vermont: Peter Welch (D)
Wisconsin: Dave Obey (D)