THOMAS MASSIE, "R" (CD-4) KENTUCKY

An Antisemite?

Thomas Massie is my U.S. Representative and for the second time in four years he has embarrassed his District with a position that defies all logic and all understanding of US history, our position in the world, and what the meaning of an ally is.

Most recently Mr. Massie chose to be the ONLY Republican to vote against a resolution that reiterates U.S. support for Israel. H. Res. 771 not only restates the U.S. existing commitments in support of Israel but condemns Hamas for the brutality of its sneak attack on Israeli men, women, and children on October 7, 2023. When Mr. Massie chose to vote no he planted his personal flag on the same has hill as the well established antisemitic “Squad” which includes Rahida Tlaib, Ilhan Ohmar, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and Jamal Bowman, the US Representative who pulled a capitol building fire alarm to delay a vote.

Why did Massie vote no? Here is his four point explanation.

“1) It calls for sanctions on a sovereign country. Sanctions are a prelude to war and hurt the citizens of the country more than the government of the country that’s being sanctioned. And ultimately, sanctions create laws that will be used to prosecute American citizens (who engage in trade), not citizens of the sanctioned country. In short, sanctions do not achieve their stated purposes but do breed resentment of our country abroad.”

The UN, The EU, United Kingdom, and the United States have been imposing sanctions on Iran since 1979 when the Shah was exiled and replaced with religious clerics who turned Iran into a brutal, socialist theocracy dedicated to the destruction of Israel and all Jews world wide and the United States which the Iranians call the “Little Satan” (Israel) and the “Big Satan” (The United States).

Since sanctions were first imposed on Iran in 1979 not one single war was fought because of them. The only wars that have occurred in the Middle East since 1979 have been the Iran-Iraq war 1980-1988 which began when Iraq invaded Iran, The Gulf War following 9/11 and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent liberation of Kuwait by the US and numerous defensives wars fought by Israel against terrorist organizations. None of those wars had a single thing to do with sanctions.

Clearly, Mr. Massie’s first reason is purely theoretical rhetoric with no facts in presented in support.

“2) It asserts the necessity of foreign aid commitments which I have voted against. Our country is going bankrupt and we can’t afford to borrow money to send overseas, yet this resolution states that we should.”

While Thomas may have voted against aid to Israel in the past, despite his hopes those commitments were made and are in place today and they do not expire for several years. H. Res. 771 simply restates those commitment by way of background and then it states this:

(The Congress) (11) stands ready to assist Israel with emergency resupply and other security, diplomatic, and intelligence support.

The phrase “stands ready” has but one meaning: Congress is prepared to take up further assistance as needed which means that there will be a vote, in Congress before such aid is rendered. And that is the proper time and place for Mr. Massie to state his objections. It is also the time during which his objections will be subjected to rebuttal on the House floor; a thing which Mr. Massies appears to not want.

“3) It contains an open-ended promise of military support that is so broad that it could be interpreted to commit US soldiers to the conflict. US troops should not be engaged in this conflict.”

Again, in the absence of facts Mr. Massie presents us with the rhetoric of the theoretical and ignores the only two facts available. First, US forces are already in place in the Middle East and have been since roughly 9/11/2001 and much longer. At the moment this includes forces in Iraq, Turkey, and the Mediterranean. Second, US troops are already “engaged in this conflict” in self-defense. U.S. forces in the region have been attacked at least 18 times since October 7, 2023. Mr. Massie should know this.

“4) It tends to broaden the conflict to other countries when it would be better to keep the war contained geographically.”

How H. Res. 771 “tends to broaden the conflict to other countries” makes no sense. As the history of the last 21 days shows it is neither Israel’s response NOR our honoring of existing commitments that is “tend(ing) to broaden the conflict to other countries”. It is “other countries” including Iran, Syria, Qatar, and Lebanon that are actually “broadening the conflict” to their own countries by their harboring and active support of the activities of the terrorist proxies of Iran. Among those proxies are Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and Palestinian Jihad all of whom openly deny Israel’s right to exist. Period.

Again this are facts in evidence that Mr. Massie should know when he says things like this:

”I condemn the barbaric attack on Israel and I affirm Israel’s right to defend itself.”

How, Mr. Massie, do you suppose Israel will defend itself without reliance on existing support from her allies? In light of his opposition to H. Res 771 his assertion of “support” is cynical at best.

Mr. Massie’s statement of opposition to H. Res. 771 concludes with this:

“Here’s a link to the text of the resolution, which contains some statements I do support and some statements I cannot support.”

The “link”, of course, refers to the text of H. Res. 771. But the interesting point is that Mr. Massie fails to tell us, and the world which of those statements he supports and which statements he “cannot support”.

Why Mr. Massie?


This is not the first time that Mr. Massie has intentionally refused to support Israel with his vote. In 2019, just a mere four years ago Mr. Massie voted against H.Res 246: a non-binding resolution that condemned the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement — organized and coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee. The objective of BDS is to pressure Israel to meet what the movement describes as Israel's obligation to withdraw from the “occupied territories” and more. The “occupied territories” is a Palestinian synonym for eliminating Israel and all her inhabitants.

Mr. Massie’s excuse for No vote was this:

“I voted against H. Res. 246 because it calls for the full implementation of a bill I voted against back in 2014. That 2014 bill spends taxpayer dollars on “green” energy subsidies for another country, despite the fact that we face a debt crisis of over $22 trillion in the U.S.”

And this:

“I also do not support federal efforts to condemn any type of private boycott, regardless of whether or not a boycott is based upon bad motives. These are matters that Congress should properly leave to the States and to the people to decide.”

In other words, an organization that openly demands and is working toward the elimination of Jews and Israel is simply, in Mr. Massie’s head just, “a bad motive”.

Also, Mr. Massie was apparently, the only person in the world who was confused by the meaning of “nonbinding resolution”. In other words, IF a person voted in favor of supporting Israel they were not obligated to vote to spend one red cent on “green energy subsidies for another country” or any thing else. But it was an opportunity to go on record as asserting Israel’s right to exist. H.Res. 246 was a statement of the sense of the members of Congress that Israel has the right to exist. It did not have one thing to do with the trampling of States’s Rights under the Tenth Amendment as suggested by Mr. Massie.

In response to Mr. Massie, Republican Jewish Coalition spokesperson Neil Strauss said:

“This resolution did not appropriate a single taxpayer dollar; it didn’t infringe on a single citizen’s civil rights.”

Dan Mariaschin, CEO B’nai B’rith International offered that:

“The intent of this resolution was to reject discriminatory anti-Israel boycotts and to reaffirm the strong U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Mr. Massie also objected because H Res 246 also supported the so-called Two State Solution for Israel and the Palestinians. But again this was a non-binding resolution and if Congress were to be considering a binding resolution, a law, that would have been the proper time for Mr. Massie to state his objects and defend them to his colleagues.

Mr. Massie has now had two highly visible and highly important thou symbolic opportunities, to show his unwavering support of Israel’s right to exist and his pledge to honor EXISTING committments and he has refused to do so. Instead he has chosen to side with the antisemitic “Squad”.

So, is Mr. Massie antisemitic? I have no idea but I do know that on two votes in which he had an opportunity to vote his conscience with regard to Israel — he did and laid his opposition firmly in the camp of antisemitic Squad and pro-Palestinian Democrats.

Shame on you Thomas.

Union, Kentucky

28 October 2023