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The speaker of the United States House of Representatives is commonly known as the speaker of the House or House speaker. He holds the third most powerful position the US government. Our current speaker of the House this week was leading a tour of newly elected Republican lawmakers to Israel. It is all a paid trip by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
Rather than meeting with their constituents in their home districts during summer recess, Speaker Mike Johnson and his troops were in Israel lobbying and defending Israel's genocidal policies. Mr. Speaker told the world that the West Bank belongs to Jews "by right" during a settlement visit. He is following a misguided form of Christianity and does not understand the virtues of separation of church and State.
People around the world don't like to see Israeli ownership because that claim comes from old BS fairy tales and not the Bible. When Speaker Johnson or any government that talks about the rule of law or international legitimacy has to care about the ruling of the International Court of Justice to appear credible and not look like a hypocrite, all of the millions who care deeply about Palestinian rights can now see all the more clearly the lie of Israel's claims to the occupied territories.
The whole world sees Israel still maintains ruthless occupation over the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The International Court has ruled that Israel should evacuate all of its settlers from the West Bank and East Jerusalem and pay reparations to Palestinians for damages caused by the occupation. Speaker Johnson and his troop should have asked Israeli leaders during their tours to apologize and pay restitution form murdering Rachel Corrie, Shireen Abu Akleh, and Saif Musallet in cold blood. Those three brave people were among more than a dozen US citizens murdered by the IDF and Israeli settlers since 2003.
I am dying to know if Speaker Johnson or other MAGA lawmakers could answer these two questions.
* Why do American politicians do the humiliation ritual at the Buraq Wall (known also as Wailing Wall) placing notes containing written prayers to God into the cracks of the Wall?
* Does God answer their prayer faster when men do it while wearing a yarmulke?
If you ask me, this ritual is nothing more than pledging allegiance to the genocidal state of Israel that they can later show AIPAC and their pro-Israeli constituents that they are willing to provide Israel with blind support, even at the expense of U.S. interests.
Speaker Johnson is revising history
* The Speaker is confusing himself between Israelites and Israel. The “Israelites” refers to the ancient people who descended from prophet Dawud (David), peace be upon him, which means in Arabic, a humble servant who did not allow pride to venture into his heart. Israel on the other hand was built illegally in 1948 on stolen Palestinian land and on the ruins of hundreds of towns and villages that have been erased from the face of the earth so the native inhabitants will never have a chance to return back home and to what is rightfully theirs. That included my parents Amina Suleiman Sayyah and Ahmed Nimer El-Yousseph and my older brother Nimer. All of whom who passed away in Ain El-Helwi refugee camp in Lebanon while awaiting to return home.
* The Palestinian city Jericho is one of the oldest cities in the world, with evidence of habitation dating back to around 9,000 BC. It is located in the Israeli occupied West Bank. Speaker Johnson should have known better.
* In 1939, the German ocean liner St. Louis and its 937 passengers, almost all Jewish, were turned away from the port of Miami, forcing the ship to return to Europe and more than a quarter died in the Holocaust.
* Last July marked 78 years since the ship SS Exodus 1947 set sail from the French port of Sete, carrying 4,515 Jews, most of whom were Holocaust survivors, to bring them to Mandatory Palestine, where they were welcomed with open arms by their Palestinian host. Speaker Johnson has no shred of decency for distorting history with his bold-faced lies about Palestine according to Wikipedia.
The sad part is that Speaker Johnson and his newly elected MAGA lawmakers will only say and do what their master AIPAC instructed them. Basically, Speaker Mike Johnson acts as Israel's lapdog.
Maryam Qarehgozlou referred to the Speaker and his gang in Press TV piece last November, "As evidence reveals, all these Congressmen who lashed out at the ICC and turned into devil's advocates are on the payroll of powerful Zionist lobby groups in the US, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which enjoys considerable influence on American politics."
"It's all about the Benjamin, baby!"
Finally, if the Speaker of the House wants to be technical, Israel is not entitled to any US aid under Leahy Law. There are provisions in the Foreign Assistance Act that cut off aid to countries when there was a “consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights.” Even though Israel is a repeat offender, those laws were never invoked when Israel is concerned due to the influence of the powerful Israeli lobby. As US Rep. Omar succinctly put it, "It's all about the Benjamin, baby!" and MAGA slogan "America First" rings shallow when it comes to Israel.
Mahmoud El-Youseph is a Palestinian freelance writer and retired U.S. Air Force veteran. He writes on issues related to politics, religion, and justice. Feedback or comments? Contact him at: elyousseph6@yahoo.com
House Speaker Mike Johnson visit Israel and pledges his blind support for Israel. Photo credit: belaaz.com