Palestinian lives are more important than reelection of US lawmakers: Analyst

Members of the US Congress should support the Palestinian people and take a stand against Israel and must realize that the lives of millions of people are more important than their reelection, an American author and human rights says.

Rich Forer, the author of the Breakthrough: Transforming Fear into Compassion, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday, commenting on a letter in which US Congresswoman Betty McCollum called on the United States and the world to stop Israel from killing Palestinian children.

"As these killings exemplify, Israel's treatment of Palestinian youth in the Occupied West Bank is unacceptable and must not be tolerated by the US or the international community," the Democratic member of the House of Representatives wrote in a recent letter to the US State Department.

“I want to pay my respect, I want to honor Representative Betty McCollum for coming out and speaking frankly and honestly and humanely about an issue that the United States has been ignoring for decades and that is Israel’s killings and mistreatment and abuse of Palestinian children,” Forer said.

“This is a problem that’s been going on for a long time; it has been reported by human rights groups. And because of the Israel lobby on the American foreign policy and on the US Congress, these kinds of reports and this kind of discussion are rarely ever even mentioned,” he added.

McCollum decided to write the letter to the State Department after meeting with Siam Nawarah, a Palestinian father who has traveled to America in pursuit of justice for his 17-year-old son, Nadeem, who was shot in the chest by Israeli troops last year.

“I congratulate Betty McCollum for having the courage to speak out against the system and a Congress that suppresses any acts of violence by Israel and any inhumanity and anti-democratic policies, and for showing the hypocrisy of that institution,” Forer said. 

“And I hope that the United States would create some momentum for other congressmen to speak out, and finally listen to their conscience instead of listening to the sound of coins jingling, ready to get into their pocket, and help them get reelected,” he stated.

“These Congress people have to realize that the lives of millions of people are more important than whether they are reelected or not. They have to take a stand and do what’s right and stop giving their allegiance to a foreign government that does not have the interests of the United States at heart,” the analyst concluded.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk