6
Uncommitted Co-Founder Abbas Alawieh on U.S. Election & Family in Lebanon Fleeing Israeli Bombs
(www.democracynow.org)
ABBAS ALAWIEH:
You know, my family has very extensive experience — indeed, expertise — at surviving Israeli military violence. You know, southern Lebanon was occupied from 1982 until 2000. And so, I have family members who have endured the torture, the abuse, the targeting. What my family members are reporting now is a level of inhumanity, of violence, of belligerence that we haven’t seen before. People are afraid to show up to the sites that have been destroyed, because what the Israeli military is doing now is they’ll bomb whoever shows up to pull bodies out from under the rubble. And that’s what my uncle is. He’s a first responder whose job it is to show up and pull out the bodies from under the rubble. And now even people like him are being targeted, not once or twice, but systematically.
And so, I’m an American. I feel like I have a specific responsibility in the world, since my country is the one that is sending the weapons that are being used systematically to harm and kill civilians. And the best that I’m being told my government can offer is this leaked letter that you just referenced, the Biden administration officials warning the Netanyahu government that if they keep blocking that humanitarian aid, in 30 days they’ll strongly consider what happens with the weapons that we’re sending. Our leverage over the Israeli government is not about humanitarian aid. Our leverage with the Israeli government is about the weapons. The more weapons we send them, the more babies they kill. That’s just how it works. And so, stop sending the weapons.
And so, in my estimation, it feels like Vice President Harris is not doing what it takes to be both humane and compassionate and sensitive to the political realities in Michigan that are necessary to engage with in order to beat Donald Trump. And so, we — you know, everybody who’s going to try and beat Donald Trump despite that needs to make a public commitment now that they’ll hold Vice President Harris accountable, especially during her first hundred days, to stop the weapons from flowing to Netanyahu’s killing spree.