Working In A Moral Desert: Muslim & Arab Congressional Staffers ‘Betrayed’ By War-Hungry Democratic Bosses
Capitol Hill support for Israel is manifesting as a refusal to acknowledge the genocidal bloodshed of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink
Every day brings some new confirmation that “my life would not matter to this place if I had been born somewhere else”.
By Molly Redden
HuffPost (11/19/23)
As the death toll climbs from Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the U.S. makes few moves to rein in its closest military ally, one group is saying that it has never felt so invisible.
Muslim and Arab staffers and those whose family come from the region say they are struggling with a gnawing belief that their lives don’t matter to their colleagues. They describe the agony of watching the institution to which they’ve dedicated their career sending military aid amid the killing of thousands of civilians who look like them.
“They have the same faith as us, have the same names as us, a lot of our families live in the region,” one staffer said. “So when we hear that dehumanizing language, it’s dehumanizing us.”
Every day brings some new confirmation that “my life would not matter to this place if I had been born somewhere else,” said another.
“I feel disgusted, abandoned, and, more than anything, I feel betrayed by this country,” the staffer said. They plan to write in the name of someone who was killed instead. “My vote has already been cast.”
Staffers who spoke for this story all requested anonymity because of a pervasive fear of retaliation. They ranged from junior staff to veterans in moderate and progressive offices in the Senate and the House.
Who else can speak up?
A number said they have contemplated quitting. But they questioned who else would speak up for Palestinians as forcefully if they were to leave.
One aide, who broke down in front of their boss, said the congressperson resolved that night to call for a cease-fire. Another described to their boss how frightening it was for their family to visit relatives in the Palestinian territories because of the arbitrariness of the violence there.
“I did it in the hopes it would humanize the issue for him. And I know it reinforced what he was feeling,” the staffer said. Their boss also called for a cease-fire.
But those members are firmly in the minority. …
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