Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib , the lone Palestinian American in the U.S. Congress, said Friday that she is 'so saddened and ashamed of our country looking away and pretending they are trying to stop this madness' after the World Health Organization confirmed that a 10-month-old child in Gaza was paralyzed by polio.
'The first case of polio in more than 25 years, but no one will care because the baby is Palestinian,' Tlaib lamented. 'We don't want your thoughts and prayers. We need action.' Tlaib's comments came hours after U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris closed out the Democratic National Convention with a speech that acknowledged the 'heartbreaking' suffering in Gaza without clearly identifying the perpetrators—the far-right Israeli government and its main arms supplier, the United States—or pledging to break with President Joe Biden's unwavering support for Israel. 'Vice President Harris has said that she supports a cease-fire in Gaza,' Abbas Alawieh, co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, said in a statement Friday. 'But a cease-fire cannot happen as long as the U.S. continues supplying the bombs used to kill people we love. The Biden administration has continued to transfer lethal weaponry to the Israeli military even amid overwhelming evidence that the country's forces are using the arms to commit atrocities in Gaza, wiping out entire families and civilian infrastructure. Israel's blockade, meanwhile, is suffocating the enclave's population, forcing children to search rotting garbage for food as famine takes hold across the territory. Last month, the already dire humanitarian emergency became even more grave after health officials detected poliovirus in sewage samples at several locations in southern and central Gaza. On August 16, Gaza's health ministry confirmed that an unvaccinated 10-month-child in Deir al-Balah contracted polio; the World Health Organization said earlier this week that the child was partially paralyzed by the disease, for which there is no known cure. A coalition of aid agencies and medical professionals warned Tuesday that 'without immediate action, an entire generation is at risk of infection, and hundreds of children face paralysis by a highly communicable disease that can be prevented with a simple vaccine.' An urgent vaccination drive is underway, but the effort has been made extremely difficult and dangerous by relentless Israeli bombing. Over the past 48 hours, Israeli attacks have killed at least 69 Gazans and wounded 212 more, according to the enclave's health ministry. Al Jazeera reported Saturday that 'a woman and a young girl are among those killed in Israel's latest attack on the Bureij refugee camp.' 'Their bodies, along with other children wounded by the assault, have been rushed to al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp,' the outlet added. 'Footage from the hospital, verified by Al Jazeera's fact-checking agency Sanad, shows several bloodied children receiving treatment, while a man weeps over the body of a deceased child.'
Kamala Harris Polio Public Health Rashida Tlaib Us Congress War Crimes World Health Organization Gaza
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