A resolution introduced by House Speaker Dean Plocher would commend Israel as a “a great friend and ally of the United States” — but activists say the resolution promotes the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee, a multi-faith coalition of concerned Missourians, condemned the resolution, calling Plocher’s rhetoric “white supremacist, anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic.”
“Our representatives should not use their legislative powers to support a state that is indiscriminately bombing civilians and committing genocide as the legislative session unfolds,” the committee said in an online statement.
Plocher, a Republican from Des Peres, introduced HCR 30 on Jan. 3. The bill has been referred to the Special Committee on Public Policy, where a hearing is scheduled on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
We reached out Friday seeking comment from Plocher's office, but did not hear back by press time. We'll update this post if we hear back.
The resolution calls on the Missouri General Assembly to support “Israel's right to exist and recognizes Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel” — language that echoes former President Donald Trump’s declaration in 2017.
That language is alarming to advocates for Palestine.
“It praises a state that is currently using weapons bought by U.S. taxpayer dollars to murder my people, destroy my land, and starve and displace everybody else who is left,” says Sara Bannoura, one of the Palestinian leaders with the coalition.
As of February 2, the death toll for Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of Israel’s military reached 27,131 people and 66,287 wounded since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139, according to reporting from Al Jazeera.
Evangelicals have pointed to language in the Bible to say Jerusalem is Israel’s “eternal capital.” The resolution acknowledges that source, saying, “Israel has been granted her lands under and through the oldest deed, as recorded in the Torah or Old Testament, a tome of scripture held sacred and revered by Jews and Christians alike.”
That language is “advocating for a Palestine without Palestinians,” according to Bannoura. “It’s calling for the mass slaughter and destruction of indigenous people.”
She also believes that using religious language to promote a state for Jewish people over Palestinians and other religions is a violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause.
The last line of Plocher’s resolution states that a properly inscribed copy of the resolution will be delivered to Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, the Consul General of Israel in Miami. Elbaz-Starinsky is a career diplomat and was a paratrooper commander in the Israel Defense Forces.
The committee is calling on Missourians to contact Plocher and their own representatives ahead of Tuesday’s hearing. Scripts and resources are available on the committee’s website.
“People need to remember that we are the ones who elected these representatives, their job is to represent us,” Bannoura says. “We're not going to be praising an apartheid state that’s committing genocide.”
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