MN-04: Stuff about Rep. McCollum

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) has been getting some press lately for her new gig as Chair of the Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, and what she might do with that. But I’m taking the opportunity to pass this along, that I’ve been hanging onto for a while.

In that basement hotel ballroom, though, there was still uncertainty when Rep. McCollum rose to speak. She outlined Israel's new “nation-state” law. Most of the audience was already familiar with the law, and how it had turned the country’s longstanding discriminatory practices designed to privilege Jews and disempower Palestinians, into an official component of Israel's Basic Law: the equivalent of a constitutional amendment. But would she say the whole truth? Four or five hundred people were sitting on the edge of their chairs.

“The world has a name for the form of government that is codified in the Nation-State Law,” she said. “It is called ‘apartheid.’” There was a collective gasp, and the audience, many in tears, leaped to their feet in a massive ovation. - In These Times

Here's an election guide for what’s coming up in Israel, scheduled for April 7. The general feeling seems to be that voters won’t go for a lot of turnover. But there’s always hope.