[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 883 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 883

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the slogan, 
 ``from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'' is antisemitic 
                     and its use must be condemned.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 21, 2023

    Mr. D'Esposito (for himself, Mr. Gottheimer, and Mr. Moskowitz) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the slogan, 
 ``from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'' is antisemitic 
                     and its use must be condemned.

Whereas the slogan ``from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'' is an 
        antisemitic call to arms with the goal of the eradication of the State 
        of Israel, which is located between the Jordan River and the 
        Mediterranean Sea;
Whereas the slogan seeks to deny Jewish people the right to self-determination 
        and calls for the removal of the Jewish people from their ancestral 
        homeland;
Whereas Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and other terrorist 
        organizations and their sympathizers have used and continue to use this 
        slogan as a rallying cry for action to destroy Israel and exterminate 
        the Jewish people;
Whereas this rallying cry can promote violence against the State of Israel and 
        the Jewish community globally;
Whereas, on October 7, 2023, Hamas committed a barbaric and uncivilized 
        slaughter against the Jewish people, killing 1,200 people;
Whereas victims of this massacre included children, the elderly, Holocaust 
        survivors, and women, who were murdered indiscriminately in their homes, 
        communities, public spaces, and at a music festival;
Whereas, on October 7, 2023, Hamas reportedly beheaded dozens of babies, 
        committed countless atrocities, and violently raped women;
Whereas, on October 7, 2023, Hamas recorded and broadcasted to the world 
        mutilation, desecration, and public parading of bodies;
Whereas, on October 7, 2023, Hamas took over 240 hostages, including children, 
        women, elderly Israelis, Americans, and other foreign nationals;
Whereas, on October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered the highest number of Jewish people 
        since the Holocaust;
Whereas Hamas' 2017 Charter states, ``Hamas rejects any alternative to the full 
        and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.'';
Whereas Hamas' 2017 Charter states, ``There shall be no recognition of the 
        legitimacy of the Zionist entity.'';
Whereas Hamas' 2017 Charter states, ``Resistance and jihad for the liberation of 
        Palestine will remain a legitimate right.'';
Whereas this slogan is used by the same people who utter ``death to America'' 
        and ``death to Israel'';
Whereas former Hamas Chief Khaled Meshaal called for the ``day of rage'', a 
        global mobilization against the State of Israel, which had profound 
        consequences for Jewish communities around the world;
Whereas a member of the Hamas political bureau, Ghazi Hamad, in an interview 
        about the October 7 massacres, vowed, ``We must teach Israel a lesson, 
        and we will do it twice and three times. The Al-Aqsa Deluge is just the 
        first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth.'';
Whereas Ghazi Hamad, in the same interview, responded, ``Yes, of course'', when 
        asked if he believed in the annihilation of Israel;
Whereas the Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah stated, ``Palestine, 
        from the sea to the river is the property of Arabs and Palestinians and 
        no one has the right to give up even a single grain of earth or one 
        stone.'';
Whereas Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, on November 11, 2023, stated that the 
        only solution to this war is ``The establishment of the Palestinian 
        State from the river to the sea.'';
Whereas the founder of al-Qaeda and the perpetrator of the 9/11 terrorist 
        attacks, Osama bin Laden, stated, ``Borders must be opened by force so 
        as to obtain all the necessary requirements to liberate the entire 
        Palestine from the river to the sea, God willing.'';
Whereas the former Dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, stated, ``Glorious and 
        sublime are our martyrs in Palestine, Iraq, and the nation as a whole. 
        Long live Palestine, free and Arab, from the sea to the river'', and 
        ``Palestine is Arab and must be liberated from the river to the sea'';
Whereas this slogan neglects the fact that innocent civilians are used as human 
        shields by Hamas;
Whereas Hamas intentionally locates its military weapons supply depots and 
        intelligence outposts directly under and within civilian populated sites 
        such as schools, mosques, residential buildings, and hospitals such as 
        the Al Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza;
Whereas using civilians as human shields for protecting weapons and fighters 
        from a lawful attack is considered a war crime;
Whereas hateful rhetoric obstructs peace efforts;
Whereas the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee deem this 
        slogan antisemitic;
Whereas this slogan incites fear within the Jewish community in the United 
        States and around the world;
Whereas students attending institutions of higher education have chanted and 
        continue to chant this slogan since the barbarous October 7 massacres, 
        yet all the while, their fellow Jewish students are being harassed and 
        intimidated; and
Whereas this slogan has been used recently by violent protestors throughout the 
        United States and the world: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the slogan, ``from the river to the sea, Palestine will 
        be free'', is outrightly antisemitic and must be strongly 
        condemned;
            (2) this slogan is divisive and does a disservice to 
        Israelis, Palestinians, and all those in the region who seek 
        peace;
            (3) this slogan rejects calls for peace, stability, and 
        safety in the region;
            (4) this slogan perpetuates hatred against the State of 
        Israel and the Jewish people; and
            (5) anyone who calls for the eradication of Israel and the 
        Jewish people are antisemitic and must always be condemned.
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