For his entire brief tenure in Congress, interim New Jersey Senator George Helmy has been the lone Arab American serving in the U.S. Senate. That’s given him a unique vantage point on the ongoing war in Gaza – and he took to the Senate floor today to plead for more to be done to help Palestinians and reduce the scale of human suffering.
“This war has already claimed an estimated 44,000 lives across Gaza and the West Bank. Almost half of those killed by the bombshells and bullets of this war have been women and children – teens, toddlers, infants,” Helmy said. “It should not matter what one’s politics are, what one’s religion is, what one’s nationality is, or one’s ethnicity. These facts should shock our conscience to the very core.”
Helmy, a Coptic Christian and the son of Egyptian immigrants, visited Jordan recently to view the aid efforts currently underway and discover what life is like for Palestinian civilians. What he found, he said, is that Israel has established a “de facto blockade” at the Kerem Shalom crossing that has drastically reduced the amount of critical aid that’s been able to reach Gaza and the West Bank.
“I recently toured warehouses, including one that U.S. Secretary of State Blinken toured himself, stocked to the very brim, practically overflowing, with lifesaving aid supplies,” Helmy said. “This blockade has prevented the safe transport of those supplies into Gaza and the West Bank, where just miles away, women, children, and families are literally starving.”
Helmy’s ten-minute remarks directed little specific criticism of the current U.S. stance in the region, and never once mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The senator also affirmed that he was appalled by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and that he “firmly, unquestionably, support[s] Israel’s right to exist and defend itself.”
But lurking under the speech was a sharp repudiation of the policies of both the United States and of Israel that have allowed the current humanitarian crisis to develop.
“Do [Israel’s] actions, intent on limiting aid into Gaza and the West Bank, taken under the pretense of security operations, comply with international humanitarian laws and norms? Are these the actions we should expect from one of our closest Democratic allies in the world?” he asked. “And what, exactly, are we doing to ensure that our closest allies in the Middle East are living up to humanitarian principles and human rights that we claim to embrace and enforce around the world?”
Helmy is not set to remain a U.S. Senator for much longer; he was appointed this summer to replace disgraced former Senator Bob Menendez, and he’s pledged to step down shortly to allow his successor, Senator-elect Andy Kim to take office early.
But in the limited time he does have left, Helmy asked his fellow senators to keep the lives of Palestinians in mind as they debate what actions to pursue in the future.
“No human should be worth less than another based on which side of the checkpoint or crossing they may live on,” he said. “Perhaps, just perhaps, if we keep this principle at the center of our approach, we can do better by the innocent people of Gaza and the West Bank who so desperately demand and need our humanity.”
Helmy’s full remarks
I come to the floor today as a New Jerseyan, as the only Arab American serving in the United States Senate, and as a human being utterly devastated – broken, even – by the unfathomable scale of human suffering taking place right now in Gaza and the West Bank as a direct consequence of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
This war has already claimed an estimated 44,000 lives across Gaza and the West Bank. Almost half of those killed by the bombshells and bullets of this war have been women and children – teens, toddlers, infants. That’s not to mention the millions more who have been displaced from their homes by this conflict and threatened by famine and illness. According to current estimates, every hour, this conflict claims the lives of 15 innocent people. Every single hour. It is reported that fully rebuilding Gaza and the West Bank after the war could take at least 200 years or more – literal centuries from now, well beyond our lifetimes.
It should not matter what one’s politics are, what one’s religion is, what one’s nationality is, or one’s ethnicity. These facts should shock our conscience to the very core. On our watch, right before our eyes, we are witnessing one of the most rapid decimations of human life in recent history.
Now let me be clear about a couple of things. I have always, and continue to firmly, unquestionably, support Israel’s right to exist and defend itself against all forms of terrorism and those who sponsor terrorism. I vehemently condemn Hamas and the barbaric attack against Israel and its civilians on October 7, 2023, on which 1,200 innocent Israelis lost their lives – a dark day in history during which Hamas also took hundreds of innocent hostages, including U.S. citizens. One of those hostages is New Jersey resident Edan Alexander, a 20-year-old Tenafly high school graduate who should be immediately returned home safely along with all remaining hostages.
Again, all human beings, regardless of political persuasion or ideology, should be devastated by the widespread loss of human life and human suffering on all sides. But I have some hard questions about what is causing the scale of suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, and why we are seemingly unable to alleviate it in any significant way. These questions are not abstract; they stem from what I have seen and heard with my own eyes and ears during a recent official trip to Jordan to assess the state of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
What I saw was this: there is a de facto blockade of even the most basic aid supplies getting through Kerem Shalom crossing, the only viable point of entrance for aid to Gaza and the West Bank. This blockade has severely restricted the amount of aid to make it to the desperate Palestinians whose lives literally depend on it. Just today, it was reported that nearly 100 trucks transporting lifesaving aid were violently looted at gunpoint, adding yet another unique challenge to getting aid to civilians.
The effects of this chokepoint have resulted in other absurd outcomes. I recently toured warehouses, including one that U.S. Secretary of State Blinken toured himself, stocked to the very brim, practically overflowing, with lifesaving aid supplies. This blockade has prevented the safe transport of those supplies into Gaza and the West Bank, where just miles away, women, children, and families are literally starving. These are pallets upon pallets of food, medication, pillows, latrines, and winterized tents to keep families warm as winter sets in – all of it just sitting there, because of a manmade blockade.
What I heard was this: I met with medical surgeons and doctors in the Jordanian Armed Forces serving in Gaza who recounted harrowing stories of amputations on children, futile attempts to keep the malnourished alive, and operations in makeshift tents under live fire and drone strikes. These frontline providers – heroes – told me that a number of partially operational hospitals are resorting to using everyday materials, like sewing thread for clothes, to stitch up patients after surgeries because they have run out of appropriate medical supplies. That should appall every one of us.
Israel’s recent passage of two laws that totally ban [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] from operating anywhere in Palestine has of course threatened to make the problem even worse. It’s irrefutable that UNRWA is the primary on-the-ground provider of aid, food, and other essential services to the people of Gaza and the West Bank. Shutting down UNRWA at this time is shutting down the very nerve center of human aid and assistance within Palestine.
These insights have left me with many questions. Do these actions, intent on limiting aid into Gaza and the West Bank, taken under the pretense of security operations, comply with international humanitarian laws and norms? Are these the actions we should expect from one of our closest Democratic allies in the world? Perhaps these are questions for people far more versed in the matters of war and legal compliance than me, but members of this body should be asking these same questions. Many are, and I thank them for their bold leadership.
And what, exactly, are we doing to ensure that our closest allies in the Middle East are living up to humanitarian principles and human rights that we claim to embrace and enforce around the world? My conversations with Americans of all walks have revealed a deep desire for the United States to take a more aggressive role in protecting innocent civilians suffering from the brunt of this war.
On occasion, we have done that. I thank the Biden administration for their efforts thus far to alleviate the chokepoints and expand the flow of aid into the region. I also think it’s important that the administration agreed with the UN Security Council’s statement, and I quote: “that UNRWA remains the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza, and that no organization can replace or substitute UNRWA’s capacity and mandate to serve Palestinian refugees and civilians in urgent need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.”
However, so much more needs to and must be done. As we enter a new Congress and a new administration takes office next year, the United States government will and should continue debating the enormously complex policy and geopolitical issues that are at stake in the Middle East. But I am not here to opine on the Gordian Knot of Middle East policy, nor do I pretend to have cure-all solutions to problems that have been plaguing the region for many decades.
I’ve traveled through several states over the last two months, and spoke with many students – with Arab and Muslim Americans, and many others who were deeply concerned with the crisis. The conversations were thoughtful, and reflected the complexity of the situation. One can call terrorism what it is: terrorism. One can stand up and support Israel and the Jewish people worldwide. And yet one can speak to the truth that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank is simply unacceptable.
When I asked a young man what he hoped to see, he said to me simply, “I want to see the world say and show that the life of a Palestinian child is just as valuable as the life of a child anywhere else in the world.”
I simply will conclude where I began. My fervent plea is for all of us in this body, and in our country, to see what is happening in the Middle East through the lens of our humanity. First and foremost, no human should be worth less than another based on which side of the checkpoint or crossing they may live on. Perhaps, just perhaps, if we keep this principle at the center of our approach, we can do better by the innocent people of Gaza and the West Bank who so desperately demand and need our humanity.