Sharon Zhang
Truthout / September 19, 2024
“Let’s be clear. A vote for this bill would further support the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” said Rashida Tlaib.
The House passed a bill on Wednesday to label products from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as originating from “Israel,” essentially recognizing Israel’s annexation and ethnic cleansing of the region in what opponents of the bill say is a “hateful” attempt to erase the very existence of Palestinians in Palestine.
The bill would make permanent an extremist Donald Trump-era policy to mislabel products from Palestine. Under the proposal, products from areas encompassing the majority of the West Bank would be labelled as a “Product of Israel” or “Made in Israel.”
Meanwhile, the bill would also mandate that products from the occupied West Bank and Gaza no longer be labelled in conjunction as being from “West Bank/Gaza” or “West Bank and Gaza” — a labelling scheme recognizing their unity as Palestine — but rather, be labelled only as being from the “West Bank” or “Gaza.”
The bill is a way to advance the U.S.’s recognition of Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, even as the occupation and states’ recognition of it has been declared illegal by the International Court of Justice; even the bill’s title, the Anti-BDS Labelling Act, referring to the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, takes a swat at advocates for Palestinian rights.
When the Trump policy was announced by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020, it was considered by some to be even more extreme than Israel’s own stances in advancing its annexation of the West Bank at the time. Now, it has taken a step toward becoming permanent U.S. law.
The bill passed 231 to 189, with 16 Democrats joining Republicans in voting “yes.” The Democrats who voted in favour represent some of the most extremist pro-Israel Democrats in the House, as well as some of the most conservative in the caucus, including Representatives Ritchie Torres (New York) and Josh Gottheimer (New Jersey).
The bill is the latest move by Congress to erode Palestinian rights and grant power to Israel as it carries out massive attacks in Lebanon, an assault of the occupied West Bank, and a genocide in Gaza.
“Let’s be clear. A vote for this bill would further support the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. A ‘yes’ vote for this bill is erasing the existence of Palestinians,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) in a speech on the House floor ahead of the bill’s passage. “Yeah, that’s right — Palestinians also have a right to exist.”
Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, noted that conservative members of Congress have been concertedly stoking hatred against Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians — including in a hearing on Tuesday in which Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) parroted racist talking points and told an Arab American expert who was testifying, Maya Berry, that she deserved to “hide [her] head in a bag.”
“The provisions of this bill, Mr. Speaker, has hateful and discriminatory implications,” said Tlaib. “We must stand against it and vote no.”
The bill, if passed, would also make it harder for advocates for Palestinian rights to support Palestinian-made products and boycott Israeli-made ones. “You should have the right to know whether a product is made in an illegal Israeli settlement before you buy it,” wrote the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project.
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labour
