A review of press releases and statements on the websites of Wisconsin Representatives and Senators finds not a single public statement on the Israeli attacks on Gaza, despite the fact that the Israel is the recipient of three billion dollars a year in taxpayer-funded U.S. military aid.
Although Wisconsin representatives understandably focused many of their recent statements and press releases on the current economic crisis and other issues closer to home, our Congressional delegation has not been reluctant to speak out on other foreign policy issues. Senator Russ Feingold, for example, recently highlighted his efforts to call for a cease-fire in the civil war in the Congo – a conflict that the U.S. is not spending billions of dollars to support. A call to Senator Feingold’s Washington office today confirmed that Feingold has issued no statements on the Israeli attacks on Gaza, and the Senator’s staff person was unaware of any plans to issue a statement in the future.
If any of our representatives think that Israel is justified in an attack that has resulted in more than 500 deaths and the bombing of a UN-sponsored school, they should say so. If, on the other hand, they disagree with the Israeli attack, now is the time to speak up. But it is shameful for our elected officials to continue their silence while hundreds of people die under a barrage of U.S.-supplied bombs.
Steve Burns is Program Coordinator for the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.
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