 In a 398 to 17 vote, the House just passed an anti-Palestinian, anti-BDS resolution. And these types of resolutions and anti-BDS bills, they keep coming up. They won't go away. You defeat one, another one pops up. And this is just the latest attempt to silence people who speak out against the numerous human rights abuses of Israel. So this is just a constant battle and it will continue to be a constant battle for the foreseeable future. And let me remind you that this resolution comes at a time when members of Congress should be standing up for freedom of speech because 27 states have already enacted anti-BDS legislation and about a dozen other states are currently considering anti-BDS legislation. So let's go ahead and call this what it is. This is a crackdown on the First Amendment because the government does not get to tell me what types of protests in political speech I am or am not allowed to engage in. But what do these types of BDS laws look like in practice? Well one teacher from Texas was fired because she refused to sign a pro-Israel anti-BDS loyalty pledge. I love my job a lot and I've always wanted to be in a job that was in the service field because I know I'm making a difference. This year I got a new contract with new compliances and I came across one that shocked me. The point of boycotting any products that supports Israel is to put pressure on the Israeli government to change its treatment, the inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people. Having grown up as a Palestinian I know firsthand the oppression and the struggle that Palestinians face on a daily basis. You know I have to set an example for my kids, we've got to stand up for what's the justice and for right and equal opportunity for everybody and humane conditions. And so for me it was an easy decision in that aspect so I could not sign it. I was forced to depart from my job because I will not sign it and I cannot return back if I don't sign it. I have been here in the States for over 30 years. I'm an American citizen, I follow the law and so I have a luxury of having these rights which many people in other countries do not have. It infringed on all my principles and on top of that my right to speech and also right to protest. It's baffling that they can throw this down our throats you know and decide to protect another country's economy versus protect our constitutional rights. I knew that I had to do something because I knew it was going to affect more than just me it may affect also my kids so I knew that something had to be done and I couldn't just let it pass by. This is happening in America she lost her job because she refused to sign a pledge committing to not engage in any BDS related political activity. I mean this is one of the biggest attacks on free speech in recent history where's all the free speech warriors and this passed overwhelmingly again which is the worst aspect about this so we need people in Congress to speak out against these types of efforts to silence criticism of Israel but we have basically no one. Now we're going to get to who did and did not vote for this because there were 17 people that voted against this but some people who voted for this might actually surprise you. Now this is such a brazen attack on free speech that three federal courts thus far have ruled that these types of laws do in fact violate the First Amendment but Congress they have the chance to lead on this issue and protect free speech after one state after another after another have continued to strip away First Amendment protections but they failed miserably to do that today. Now the reason why BDS is so crucial is because how else are we going to put pressure on Israel this is a peaceful form of protest. It's nonviolent and clearly it's effective because Israel doesn't want any other country to engage in BDS. It's a reason why APEC is trying to scramble to get all lawmakers on board to shut down this movement because obviously it's effective boycotting actually works because if you put economic pressure on a country who is in a position of power who basically controls whether or not their will or won't be peace that actually can affect change but unfortunately not very many people in Congress are willing to actually stand up for what's right and speak out and you know be on the right side of history and what's interesting is that right before the House passed this resolution Israel just demolished 70 Palestinian apartments in East Jerusalem which was condemned by the UN in France but rather than standing up and affirming that American citizens have the right to join Palestinians and peacefully resist the illegal Israeli occupation and modern day apartheid our government chose to do the opposite. They chose to say no actually if you want to participate in BDS which is basically the only thing that will be conducive to peace since everything else has failed. We are going to move to punish you now this is just a resolution it's not a bill but still everything matters you are now on the record if you voted for this as being against free speech and taking the stand of the oppressor and abandoning the oppressed. Now for more details on this we go to Katie Agoba and Addie Barrett of BuzzFeed News who write the measure House Resolution 246 opposes efforts to delegitimize the state of Israel and the global boycott divestment and sanctions movement targeting Israel according to the bill's text BDS a movement which began in 2005 calls for groups to apply economic pressure to Israel to achieve Palestinian independence in the Middle East. The Senate passed a similar bill amid concerns that the legislation violates the First Amendment. The bill passed the House Tuesday 398 to 17 with five members voting present to abstain from the vote 16 Democrats opposed the bill including Omar and Tlaib just one Republican voted against the measure representative Thomas Massey. Two weeks ago Tlaib the first Palestinian American woman in Congress took the Twitter to denounce the resolution saying it silences the opposition to Israel's blatantly racist policies that demonizes both Palestinians and Ethiopians Omar agrees. The first year Congresswoman unsuccessfully tried to quell the resolution before the foreign affairs committee of which she is a member last week and then introduced her own resolution to defend the pro-Palestinian movement while her resolution doesn't mention BDS Israel or Palestine explicitly it states that the House affirms that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad as protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution Omar's office said in a statement. In a statement on Twitter Tuesday the Palestinian BDS National Committee called the bill a McCarthyite anti-Palestinian measure that is based on lies and aims to demonize peaceful resistance to Israel's military occupation and apartheid. Representative Grihalva one of the Democrats who opposed the bill Tuesday night said he voted against it because of my constant and very strong belief in free will expression. You know this is not the first time I've taken that vote. Now on the House floor Rashida Tlaib who as the article mentions is a Palestinian American one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress spoke out and I wanted to share what she had to say because she makes some very poignant and important points here. I stand before you as the granddaughter of Palestinian grandmother my city who yearns to experience equality human dignity and freedom. I stand before you the daughter of Palestinian immigrants parents who experience being stripped of their human rights the right to freedom of travel equal treatment. So I can't stand by and watch this attack on our freedom of speech and the right to boycott the racist policies of the government in the state of Israel. I love our country's freedom of speech Madam Speaker. Descent is how we nurture democracy and grow to be better and more humane and just and this is why I oppose resolution 243. All Americans have a right a constitutional right guaranteed by the First Amendment to freedom of speech to petition their government and to participate in boycotts. Speech in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad is protected by our First Amendment that is one reason why our First Amendment is so powerful with a few exceptions the government is simply not allowed to discriminate against speech based on its viewpoint or its speaker. The right to boycott is deeply rooted in the fabric of our country. What was the Boston Tea Party but a boycott where would we be now without the boycott led by civil rights activist in the 1950s and 60s like the Montgomery bus boycott and the United Farm workers great boycott. Some of this country's most important advances in racial equality and equity and workers rights has been achieved through collective action protected by our Constitution. Americans of conscience have long and proud history of participating in boycotts specifically to advocate for human rights abroad. Americans boycotted Nazi Germany in response to dehumanization imprisonment and genocide of Jewish people. In the 1980s many of us in this very body boycotted South African goods in the fight against apartheid. Our right to free speech is being threatened with this resolution. This sets a dangerous precedent because it attempts to de-diligimize a certain people's political speech and to send a message that our government can and will take action against speech it doesn't like. Madam Speaker the Supreme Court has time and time again recognized that expressive conduct is protected by the Constitution. From burning a flag to baking a cake efforts to restrict and target that protected speech run the risk of eroding the civil rights that form the foundation of our democracy. All Americans have the right to participate in boycotts and I oppose all legislative efforts that target speech. Our I urge Congress state governments and civil rights leaders from all communities to preserve our Constitution preserve our Bill of Rights and preserve the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech by opposing Hres 246 and the boycott anti boycott efforts wherever they rise. So everything that she said there is common sense if you're progressive this is a no brainer this is one of the easiest issues. Of course you stand up for freedom of speech and the First Amendment and you stand up for Palestinians and their allies who want to peacefully assemble in order to fight oppression. So let's get to the vote now who voted correctly who voted against this anti BDS resolution. Well predictably many progressives did in fact do the right thing that includes Raul Grijalva Pramila Jayapal Barbara Lee Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Ilhan Omar Rashida Tlaib and Mark Pocan. So those are the progressives that voted correctly but as I stated earlier not everyone voted the right way. Now again I want to emphasize that this shouldn't be difficult. It's not difficult. This is easy. This is one of the easiest votes of your career theoretically speaking. If you are for free speech and against modern day apartheid then you vote no on this resolution but there were several progressives who got this wrong and that includes Ro Khanna Ayanna Presley and Tulsi Gabbard. Now it also includes Katie Porter but I don't personally know enough about her to deduce you know whether or not she's progressive or not but she still messed up so it's disgusting but I mean I don't understand how if you are Ro Khanna Ayanna Presley and Tulsi Gabbard you can get this wrong. Tulsi Gabbard is running for president as the peace candidate. Do you honestly believe that peace is even possible without a peaceful movement like BDS? How are you going to achieve peace when Israel has said no I am not going to go back to the 1967 borders in fact we're going to take more land from Palestinians illegally even if the UN condemns us while the United States says that we can do it and they have the biggest military so what are you going to do about it? How is peace achievable Tulsi? If you don't support BDS do you have a solution? Because you haven't come up with one yet Ro Khanna he has been leading the charge to stop us from giving weapons to Saudi Arabia which means that we have been complicit in the genocide that they're carrying out in Yemen. So he seems to care about human rights but yet he decided to vote in a way that was basically a slap in the face to everyone who's speaking out in favor of Palestinians and speaking out against Israel's genocide and Ayanna Presley she's new in Congress but you know being a member of the squad she should side with people from her squad AOC to leave and Omar made the right decision but Ayanna Presley from the beginning she was someone who I kept that distance right she's progressive it seems like she had a change of heart but back in 2016 she was arguing that Hillary Clinton was progressive. I am an unapologetic progressive I know what a progressive looks like and I know what they do and you cannot do in three days or thirty days with Secretary Clinton has been doing for thirty years she is a progressive. So that was a big red flag and now she kind of proved here maybe I'm not the real deal maybe I'm not as progressive as my fellow squad members unbelievable for people who have been consistently progressive to vote this way is just it's bizarre right how could you do something like this and betray the people who you purport to represent in such a brazen way. So let me go to their responses and then all kind of pontificate a little bit more because I called them out on Twitter and I asked why these progressives chose to side with centrist Democrats and Republicans. Rokana actually responded saying I respect what people want to do nothing in the resolution infringes on anyone's first amendment rights I do not believe BDS given the economic ties with Israel is practical or would lead to peace that's a joke I will continue to speak out against new settlements and for Palestinian human rights and then Ayanna Presley responded to someone else's criticism saying there are a lot of anti BDS bills out there that infringe on first amendment rights at the state and federal level in my view house resolution 246 wasn't one of them what I heard resounding in my community was that voting yes on this resolution affirmed to my constituents raised in the Jewish faith Israel's right to exist a view I share as a supporter of a two state solution now I don't get that line about you know Israel's right to exist they exist they're a state they're recognized so what more do you want this is just these are not good explanations now at the time I'm recording this Tulsi Gabbard hasn't said anything about this Rokana has actually reached out to me and agreed to come on the program so hopefully that will happen soon next week I'm hoping that he doesn't pull a Tulsi Gabbard and read shout and say hey Mike I'd love to come on the program and then six months later they're nowhere to be found and look maybe I'm just being too harsh maybe I held them to a higher standard than I should have but I don't view this response from Rokana and Ayanna Presley persuasive at all they're indefensible you made an indefensible vote and now we can see you're struggling to defend it but you can't because again you can't defend what's indefensible it's very difficult to do it's an untenable position but I want to read the response from one of Ayanna's constituents who I think put it best she says I'm one of your Jewish constituents and we are not a monolith many of us support BDS or just support free speech and protest this is an APAC bill and is actively harmful to a two-state solution what's with the raised in Jewish faith phrasing also it's lip service to two-state the bill doesn't even separate BDS of Israel versus BDS of settlements this is IPAC BB and Trump's goal to blur the line between Israel and greater Israel opening up the door to full annexation don't claim that your vote is what your Jewish constituents want it's what APAC wants and that's exactly it if you voted in favor of this you sided with APAC congratulations I hope you feel good about yourself so this is not defensible what Rokana and Ayanna Presley are saying it's not winning me back you know it's not like they're canceled but I think that if we are going to hold you to a higher standard because you identify as progressive then you should expect this type of criticism if you do something that is against the progressive movement then expect us to call you out for because this is indefensible I mean how can you claim to support free speech and be in favor of human rights but then make a vote like this it's just indefensible shame on Rokana shame on you Ayanna Presley and shame on you Tulsi Gabbard you're running to be president did you not think we would notice I mean if you're running to be president everything that you do currently is going to be scrutinized so what are you doing I mean Tulsi Gabbard in the last couple of weeks I don't understand what she's doing first of all she came out against impeachment of Donald Trump so in other words you don't believe we should hold people in power accountable to the same standards of every one else really she then defended Joe Biden not once but twice okay that's interesting and now she is voting in favor of an anti-bts bill what are you doing what are you doing I mean I mean if you are going to be the peace candidate then you should be a leader here we shouldn't have to be calling you and criticizing you and begging you to stand up for what's easy if you're progressive what are you doing I don't get I'm genuinely puzzled at the votes here by these progressives because again this is easy you're playing on the easiest difficulty imaginable it's as simple as what is one plus one the answer is two so why is it that when this battle has been waged across the country and there are so little allies the people who we would expect to stand up for us the most are choosing to abandon us in the post-Obama era see we take red flags very very seriously we can excuse one or two red flags but after some time those red flags begin to add up and we begin to question whether or not you actually are the real deal whether or not you're actually the person who you say you were now this doesn't erase all of the wonderful things that each of these three progressives has done absolutely not but what it does communicate to me is that maybe they're not as progressive as they have been leading us to believe that they were at least with regard to this issue and to be fair to them not many people are but you'd think if anyone is going to be right on this issue it would be self-proclaimed progressives every single person is so afraid in Congress to stand up to APAC to speak out against the status quo here and it's just it's bizarre if anyone's gonna go against the grain it's Ro Khanna Tulsi Gabbard and Ayanna Presley we're supporting you because you claim to be progressive so we hold you by definition to a higher standard because you are progressive so absolutely if you do something wrong I am gonna call you out because I hold you to a higher standard and if you are a supporter of Ro Khanna or Tulsi Gabbard then you shouldn't self-censor you shouldn't say well you know I still support them overall so I guess I'm just gonna have to live with this position no they represent you so move them get them to move to the position that you want because politicians are representing us these are individuals in the house of representatives meaning they represent the people so if you're not satisfied with the position that they're taking then you can get them to change that because they're supposed to be representing you especially if you are in their district if you're one of their constituents so don't tell me oh well you know what I can't criticize Tulsi here because I support her for president no you should be speaking out the loudest because your concerns are coming from a good place she's going to take what you have to say seriously more seriously than anyone else or at least she should so you know it's just this is disappointing it's one of those instances where you just feel heartbroken the last time you know ironically it was Ro Khanna and Tulsi Gabbard who made the correct vote when we needed them they voted against Pago but here they let us down and look no politician is perfect right this doesn't mean that we throw Ro Khanna Tulsi Gabbard and Ayanna Presley in the garbage and say well we're done with them but it's just a matter of when they mess up and they mess up this badly we have to hold them accountable we can't censor ourselves we have to vocalize our concerns and criticisms because if we don't how are they gonna know to course correct how are they gonna know that they're not doing what we want them to do now again we shouldn't really have to hold their hands for an issue as black and white as this but that's not the real world people are gonna mess up and that's the way that politics is so the point is we have to come together as a community of progressives and demand that anyone who is elected as a progressive and who identifies as progressive do better because they're all we got we don't have you know a hundred progressives in Congress it's a small handful so we really count on this handful of progressives to do the right thing to come through for us especially in times like this when we need them when we've been fighting these BDS bills these anti BDS bills so for them to disappoint us like this it's just heartbreaking and every single person should be outraged this is not acceptable it's indefensible so shame on you Ro Khanna shame on you Ayanna Presley and once again shame on you Tulsi Gabbard we believed in you and you let us down do better