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Progressive US ‘Squad’ Lawmakers Condemn Israel’s Strikes Against Hezbollah, Silent on Nasrallah Assassination
US Reps Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) hold a news conference after Democrats in the US Congress moved to formally condemn President Donald Trump’s attacks on the four minority congresswomen on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, July 15, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Erin Scott.
The most vocal critics of Israel in the US Congress have been silent on the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a notorious terrorist committed to the Jewish state’s destruction.
Members of the so-called “Squad” — a coalition of lawmakers with progressive policy positions on issues ranging from economics to foreign affairs — have not issued statements responding to the death of Nasrallah. However, these lawmakers — including Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib (MI), Ilhan Omar (MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Cori Bush (MO), Jamaal Bowman (NY), Summer Lee (PA), and Ayanna Pressley (MA)— have repeatedly ripped Israel over its defensive military operations against the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon. Many of them have also called for an arms embargo to be placed on Israel amid its military operations against both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Both Islamist terrorist organizations are backed by Iran, which provides them with weapons, funding, and training.
Beyond not directly addressing Nasrallah’s killing in an Israeli airstrike last week in their statements, the lawmakers also did not respond to requests for comment on his death and their silence on it.
Tlaib, the sole Palestinian American woman in Congress, has accused Israel of waging an “indiscriminate” bombing campaign in Lebanon. She slammed Israel for supposedly “expanding” its “genocidal campaign” from Gaza into Lebanon. Tlaib wrote that “the US government are conspirators to the war criminal Netanyahu’s genocidal plan,” referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and urged the Biden administration to place an arms blockade on the Jewish state.
However, the anti-Israel firebrand did not mention the Jewish state’s successful elimination of Nasrallah.
Meanwhile, Omar issued a statement condemning Israel’s strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, arguing that they serve to escalate tensions within the region. She similarly urged the Biden administration to withhold arms from Israel, accusing the Jewish state of recklessly endangering civilian lives. Omar, like her progressive contemporaries, did not mention Hezbollah’s repeated attacks against Israel that prompted the Israeli strikes. She also did not mention Israel’s successful assassination of several Hezbollah high-ranking officials, including Nasrallah.
“It is imperative we use every single tool to de-escalate tensions. Just as President Biden stated, a ‘full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest.’ A full-scale war would have catastrophic implications for everyone, especially for Lebanese and Israeli civilians who would bear the brunt of this war and dramatically increase the risk of regional conflict involving the United States,” Omar wrote. “If we are serious about preventing the escalation of this conflict, we must use our leverage to cut off military aid to stop the violence both in Lebanon and Gaza. We cannot continue to stand idly by while innocent civilians are being bombarded with our tax dollars.”
Pressley, a congresswoman who has accused Israel of enacting “apartheid” against Palestinians, has not mentioned the death of the Hezbollah leader either. However, she has repeatedly condemned the Israeli military operations against the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group. Comparing Lebanon to Gaza, she urged the US federal government to prevent the Jewish state from prosecuting its war against Hezbollah.
“Israel’s indiscriminate bombing, forced displacement, & war crimes in Gaza have been beyond devastating. This must not be repeated in Lebanon. We must de-escalate and the US must stop sending offensive weapons,” Pressley posted on social media.
However, on Tuesday, in the immediate aftermath of Iran attacking Israel with a barrage of missiles, Pressley accused the Jewish state of exacerbating tensions in the Middle East by dismantling Hezbollah.
“Netanyahu’s invasion of Lebanon is putting millions of people at risk, forcing thousands to be displaced, and inciting a regional war. The escalating violence must end. In Lebanon, in Gaza, and across the region,” Pressley wrote.
Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most steadfast opponents of the Jewish state in Congress, has also not issued a statement on the killing of Nasrallah. However, Ocasio-Cortez criticized the recent attack on communications devices used by Hezbollah terrorists for “seriously injuring and killing innocent civilians.” Israel is widely believed to be behind the operation, although Jerusalem has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility. The congresswoman did not mention that the pager attack primarily harmed Hezbollah members.
“This attack clearly and unequivocally violates international humanitarian law and undermines US efforts to prevent a wider conflict,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
Meanwhile, Lee warned that Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah could trigger a “regional escalation of war.” She cautioned that Americans could be “dragged into another endless war abroad” and urged the US to implement an “arms embargo now.”
Bush and Bowman also made no official statements regarding the death of Nasrallah. However, each one condemned Israel’s military operations against Hezbollah.
“A ceasefire and arms embargo are urgently needed to end the violence & save lives. By failing on both fronts and sending additional troops to the Middle East, the Biden Administration is further fueling more death & destruction. Our communities do not want more endless wars,” Bush wrote.
Bowman accused Israel of arbitrarily “terrorizing” the civilians of Lebanon. The congressman notably did not mention Hezbollah.
“Israel’s playbook is all too familiar: indiscriminate bombing and widespread civilian carnage. Reports are emerging that Israel is considering a full-scale ground invasion of Lebanon. This is unacceptable,” Bowman wrote.
Bush and Bowman, two of the most virulently anti-Israel forces in Congress, lost their recent primary campaigns in races heavily defined by their opposition to the Jewish state.
Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets, missiles, and drones at northern Israel almost daily following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists on the Jewish state’s southern region. Since then, both sides have been exchanging fire constantly while avoiding a major escalation as war rages in Gaza to the south.
About 80,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate their homes in northern Israel and flee to other parts of the country amid the unrelenting attacks from Hezbollah.
Israel began a blistering campaign against Hezbollah two weeks ago, launching a wave of airstrikes that have crippled the Iran-backed terrorist group’s leadership. Many observes believe Israel wants to establish a demilitarized buffer zone between the Jewish state and Lebanon, aiming to decrease violence from non-state actors such as Hezbollah.
The post Progressive US ‘Squad’ Lawmakers Condemn Israel’s Strikes Against Hezbollah, Silent on Nasrallah Assassination first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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American Historical Association Vetoes Defaming Anti-Israel Resolution
Pro-Hamas activists gather in Washington Square Park for a rally following a protest march held in response to an NYPD sweep of an anti-Israel encampment at New York University in Manhattan, May 3, 2024. Photo: Matthew Rodier/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
The American Historical Association (AHA) has vetoed a controversial resolution, passed by its members earlier this month, which falsely accused Israel of sabotaging the higher education system in Gaza during its war to eradicate the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the resolution — titled, “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza” — cited damages sustained by education institutions and loss of life, but rather than describing those misfortunes as inevitable consequences of a protracted war that Hamas started by launching a surprise massacre of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023, it argued that Israel’s aim was to murder educators and erase Palestinian history and culture.
The measure was, according to numerous groups which commented on it, intemperate and needlessly political, reducing the AHA to a manufacturer of political conformity. On Thursday, the AHA Council, the primary governing body of the organization, addressed that concern in a statement which announced its vetoing of the resolution and stressed the limits of its institutional mission.
“The Council considers the [resolution] … to contravene the Association’s Constitution because it lies outside the scope of the association’s mission and purpose, defined in its Constitution as ‘the promotion of historical studies through the encouragement of research teaching and publication; the collection and preservation of historical documents and artifacts; the dissemination of historical records and information; the broadening of historical knowledge among the general public; and the pursuit of kindred activities in the interest of history,’” the statement said.
It continued, “After careful deliberation and consideration, the AHA Council vetoes the resolution.”
AHA was subject to a flurry of criticism after the resolution passed, with organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) calling on it to reverse course and protect its reputation as a “respected source for evidence-based, nonpartisan historical perspectives for more than a century.” Meanwhile, the National Association of Scholars (NAS), a higher education nonprofit which promotes intellectual freedom and the restoration of academic standards, argued that the resolution was “disgraceful for its unwillingness to state forthrightly Hamas’s culpability for the indeed lamentable destruction of Gaza’s educational infrastructure.”
On Friday, the ADL said “we welcome” the veto of the resolution, adding that it “would not only alienate many members but also deviate from the [its] core purpose and undermine the AHA’s credibility.”
The AHA is not the first professional association for academics to have endorsed partisan attacks on Israel.
In August, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued a statement which endorsed academic boycotts, a seismic decision which overturned decades of policy and cleared the way for scholar-activists to escalate their efforts to purge the university of Zionism and educational partnerships with Israel.
The previous year, members of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) overwhelmingly voted to approve a resolution calling for a full academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions. With the resolution’s approval, the AAA, established in 1902 and based in Arlington, Virginia, became the first major academic professional association to endorse the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel since the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) did in 2022.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Trump Sworn In a Second Time, Says He Was ‘Saved by God’ to Rescue America
Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th US President in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, on Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: SAUL LOEB/Pool via REUTERS
Donald Trump pledged to rescue America from what he described as years of betrayal and decline in his inaugural address on Monday, prioritizing a crackdown on illegal immigration and portraying himself as a national savior chosen by God.
“First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” he said. “All illegal entry will be immediately halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”
The speech echoed many of the themes he sounded at his first inauguration in 2017 when he spoke of the “American carnage” of crime and job loss that he said had ravaged the country.
Trump, 78, took the oath of office to “preserve, protect, and defend” the US Constitution at 12:01 pm ET (1701 GMT) inside the US Capitol, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. His vice president, JD Vance, was sworn in just before him.
Trump will be the first felon to occupy the White House after a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star.
Trump intends to sign a raft of executive actions in his first hours as president, incoming White House officials said on Monday, including 10 focused on border security and immigration, his top priority.
In addition to declaring an emergency, the president will send armed troops there and resume a policy forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their US court dates, officials told reporters.
He will also seek to end so-called birthright citizenship for US-born children whose parents lack legal status, a move some legal scholars have said would be unconstitutional.
The inauguration completes a triumphant comeback for a political disruptor who survived two impeachment trials, a felony conviction, two assassination attempts, and an indictment for attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss.
“The journey to reclaim our republic has not been an easy one, that I can tell you,” Trump said, before referring to the assassin’s bullet that grazed his ear in July. “I was saved by God to make America great again.”
The ceremony was moved inside the Capitol due to the cold, four years after a mob of Trump supporters breached the building, a symbol of American democracy, in an unsuccessful effort to forestall Trump‘s loss to Democrat Joe Biden, 82.
Biden and outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, were on hand inside the Capitol’s Rotunda, along with former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, arrived with her husband Bill, but Obama’s wife, Michelle, chose not to attend.
Numerous tech executives who have sought to curry favor with the incoming administration — including the three richest men in the world: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — had prominent seats on stage, next to cabinet nominees and members of Trump‘s family.
Trump, the first US president since the 19th century to win a second term after losing the White House, has said he would pardon “on Day One” many of the more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. He skipped Biden’s inauguration and has continued to claim falsely that the 2020 election he lost to Biden was rigged.
Biden, in one of his last official acts, pardoned several people whom Trump has targeted for retaliation, including former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, former Republican US Representative Liz Cheney, and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley.
Trump will restore the federal death penalty, which Biden had suspended, and require that official US documents such as passports reflect citizens’ gender as assigned at birth, incoming administration officials told reporters.
They said he will also sign an order ending diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the federal government on Monday, which is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday in memory of America’s most famous civil rights leader.
But Trump will not immediately impose new tariffs on Monday, instead directing federal agencies to evaluate trade relationships with Canada, China, and Mexico, a Trump official said, an unexpected development that unleashed a broad slide in the US dollar and a rally in global stock markets on a day when US financial markets are closed.
Some of the executive orders are likely to face legal challenges.
Even as he prepared to retake office, Trump continued to expand his business ventures, raising billions in market value by launching a “meme coin” crypto token over the weekend that prompted ethical and regulatory questions.
Earlier Trump and incoming first lady Melania Trump arrived at the White House, where Biden and outgoing first lady Jill Biden greeted them with handshakes.
“Welcome home,” Biden said.
DISRUPTIVE FORCE
As he did in 2017, Trump enters office as a chaotic and disruptive force, vowing to remake the federal government and expressing deep skepticism about the US-led alliances that have shaped post-World War Two global politics.
The former president returns to Washington emboldened after winning the national popular vote over Harris by more than 2 million votes thanks to a groundswell of voter frustration over persistent inflation, though he still fell just short of a 50 percent majority.
In 2016, Trump won the Electoral College — and the presidency — despite receiving nearly 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.
Trump, who surpassed Biden as the oldest president ever to be sworn into office, will enjoy Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress that have been almost entirely purged of any intra-party dissenters. His advisers have outlined plans to replace nonpartisan bureaucrats with hand-picked loyalists.
Even before taking office, Trump established a rival power center in the weeks after his election victory, meeting world leaders and causing consternation by musing aloud about seizing the Panama Canal, taking control of NATO ally Denmark’s territory of Greenland, and imposing tariffs on the biggest US trading partners.
His influence has already been felt in the Israel-Hamas announcement last week of a ceasefire deal. Trump, whose envoy joined the negotiations in Qatar, had warned of “hell to pay” if Hamas did not release its hostages before the inauguration.
Unlike in 2017, when he filled many top jobs with institutionalists, Trump has prioritized fealty in nominating a bevy of controversial cabinet picks, some of whom are outspoken critics of the agencies they have been tapped to lead.
The inauguration took place amid heavy security after a campaign highlighted by an increase in political violence that included two assassination attempts against Trump, including one in which a bullet grazed his ear.
The traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House will now take place indoors at the Capital One Arena, where Trump held his victory rally on Sunday. Trump will also attend three inaugural balls in the evening.
Some diehard Trump followers slept in the street in frigid conditions to make sure they were in line to get a seat at the arena.
A desk and chair sat on the stage, where Trump was expected to sign some of his first executive orders in front of his supporters before heading to the White House.
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British, Israeli Soccer Teams Celebrate Return of Hamas Hostage, Sports Fan Emily Damari
Released British-Israeli hostage Emily Damari arrives at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, after being held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, in this image obtained by Reuters on Jan. 19, 2025. Photo: Maayan Toaf/GPO/Handout via REUTERS
The English Premier League soccer team Tottenham Spurs and the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team in Israel celebrated the return home of British-Israeli dual citizen Emily Damari as one of the three civilian hostages who were released from Hamas captivity on Sunday as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and the terrorist organization.
Damari, a 28-year-old passionate Tottenham supporter, as well as Nova music festival survivor Romi Gonen, 23, and veterinary nurse Doron Steinbrecher, 30, returned to Israel on Sunday morning after being abducted more than 15 months ago during the Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Damari, the only British hostage still in captivity, and Steinbrecher were both kidnapped from their homes in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
On Sunday, the official account on X for Tottenham supporters in Israel shared a photo of Damari and the caption read, “Emily is coming home TODAY! #ShesOneOfOurOwn.” At several soccer matches since Damari’s abduction, fans of the north London team have chanted “Emily Damari, she’s one of our own, she’s one of our own, Emily Damari, bring her home.”
Former Tottenham player Ramon Vega also shared his excitement about Damari’s return. After Tottenham loss to Everton 3-2 on Sunday, the 53-year-old Swiss soccer player wrote on X: “At least one positive thought today from the Spurs family! Welcome home, Emily. COYS Spurs!”
At least one positive thought today from the Spurs family! Welcome home, Emily. COYS Spurs! https://t.co/i1E9PecY5w
— Ramon Vega (@Ramon_Vega71) January 19, 2025
Tottenham fans have shown solidarity with Damari many times since she was kidnapped in 2023. They released yellow balloons in her honor, hung posters about her, and tied hundreds of yellow ribbons around the team’s home stadium. Last week, Arsenal and Tottenham fans united in support of Damari at the north London derby.
Maccabi Tel Aviv additionally celebrated Damari’s return home on Sunday. “Our Emily is back home!” the team wrote in a Hebrew-language post on Instagram. “We waited and prayed for 471 days for your return and today the heart is filled with happiness that you are back with us together with Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbercher.” Former Maccabi Tel Aviv player Yonatan Cohen, who now plays for the Australian team Melbourne City, also commented on Damari’s return in a Hebrew-language post on Instagram and revealed that he has been in contact with her family since her abduction.
“After the cursed day of October 7, when Emily was taken, her family reached out to me and told me about her — her joy for life, her strength, and the light she brought everywhere she went. Her story deeply touched me, and since that day, I’ve been in regular contact with her family. Emily has been on my mind constantly,” he wrote on Instagram. “For every match, in every stadium, I wore a shirt with her picture on it, and I prayed every day that she would return to her beloved family. With every goal and every happy moment, I wished in my heart for her to smile her big smile again. When we moved to Australia, I packed her shirt with me, and I’ve been waiting ever since for the day she would become a symbol of our victory.”
“Emily’s touching comeback, full of pride and joy, is not just a victory for her family and the people of Israel — it is a victory of faith and of hope, that the good will always win,” Cohen added. “Emily and family, today I’m excited to send you a strong hug from afar and wish you to quickly return to normal, wrapped in the warmth and love of your family and relatives. I’m already waiting to see each other when I get back to Israel. You are our victory!”
The Israeli soccer team Hapoel Haifa shared several messages on social media celebrating the return of the three hostages with special attention given to Gonen, an avid fan of the team who they’ve honored in previous matches. Hapoel Haifa team members and its coach recorded a personal video message for Gonen, welcoming her back home. They also offered her free season tickets and a shirt bearing her name. Hapoel Haifa said that on Monday, before its match against M.S. Ashdod, it will hold a ceremony to celebrate the return of the three hostages.
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