Democratic House Rep. Cori Bush hates Israel, and views it as in illegitimate colonial entity. That’s not new, it’s the prevailing wisdom now on the left wing of the Democratic Party.
In a speech yesterday on the House floor, Bush lashed out at Israel, summing it up in this tweet echoing “intersectionality” rhetoric that has been a staple of anti-Israel activism for years:
The fight for Black lives and the fight for Palestinian liberation are interconnected. We oppose our money going to fund militarized policing, occupation, and systems of violent oppression and trauma. We are anti-war. We are anti-occupation. And we are anti-apartheid. Period.
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Note that the speech is devoted to honoring and praising Bassem Masri.
St. Louis and I rise today in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in memory of our brother Bassem Masri, a Ferguson activist who was with us on the front lines of our uprising for justice following the police murder of Michael Brown, Jr. Bassem was a St. Louis Palestinian. Bassem also lived in Jerusalem, Palestine. Bassem was one of us. He showed up ready. As a Palestinian, he was ready to resist, to rebel, to rise up with us as our St Louis community, more than Mike Brown, Jr’s state sanctioned murder. And as we demanded an end to the militarized police occupation of our communities. Palestinians know what state violence, militarized policing, and occupation of their communities look like, and they’ve lived that reality of having to go through checkpoints while trying to live their lives. They know this reality and the reality of so much more.So when heavily militarized police forces showed up in Ferguson in 2014, Bassem and so many others of our St. Louis Palestinian community, our Palestinian siblings showed up too. I remember sitting in a circle on the grass near where Michael Brown Jr was murdered. And I remember them describing to us what to do when militarized law enforcement shot us with rubber bullets or when they tear gassed us. I remember learning that the same equipment that they use to brutalize us is the same equipment that we send to the Israeli military to police and brutalized Palestinians. I remember Bassem putting his life on the line with us. I remember him live streaming for the whole world to see our struggle. I’ll remember our solidarity. And I’ll remember the harassment, the extortion, the brutalization he faced for resisting with us.That harassment, that extortion, that brutalization by heavily armed militarized presence in our community, that’s what we fund when our government sends our tax dollars to the Israeli military. St. Louis sent me here to save lives. Bassem’s loved ones and his community, our St. Louis community sent me here to save lives. So we, that means we oppose our money going to fund militarized policing, occupation and systems of violent oppression and trauma. We are anti-war. We are anti-occupation and we are anti-apartheid. Period.If this body is looking for something productive to do with $3 million, instead of funding a military that polices and kills Palestinians, I have some communities in St. Louis City and in St. Louis County that where that money can go, where we desperately need investment, where we are hurting, where we need help, let us prioritize funding there, prioritize funding life, not destruction. So today we remember Bassem. We remember his resistance in the face of militarized police occupation, as a St. Louisan and a Palestinian. We lost him to a health crisis, but we remember his words today until all our children are safe, we will continue to fight for our rights in Palestine and in Ferguson. We stand with you in solidarity.
[Bush’s claims about the supposed Israeli connection to U.S. policing are false, as we covered years ago in Exposed: Years-long effort to blame Israel for U.S. police shootings of blacks]
The name Bassem Masri probably meant nothing to almost everyone listening to the speech.
But Legal Insurrection readers may recall Masri, who is now deceased, from our coverage of the 2014 Ferguson riots after the shooting of Michael Brown. (Contrary to Bush’s claims, Brown’s shooting was found to be a justifiable use of police deadly force both by local prosecutors and the Obama-Holder DOJ, because Brown was shot and killed when he physically attacked a policeman and tried to steal his weapon.)
Masri was featured in our coverage of the Ferguson riots and how anti-Israel activists tried — with some success — to turn them into anti-Israel events.
We covered Masri’s role in these posts:
What earned Masri infamy was his popularization of the phrase during the Ferguson riots “Pigs in a Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon”:
Masri led the chant on the streets during protests. Unfortunately his US Stream account, where he livestreamed those and other chants, no longer exists. A YouTube video of Masri leading the chant in Ferguson also is no longer available.
He may not have invented the chant, but he popularized it. After Ferguson, that chant became something of a calling card for anti-police activists, including in connection with the December 2014 assassination of two NY City police officers. After that murder, Masri attracted attention because he tweeted again and was on video chanting, with others, “Pigs In a Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon.”
In an October 2014 protest after another shooting, Masri shouted at police:
“Coward. Straight pig out here. Straight bitch… What if we take your gun? …. I’m praying for your death. I’m praying for your death, and your death, and your death.”
Local news reported on Masri’s tactics, One man’s protests push police to the limit:
Here`s an inside look at one of the most angry protestors, who`s lighting up social media over Ferguson and the deadly police shooting on Shaw. Fox Files investigator Chris Hayes sat down with St. Louisan Bassem Masri.A crowd chants to officers, “Whose streets? Our streets. Our streets. Our streets.”It was October 8, the night an off duty officer shot and killed Vonderett [sic] Myers Jr. Crowds surround officers who back away.A man holding a cell phone says, ‘What the f*** you doing here bro, get the f*** out a here with your coward ass boys.’ It was Bassem Masri who said this as he streamed video that was live at the time. Masri yelled at an officer, ‘Coward straight pig out here bitch! You gotta go. Your life is in danger homie.’People appear to feed off of his energy. Masri told an officer, ‘What happens when we take your gun?’ That officer then protects his gun. Another officer protecting his gun was answered with screams, ‘He has his hand on his gun!’Then citizens surrounded him and chanted, ‘Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.’At one point you can hear Masri tell officers, while pointing at each one, ‘I`m praying for your death and you death and your death and your death.’
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CNN even confronted Masri:
Cori Bush devoted her speech on the floor of the House not only to bashing Israel, but to praising an activist who wished death and harm on the police.
You may not have realized who Bush was praising, but she certainly understood.
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