Huffman remains evasive as Palestinian civilians die

Reading social media posts and press releases from Rep. Jared Huffman, of San Rafael, is illuminating.

The House member repeatedly and quite properly condemned the horrific killings of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7 by Hamas. He repeatedly and quite properly condemned antisemitism. What he has not done is devote anywhere near the same amount of emphasis to condemning the horrific killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza that have continued since that day.

This is particularly striking since Huffman has routinely joined with others in Congress to vote for supplying many billions of dollars' worth of weapons and ammunition to the Israeli military. It has persisted in killing Palestinian civilians — estimates say at least 19,000 of them since early October. The wherewithal is largely courtesy of appropriations from Huffman and his congressional colleagues.

A pattern of civilian carnage was soon obvious. By mid-November, five weeks into Israel's massive bombing of Gaza, the World Health Organization's directorgeneral told the United Nations that the Israeli military was killing Palestinian children at an average rate of about six per hour. That amounts to about 1,000 kids each week.

One wonders whether members of Congress, now providing such easy rhetoric in public statements to justify huge and ongoing military support to Israel, would be so comfortable with those appropriations if they had to dig their own dead children out of rubble.

As a Jewish American, I know about antisemitism. I grew up with the frightening stories of storm troopers and concentration camps, where some of my relatives perished. I know full well that antisemitism is a real problem. None of that justifies continuing to vote in the House of Representatives for massive military aid to Israel — aid that has been and is being used to slaughter civilians as innocent as ones you would see at a shopping mall in Corte Madera, San Rafael or Novato.

By mid-October, there was an opportunity for members of Congress to take a clear stand for a cease-fire. Eighteen Democrats in the House signed on as co-sponsors of the cease-fire resolution (House Resolution 786). But Huffman chose not to be among them and he is still not a cosponsor.

Instead, Huffman has basically supported President Joe Biden's policies toward the conflict. On Nov. 19, Huffman posted on social media that a cease-fire would require “Hamas releases all hostages, disarms & relinquishes control of Gaza” -- in effect, first unconditional surrender. While a letter to Biden that Huffman signed two days later urged “immediate cessation of hostilities against targets with a civilian presence to facilitate the timely evacuation and protection of children and babies,” it notably did not call for a cease-fire.

In the White House and on Capitol Hill, ethnocentric and racial biases have combined with geopolitical priorities and political expediency to enable U.S. government support of ongoing atrocities by the Israeli military. Huffman is a participant in this dynamic.

Congressman Huffman would better represent the decency of people in this congressional district by actually supporting a single standard of human rights.

Unfortunately, proclaiming opposition to antisemitism sometimes serves as a smokescreen for egregious and lethal double standards.

In early December, Huffman distanced himself — a bit — from the ridiculous and manipulative conflation of the Israeli government with the religion of Judaism, writing in a tweet that “anti-Zionism is often antisemitism, but not always.” Since many Jews are antiZionist, that should hardly be a revelation.

Yet, last month, Huffman touted his “long-standing opposition to BDS” — the effort to boycott, divest and sanction Israel — and he flatly called it a form of “antisemitism.” Such labeling evades the fact that authoritative human rights groups — including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Israeli organization B'Tselem — have declared that Israel is an apartheid state.

It sounds as if Huffman is claiming that such nonviolent measures as boycotting Israel are antisemitic. That's absurd. Much as it would have been absurd to call such nonviolent measures that were aimed at South Africa's apartheid government “anti-White.”

Someday, hopefully, a member of Congress representing Marin will have the minimal courage to apply a single standard of human rights to foreign policy.

Huffman would better represent the decency of people in this congressional district by actually supporting a single standard of human rights.