Congress members start anonymous dissent page against US Gaza policy
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The forum, called the Congressional Dissent Channel, is modeled after the State Department’s dissent channel for Foreign Service officers, according to organizers.
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Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla. talks to Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., during a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Capitol in Washington, July 24, 2024. (AP)
At least a dozen junior staff members in Congress intensified their protests on Sunday night when they launched a website that allows them and other like-minded individuals to openly publish anonymous memoranda that criticize US policy regarding "Israel" and the war on Gaza, including the views of their own superiors, without fear of reprisal.
The forum, called the Congressional Dissent Channel, is modeled after the State Department’s dissent channel for Foreign Service officers, according to organizers. That channel was established throughout the Vietnam War, an additional war that sparked deep political rifts in the US and inspired a protest movement, especially among youth.
However, the new website is the exact opposite of that channel, which was a classified internal government system where publicly-identified writers offer opposing viewpoints that are carefully and confidentially distributed. It is a public forum where congressional aides can remain anonymous and expose internal conflict within their offices.
Read more: Fact-check: Netanyahu lies about Gaza in Congress speech
It is being made by the same group of staff aides who planned an anonymous flower vigil outside the Capitol in November to demand a ceasefire and who led a pro-Palestinian staff walkout on Capitol Hill last week when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to a joint meeting of Congress.
Just five days ago, US Congressman Jamaal Bowman wrote in The Guardian about his outrage ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress on Wednesday.
Bowman said the US and the federal government feed on presenting themselves as world leaders in human rights, diplomacy, and peace, affirming that they want to be viewed by the world as collaborators and coalition builders, coming together to find solutions to global issues.
But with hosting Netanyahu, Bowman asked, "... how do we want to be represented on the global stage? What do we stand for as a nation if we are inviting an accused war criminal to address a joint session of Congress as he inflicts collective punishment on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children? Platforming a war criminal should not be our answer."
Bowman noted, "Our system is broken if our leaders choose to ignore the will of the people. We should all be outraged about the murder of children, whether at home or abroad. We should all be yelling in the halls of Congress until our leaders have no choice but to listen."
He concluded his piece by calling for a permanent ceasefire and the release of the captives, stressing that criticizing "a state or a leader does not make you antisemitic."
