Isaac Yu Photo
Tuesday’s protest outside DeLauro’s office.
Two dozen protesters picketed outside U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s Elm Street office late Tuesday afternoon to protest her stance on U.S.-Israel relations.
“Hey DeLauro, shame on you! Children die because of you!” they shouted while waving banners and signs in the pouring rain.
The rally supported a bill before Congress, H.R. 2590, titled “Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act.” Co-sponsored by 27 Democratic House members, the resolution aims to block U.S. aid to the Israeli government from being used in activities that mistreat Palestinian minors, destroy or seize Palestinian property, or seize Palestinian territory in violation of international law. Sponsors seek annual oversight reports to Congress on the use of funds
The bill was introduced in mid-April and is currently being considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, of which Rep. DeLauro is not a member.
Groups represented on Tuesday evening included the local chapters of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) and Jewish Voice for Peace. After hearing several impassioned speeches, protesters marched along Orange, Grove, and Temple streets, getting drenched along the way. Chants filling the air faulted the representative for human rights abuses against Palestinian children, casting a contrast to her success this year in shepherding a U.S. child-tax credit to passage earlier this year.
The “loose coalition” of 20 protesters began organizing after Nika Zarazvand, a former president of the Students for Justice in Palestine at Yale, received a statement on June 3 from DeLauro’s office after sending an email in support of H.R. 2590.
“I appreciate hearing from you and agree, we cannot support policies that ignore the rights of the Palestinians,” DeLauro’s statement began. “I do not believe conditioning our security assistance to our principal allies, like Israel, serves our national security.”
Despite not supporting the bill, the statement went on to promise that the representative would use her chairpersonship on the House Appropriations Committee to prevent U.S. funds from being used to support occupation.
Protesters on Orange Street.
“I recently signed a letter that calls for the release of tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians who are rebuilding their lives in the wake of the violence. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made clear that Hamas and other terrorist groups will not benefit from our humanitarian assistance. Hamas commits war crimes when it targets Israeli cities and civilians and must be condemned. But, the more than 250 civilians killed were overwhelmingly Palestinians,” DeLauro wrote. “I thank President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken for calling on both sides to end the violence and conveying that indiscriminate evictions only served to inflame tensions, not quell the riots and violence. We must get humanitarian aid to Gaza, we must prioritize a two-state solution and we must respect the Palestinians.”
DeLauro’s letter did not satisfy activists.
“Shame!” shouted organizer Francesca Maviglia. “I want everyone to focus on the hypocrisy in saying that she will use her position on the Appropriations Committee to make sure the U.S.A. does not support the occupation, but refusing to support the one bill that would create the most minimal limits for the U.S. backing of Israel.”
Criticism on Tuesday was directed towards a number of political figures, including U.S. Rep. John Larson, Sen. Richard Blumenthal and President Biden. But protestors’ frustration was clearly being channeled at DeLauro.
“I heard she was a fighter back in the day,” Maviglia said.
A spokesperson for Rep. DeLauro did not respond to requests for comment at time of publication.
Shelly Altman (pictured), who chairs New Haven’s chapter of Jewish Voice of Peace, condemned ongoing removal of Palestinians from the neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan.
“Right now, there is no accountability. What national security interest is served by throwing families out of their homes and their neighborhoods and then denying them the right to remain or return?”
Judy Alperin, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, argued in a separate interview that H.R. 2590 “unfairly villainizes” the Israeli government.
“No government should harm children,” Alperin told the Independent over the phone. “But this act is redundant in terms of international law. It seeks to remove funding that the U.S. provides Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East. Any minor in any country should be treated fairly, but this bill isn’t the way to go about it.”