U.S. Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN) has proposed a bill, H.R. 2407, that would ban Israel from using any U.S. military funds to pay for the “detention, interrogation, abuse or ill-treatment of Palestinian children, and for other purposes,” as the text in the bill summary reads.
The bill proposes the implementation of the “Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act.”
U.S. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) voiced support for the bill earlier this month.
According to the text of the bill, “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 goes on to claim the IDF arrests and prosecutes “500 to 700 Palestinian” so-called “children” between the ages of 12 and 17 each year, and that Israel subjects these so-called “children” to “coercive interrogation, physical violence, and trials in military courts that lack basic guarantees of due process.”
In a statement Wednesday, McCollum said “Israel’s system of military juvenile detention is state-sponsored child abuse designed to intimidate and terrorize Palestinian children and their families. It must be condemned, but it is equally outrageous that U.S. tax dollars in the form of military aid to Israel are permitted to sustain what is clearly a gross human rights violation against children.”
The bill also claims there are two separate legal systems being applied in Judea and Samaria, with Israeli settlers living under “Israeli civilian law” and Palestinian Authority Arabs living under “Israeli military law.”
Somehow, it seems to have escaped the notice of the Congresswoman that the Palestinian Authority is a functioning legal entity with its own set of laws, and in fact works together hand-in-hand with Israel’s military to prevent the region from falling into total chaos. Palestinian Authority law is applied to Palestinian Authority citizens – another fact that seems to have been conveniently ignored by McCollum.
Or perhaps she simply doesn’t recognize the legitimacy of the Ramallah government?
McCollum also quoted the anti-Zionist B’Tselem, and affidavits from the NGO ‘Defense for Children International Palestine’ – which is reported to be a “terrorist-linked NGO” according to the UK Lawyers for Israel organization (UKLFI).
The UKLFI has said the group is no longer able to receive donations in U.S. Dollars, Euros and Pound sterling via bank transfers from Citibank and Arab Bank due to the exposure of its connections with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist group.
“Like its predecessor, this bill is based entirely on the false claims of NGOs. Foremost is Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), whose U.S. bank account was shut down due to its connections to the PFLP terrorist organization,” said a spokesperson for NGO Monitor.
“It is absurd that a group with ties to terror has been lobbying Congress and writing legislation that would provide it with US taxpayer funding.”