The title of the 116th Congress’ proposed bill H.R.2407 is reminiscent of the question, How long since you stopped beating up your wife? It has so many inherent, incriminating assumptions, it’s too late for you to argue you never beat up anyone and besides, you’re single. Here’s the title: “H.R.2407 – Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act.”
Introduced in the House on April 30, 2019 by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), the bill now enjoys the support of the entire lineup of Democratic crazy-left culture heroines: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Abdullahi Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Pramila Jayapal.
The stated purpose of H. R. 2407 is: “To promote human rights for Palestinian children living under Israeli military occupation and require that United States funds do not support military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children, and for other purposes.”
There are countless international agreements demanding special treatment of children in war time and under military occupation, who are defined as human beings under the age of 18. They must receive special care and special protection. But there’s precious little in the broad available literature that deals with military occupation lasting 52 years, in areas that are crisscrossed by different political authorities. And almost nothing about police treatment of minors who engage in blatant violent behavior, including arson and murder against civilians.
Needless to say, in its current version, H. R. 2407 has nothing to say about these real issues. A combined failure of a succession of Israeli governments to either annex or give up the liberated territories, combined with Israel’s decisions in 1993 and 2005 which culminated in the partial or complete takeover of said territories by gangs of Arab terrorists, has created a sadly inadequate combination of off-the-cuff and contradictory laws and regulations over the treatment of children who seek to kill and/or rob civilians.
The bill opens with a questionable fundamental assumption: “Children are entitled to special protections and due process rights under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, regardless of guilt or innocence or the gravity of an alleged offense.”
Ideally, yes, but does that include children who are in the middle of the commission of violent acts who are, in fact, pursuing their next victim? How should such a “child” be stopped? The IDF rules of engagement have been misinterpreted in both the severe and lenient directions, resulting in the needless death of many civilians, as well as in the needless killing of young persons who clearly should not have been allowed to grab a pair of scissors and go out looking to stab a Jew.
The bill then states as a matter of fact a claim which is at least questionable, if not outright false: “The Government of Israel and its military detains around 500 to 700 Palestinian children between the ages of 12 and 17 each year and prosecutes them before a military court system that lacks basic and fundamental guarantees of due process in violation of international standards.”
The bill then makes crafty use of the fact that Israel has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to bombard the Israeli legal and military system with so much groundless information, it takes one’s breath away. It takes advantage of the inadequacy of Israeli law in an area that should have long ago become part of the State of Israel, with all the obvious legal relief borne by being rid of the questionable application of the Geneva Convention in a situation where it does not and should not apply.
The bill makes ample use of hostile, inaccurate and often misleading reports by Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, UNICEF, the Obama State Dept., to establish a case that easily equates Israel’s rule in Judea and Samaria with the Heart of Darkness in the Congo.
Not to worry, this bill will not come out of committee looking as nasty, and will likely not pass this Congress. But one must be a fool not to recognize that what in the past used to be the voice of the fringiest of far-left fringes now occupies at least a dozen Congressional Democrats – and the number would grow, regardless of who wins the White House next.
And now for the next portion of our nightmare – the list of co-sponsors and their districts:
1. Rep. Pingree, Chellie (D-ME-1)
2. Rep. DeLauro, Rosa L. (D-CT-3)
3. Rep. Beyer, Donald S., Jr. (D-VA-8)
4. Rep. Lee, Barbara (D-CA-13)
5. Rep. Norton, Eleanor Holmes (D-DC-At Large)
6. Rep. Carson, Andre (D-IN-7)
7. Rep. Johnson, Henry C. “Hank,” Jr. (D-GA-4)
8. Rep. Rush, Bobby L. (D-IL-1)
9. Rep. Johnson, Eddie Bernice (D-TX-30)
10. Rep. Clarke, Yvette D. (D-NY-9)
11. Rep. Tlaib, Rashida (D-MI-13)
12. Rep. Pocan, Mark (D-WI-2)
13. Rep. Jayapal, Pramila (D-WA-7)
14. Rep. Omar, Ilhan (D-MN-5)
15. Rep. Garcia, Jesus G. “Chuy” (D-IL-4)
16. Rep. Davis, Danny K. (D-IL-7)
17. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria (D-NY-14)
18. Rep. Pressley, Ayanna (D-MA-7)