ARIZONA DEMOCRAT REP. AGAINST ARIZONA BUT FOR GAZA?
Published: May 20, 2010Â
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Obviously he didn’t say both at the same time. But it’s well worth cataloging under what scenarios Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ-7), a public servant of such creativity that he once used Native American tribal sovereignty as a pretext for undermining border security, thinks economic pressure is appropriate. When the targets are his constituents – whom he has presumably taken an oath to represent regardless of whether they take the unconscionable step of legally enforcing federal immigration law – then sanctions are a go:
There are new developments on the business front of the immigration debate including concerned contractors and a state official calling for a business boycott. The surprising call for a boycott of Arizona came Tuesday from Representative Raul Grijalva, who represents southern Arizona in the United States Congress. He had some advice to businesses: “Refrain from using Arizona as a convention sight spending their dollars in Arizona until Arizona turns the clock forward instead of backwards.†Rep. Grijalva also said boycotts have worked in the past. Some business leaders say the immigration bill has already had an effect on business.
But terrorist savages who mock the families of kidnapped soldiers and repeatedly hold mass rallies reminiscent of when barbarians used to torture and desecrate captives in front of opposing armies – then we need to lift the boycott:
Fifty-four members of the U.S. Congress have signed a letter asking President Barack Obama to put pressure on Israel to ease the siege of the Gaza Strip. The letter was the initiative of Representatives Jim McDermott from Washington and Keith Ellison from Minnesota… “We ask you to press for immediate relief for the citizens of Gaza as an urgent component of your broader Middle East peace efforts,†they wrote, adding that the siege has hampered the ability of aid agencies to do their work in Gaza. The congressmen urged Obama to pressure Israel to ease the movement of people into and out of Gaza, especially students, the sick, aid workers, journalists and those with family concerns.
The boycott call happened in April and his signature on the January petition is here. I particularly like the emphasis on freedom of movement for Gaza University students, given the enthusiasm that certain quarters have shown for boycotting Arizona schools which, in contrast, haven’t been directly involved in any war crimes.
In fairness you could probably play this game with a lot of House Dems, to say nothing of the various Latino groups that back them. Fifty-four of them – more than 20 percent of the House Democratic caucus – signed Ellison’s pro-Hamas letter. But Grijalva is the only one who came from Arizona, which makes the nuance a little more pointed. It’s one thing to take the position that Americans should boycott Arizona for enforcing domestic law but lift sanctions on Hamas for violating international law. It’s another when you’re calling on fellow citizens to economically attack the constituents you ostensibly serve.
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