From right, Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Katie Porter, D-Calif., Democratic candidates for California Senate, participate in a candidates’ forum in Los Angeles on October 8, 2023. Source: Tom Williams / Getty
An advocacy group working on behalf of Palestinian Americans has endorsed Barbara Lee in the U.S. Senate race in California as the other candidates in the race reject calls for a unilateral ceasefire by Israel.
The U.S. Palestinian Council (USPC) Board of Directors on Tuesday offered its full-throated support for Lee, a longtime Congressoman who has spoken in no uncertain words for her desire to see a unilateral and permanent ceasefire instead of “conditional” ceasefires her rival candidates are calling for.
“Representative Lee was among the first in Congress to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and continues to lead efforts for a de-escalation of violence and diplomatic solutions for peace, equality, and security in the region,” USPC President Prof. John Dabeet said in a statement emailed to NewsOne.
Lee has the model of consistency when it comes to reacting to the attack by the militant Hamas group against Israel on Oct. 7. Particularly, Lee has called on Israel to stop attacking Gaza, where more than 26,000 Palestinians – including innocent women and children – have been killed since the Hamas attack more than four months ago. Lee is among the first members of Congress to make such demands.
That response is different from those of Democratic candidates Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff as well as Steve Garvey, a former Major League Baseball star running as a Republican in the California Senate race.
Porter, for instance, initially took a hardline pro-Israel stance against Hamas and suggested the U.S. was to blame before softening her rhetoric.
“I support working toward a lasting bilateral ceasefire in Gaza,” Porter said in a press release in December.
Lee has said that a “conditional ceasefire is not a ceasefire at all,” noting that a “true ceasefire is not only possible, it is the most effective and humane path forward.”
Schiff, however, has been in total opposition to any ceasefire. In fact, earlier this month he voted to send emergency assistance “to support Israel in its time of greatest need.” While Schiff said in a press release the emergency assistance was also to “alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza,” it would be naive to assume Israel wouldn’t use that aid to continue its attack that has killed tens of thousands of people amid a rising death toll of Palestinians.
Garvey, for his part, has openly said “Hamas doesn’t deserve a ceasefire” and said Lee is “wrong” for calling for one, seemingly ignoring all the collateral damage from the ongoing, widening regional conflict.
As the only member of Congress to vote against authorizing using military force in response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks – a response that led to separate misdirected and protracted wars that included more than 100,000 deaths – Lee has a record of being on the right side of history, particularly in the face of partisan pressure.
The Israel-Palestinian conflict continues to inform voters’ opinions about candidates, and the California Senate race is no different.
Politico has called it the race’s “single biggest issue dividing” the candidates.
The issue has also deeply resonated among Black voters, in particular, who have drawn a parallel between Israel’s colonialized treatment of Palestinians and how African Americans have been treated in the U.S. throughout American history.
Data shows that young voters in also California agree with Lee on the topic of a ceasefire, and it’s not even close.
However, in a poll released earlier this month, Lee was in a distant fourth place at 7% while trailing Garvey, Porter and Schiff, who each registered 15% support.
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The March On Washington For Gaza From A Black Perspective
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