Ta’anit Tzedek hosted an incredible conference call today with outgoing Congressman Brian Baird from Washington state. I’ve long admired Rep. Baird as one of the most fearless politicians on Capitol Hill on the issue of Israel/Palestine; indeed, his comments today were a powerful reminder that there are still politicians left in Washington who are doing this work for all the right reasons.
Rep. Baird spoke candidly and courageously on a host of issues: his four visits to Gaza, the Corrie family’s quest for justice for their daughter Rachel (the Corries are his constituents), the state of the current peace process, and the political reality of the Israel/Palestine issue in Congress.
We’ve just uploaded the audio of the entire conference call to the Ta’anit Tzedek website. Please, please listen to it and send it on to anyone who you think need to hear words such as these. Rep. Baird is a truth teller of the highest order. He will be sorely missed in Washington.
Shalom Rav 
The trouble is – he’s leaving. It’s the people coming in that are troubling. What will we do with Mark Kirk?! Jan Schakowsky is a reasonable person, but votes the lobby line in most cases, including the rejection of the laudable Goldstone Report (which I read). And for those who have hope for the environment, we have John Shimkus of Illinois to dash it. One can’t come down on politicians when the represent their constituency. So where to begin when there are so many folks out there that are angry, ignorant and fully supportive of ignorance ruling in Congress.
Baird represented a part of the country that is known for activism, environmentalism, progressivism. The trouble is the guys in powerful positions such as Chuck Schumer and now Eric Cantor along with stalwart Ileana Ros-Letinen are off the scale in the other direction when it comes to Israel.