Genocide in Gaza

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 18, 2025
Location: Washington, DC

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, as some of my colleagues continue to try to attempt to bully and silence me, I will remind all of them that I grew up in Detroit. The more you try to shut us up, the louder we get.

Mr. Speaker, as we speak right now, the Israeli Government is moving to exterminate Palestinians. The U.S.-backed and funded genocide in Gaza is reaching new levels of horror every single day that we do not take action to stop it.

There is no more denying it, Mr. Speaker. The International Association of Genocide Scholars, hundreds of the world's leading experts on genocide, has determined that the Israeli Government is committing genocide.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a link to the International Association of Genocide Scholars Resolution on Gaza. https:// genocidescholars.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IAGS-Resolution-on- Gaza-FINAL.pdf.

Mr. Speaker, this week, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry has concluded that the Government of Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

It calls on all countries to take immediate concrete actions to prevent and punish genocide, to stop sending weapons to the Israeli Government, and to bring individuals forward, again, to hold them accountable and to seek justice for the genocide.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a link to the U.N.'s Independent International Commission of Inquiry report on the crime of genocide in Gaza if my colleagues would like to read it. https://www.ohchr.org/ sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/ session60/advance-version/a-hrc-60-crp-3.pdf.

Mr. Speaker, these new determinations only confirm what Palestinians, eyewitnesses, journalists, and researchers have been saying for nearly 2 years: This is a genocide.

Journalists have been murdered in unprecedented numbers in human history, so there is no one left to show the world what is being done. There is forced starvation, Mr. Speaker, and destruction of entire cities. They are luring starving and desperate people to fake food distribution sites in order to kill them. They call them the killing fields. Multiple generations of families, entire blood lines, are wiped out. Newborns are left decomposing in the NICU as hospitals, doctors, and ambulances are systematically targeted and destroyed.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a link to the official report of the names and ages of Palestinians confirmed and killed in Gaza. https://data.techforpalestine.org/list/.

Mr. Speaker, look at this. I want the American people to see this. The first 21 pages are all infants who did not live long enough to see their first birthday.

There have been over 60,000 human lives confirmed dead so far. Children's smiles are extinguished every single day by bombs that say ``Made in the United States of America.''

Experts say, and we all know this, that the death toll is likely tens of thousands higher with countless bodies still trapped under the rubble.

This must end.

As we speak, the Israeli military is moving to wipe what remains of Gaza city off the map. Gaza is the largest city in Palestine, a vibrant city of 1 million people that has existed for thousands of years, and it is being erased before our eyes.

Mr. Speaker, this is not only the Israeli Government's genocide. This is our government's genocide. Our government provides the bombs, the diplomatic cover, and the complete and total impunity to kill, bulldoze, and exterminate.

Some of my colleagues cruelly cheer these war crimes on, while others quietly express their concerns while voting to send more bombs anyway, but the American people know the truth about this genocide. They know what their own eyes are seeing, and they are rising up to say: No more. No more bombs, no more weapons, no more genocide.

This will not stop until we act in this body. It is not too late to save lives. For humanity's sake, we must act now. Welcoming Detroit to CBC Week

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I take a moment to welcome all of my Black neighbors throughout the 12th Congressional District to the people's House for Congressional Black Caucus' Annual Legislative Conference Week.

Our city, the city of Detroit, the most beautiful, Blackest city, where I was born and raised, has strong roots with the Congressional Black Caucus. For me, it is no coincidence that the very first chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Representative Charles Diggs, was born and raised also in Detroit, carrying forward our city's legacy of resilience and movements and so much, again, fights against oppression here and across the world.

It was also another son of Detroit, my predecessor and founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressman John Conyers, who stood with Dr. King and later became the driving force behind making Dr. King's birthday a national holiday.

I am so incredibly proud to welcome all of my neighbors, residents, and elected officials to the Nation's Capital. Welcome to Congressional Black Caucus Week.

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