US House Votes to Censor Palestinian Death Toll in Gaza, Denying Israeli War Crimes

What's happening?

The House passed a bipartisan amendment to prevent the government from acknowledging the number of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza.

Why?

The amendment was supported by 62 Democrats and 207 Republicans, passing with a 269-144 vote. It will now go to the Senate for consideration.

What would the amendment do if enacted? The amendment would bar the State Department from using funds to cite statistics from Gaza's Health Ministry, effectively censoring the fact that Israeli forces have killed at least 37,765 Palestinians and wounded 86,429 others in Gaza.

How?

The vote is part of a broader effort to censor information and criticism related to Israel's occupation and treatment of Palestinians. Previous votes have aimed to undermine the movement for Palestinian rights and pro-Palestinian speech.

In a controversial move, the US House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan amendment to prevent the government from acknowledging the number of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza. The amendment, which was supported by 62 Democrats and 207 Republicans, passed with a 269-144 vote and is now headed to the Senate for consideration.

If enacted, this measure would bar the State Department from using international affairs budget funds to cite statistics from Gaza's Health Ministry, effectively censoring the fact that Israeli occupation forces have killed at least 37,765 Palestinians and wounded 86,429 others during the ongoing nine-month offensive in the besieged

Gaza Strip.Critics have condemned the vote as an attempt to conceal the scale of Israel's war crimes and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Palestinian-American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib delivered a passionate speech denouncing the amendment, stating that since 1948, there has been a coordinated effort in Congress to "dehumanize Palestinians and erase Palestinians from existence".

"My colleagues want to prohibit our own US officials from even citing the Palestinian death toll," Tlaib said. "But Palestinians are not just numbers. Behind these numbers are real people—mothers, fathers, sons, daughters who have had their lives stolen from them and their families torn apart, and we should not be trying to hide it."The congresswoman also highlighted the disproportionate impact on children, noting that six children are killed in Gaza every hour. Tlaib condemned the "anti-Palestinian racism in this chamber" and accused her colleagues of engaging in "genocide denial".

This vote is part of a broader trend of efforts to censor information and criticism related to Israel's occupation and treatment of Palestinians. In November 2023, the House voted to censure Tlaib over her rhetoric on Israel's war on Gaza. Additionally, in April 2024, Congress passed a bill banning TikTok, with some lawmakers suggesting that the move was motivated by the high volume of pro-Palestine content on the platform.Human rights advocates argue that this amendment represents a systematic attempt to stifle criticism of the Israeli occupation and its alleged war crimes.

They assert that the US government's refusal to acknowledge Palestinian casualties perpetuates the ongoing human rights crisis in Gaza and undermines efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict.As the Senate prepares to consider the amendment, the debate over the US government's stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to intensify, with critics calling for greater transparency and accountability regarding the impact of Israel's actions on the Palestinian population.