Introducing Mark Pocan, A New Member of the Squad

Congressman Marc Pocan (D-Wisconsin) has been making a series of anti-Israel remarks that entitle him to be declared a member of the Squad, along with such better-known anti-Israel figures as Rashida Tlaib (D-Khan Yunis) and, Ilhan Omar (D-Mogadishu). More on Pocan can be found here: “Mark Pocan Rips AIPAC as ‘Dark Money’ Group, Claims Netanyahu Plotting to ‘Destroy Gaza,’” by Corey Walker, Algemeiner, August 12, 2024:

US Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) slammed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, intensifying the rhetoric of some lawmakers in Washington, DC against the Jewish state and its American supporters.

AIPAC is the well-known pro-Israel group — the most effective of all of them — that provides financial support to pro-Israel candidates. This is not, pace Marc Pocan, “dark money” hidden from view. AIPAC proudly declares the sums it has spent to defeating, recently, two members of the Squad who have been particularly vicious in their attacks on Israel, Jamaal Bowman of New York and Corrie Bush of Missouri.

“The hypocrisy of [AIPAC]. Netanyahu refuses to support the ceasefire/return of hostage plan, as his real plan is to destroy Gaza,” Pocan posted on X/Twitter. “Yet they claim Hamas missing a meeting as supposed failure. Both should support the plan. Just dark money [AIPAC] supports Netanyahu, not Israel.”…

It is not Israel, or Netanyahu, that is holding up negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostages-for-prisoners swap. The Israeli government has just announced that it will be sending a delegation to the next round of talks brokered by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar. Instead, it is Hamas that refuses to send its own delegation, claiming that there had been a previous agreement — there had not been — which it would not agree to change. What Hamas describes as a “previous agreement” never existed, because Israel had refused Hamas’ demand for a permanent ceasefire. Neither Pocan, nor Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Summer Lee, nor Senator Bernie Sanders, have had any comment on Hamas’ refusal to participate in the latest round of talks. As they cannot blame Israel, they prefer to remain silent.

Monday was not the first time that Pocan leveled harsh condemnations at AIPAC. He has called on the pro-Israel group to condemn Netanyahu for committing a “genocide” and suggested the organization wants the Israel-Hamas war to continue for fundraising purposes.

So Israel, according to Mark Pocan, is committing a “genocide” in Gaza, even though the IDF makes every effort to minimize civilian casualties, mainly by warning Gazans away from areas and buildings about to be targeted. In just the first six months of the war, the IDF dropped nine million leaflets, sent 15 million text messages, and made 16 million robocalls, all to save Gazans from harm. It is Hamas that, by embedding its fighters, and hiding its weapons, among civilians, deliberately endangers the lives of Gazans.

In the months following Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughter of roughly 1,200 people throughout southern Israel, Pocan has positioned himself as a strong critic of the Jewish state. He has condemned Israel’s defensive military operations in the Gaza Strip, accusing the Jewish state of causing “devastation” and engaging in “indiscriminate killing.” Pocan has also voted against sending additional offensive arms shipments to Israel, claiming that the Jewish state has inflicted unjustifiable atrocities “upon innocent civilians in Gaza.”…

Pocan’s anti-Israel animus is profound; he has no sympathy for the Jewish state fighting back against the terror group whose operatives — 3000 of them — tortured, raped, and murdered 1,200 Israelis on October 7. He charges Israel with engaging in “indiscriminate killing,” despite the great efforts the IDF makes to warn Gazans away from danger, even supplying them with maps indicating the safe areas they can move to. Israeli pilots routinely abort their missions if they detect too many civilians near the intended target. He makes no mention of the astonishingly low ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths of roughly 1:1, which is far lower than that achieved by any army in the history of warfare. The UN, for example, claims that in all the wars fought since 1945 the average civilian-to-combatant ratio has been 9:1. In Afghanistan, the Americans managed to lower that ratio to 4:1, and in Iraq to 3:1. But no army has approached that 1:1 ratio achieved by the IDF in Gaza. No wonder that British Colonel Richard Kemp, West Point Professor John Spencer, and the High Level Military Group (HLMG), consisting of military leaders and officials from NATO and other democratic countries , have all concluded that the IDF is “the most moral army in the history of warfare.” I doubt if Marc Pocan will pay any attention to such military experts; his mind is made up about the Jewish state.

Netanyahu’s office confirmed that the Jewish state plans on sending mediators to the Aug. 15 ceasefire talks in either Doha or Cairo.

“Pursuant to the proposal by the US and the mediators, Israel will — on Aug. 15 — send the negotiations team to a place to be determined in order to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework agreement,” the Israeli premier’s office said in a statement.

This announcement, of Israel’s willingness, and Hamas’ refusal, to engage in negotiations in order to reach a final agreement on a ceasefire and a hostages-for-prisoners swap, will also have no effect on Pocan. He will continue to berate Israel for refusing to come to the table, when the very opposite is true. He will continue to accuse the Jewish state of “genocide” without taking note of the ratio of civilian-to-combatant deaths in Gaza of 1:1, and what that signifies. His mind is made up. He’s ready for his close-ups with Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Two squadroons — Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman — recently lost their primaries. Mark Pocan is ready, willing, and most able to fill one of the vacancies on the Squad left by their defeats. He’ll fit right in.