McCollum Writes In The Nation on Human Rights for Palestinian Children

Congresswoman Betty McCollum (DFL-Minn.) wrote in The Nationabout her legislation — the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act, H.R. 4391 — that prevents United States tax dollars from supporting the Israeli military's ongoing detention and mistreatment of Palestinian children.

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has persisted for decades, including 50 years of Israeli military occupation of Palestinian lands. To help sustain the occupation, Israel's military and police forces have arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned thousands of Palestinian children, mostly for throwing stones. Israel's military court and detention system is unique in the world in its systematic incarceration of children, in this case Palestinian children. It is a system that denies basic due-process rights and is cruel, inhumane, and degrading.

"It should not require tremendous moral courage to stand up for the human rights of children. Sadly, the exception appears to be when those children are Palestinian. I firmly believe that Palestinian children deserve to be treated with the same humanity, dignity, and human rights as any child anywhere, including children in the United States or Israel.

"For Israel, this means honoring its international commitments and ending the widespread and systematic cruel and inhumane treatment of Palestinian children. For the United States, it means prohibiting American funds from being used to support Israel's abusive military detention of children and requiring the State Department to certify Israel's compliance.

The full text of Congresswoman McCollum's op-ed can be found here. Resources on H.R. 4391 and the Congresswomna's work to promote human rights for Palestinian children can be found here.