Yesterday (May 30), Representative Marc Veasey, while out for a cup of coffee with constituents, was confronted by Pro-Palestine protestors eager to question the Congressman about his willingness to support a ceasefire resolution as Israel’s ground offensive continues to intensify in southern Gaza. Veasey, who was attending a pre-planned “Coffee with a Congressman” event at Soiree Coffee Bar in West Dallas seemed to be taken aback by the arrival of the protestors. The event, meant to create a meeting place between the representative and district 33 constituents started without much to write home about – coffee, a Congressman, constituents, and conversations.
About 90 minutes into the coffee soirée though, protestors began to loudly chant “ceasefire now”, as Veasey reactively tried to curb the escalating scene. Unexpecting attendees quickly turned their attention to the interaction, some coming to Veasey’s defense, suggesting that the protestors would do well to “learn to agree to disagree” and “respect the community”. Veasey was eventually able to take control of the room, regaling the audience with a story of being interrupted by Fort Worth area pro-life protestors, some 10-years-ago, who’d allegedly “felt entitled to talk over” him.
After taking up some air time, Veasey expressed his preferred manner of being approached and questioned, after which he introduced a handful of elected officials in attendance. He then opened the floor for questions. Two continents were called on, directing questions to the Congressman about Republican’s threat to cut billions in future SNAP benefits in Texas and the sunsetting of the Affordable Connectivity Program, surely a nod to Veasey’s recent comments concerning AT&T’s opening of a connected learning center at the Puede Network youth empowerment organization, meant to help bridge the digital divide.
Finally, Veasey called on a self-identifying “anti-genocide” protestor who’d been patiently waiting, hand raised, to address the Congressman. “I shared with Representative Veasey, a few moments ago, two testimonies from local doctors and nurses, from Dallas…who’d been serving in Gaza. They’ve asked all of us to demand from our local officials, a ceasefire in Gaza.”
The protestor went on to address a patiently listening Veasey, demanding “instead of doing that, you’ve actually written to Joe Biden and asked him to send more weapons…instead of supporting the young Black and Brown children in our District with that money”, referencing a letter, dated May 10, 2024, to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan signed by a group of twenty-six Democratic Members of Congress, including Representative Veasey.
For context, Veasey was endorsed by Pro-Israel America, an advocacy and lobbying group that claims to “stand proudly on behalf of freedom and equality” through “Zionism, rooted in American values”, on March 7, 2024. He has also recieved campaign donations from defense weapons manufactures including Lockheed Martin that supplies the AMG-114 Hellfire missiles for Israel’s Apache helicopters and and General Dynamics that supplies the IDF with artillery ammunition and bombs for attack jets. Veasey also sits on the Democratic Israel Working Group as a congressional member.
After a lengthy and extensive address to Veasey, the protestor posed the question, “will you call for a ceasefire, condemning the systematic withholding of humanity aid and the attacks on hospitals that are happening in Gaza?” Veasey, seemingly hesitant, began his response by thanking the young man for “respectfully exercising” the 1st Amendment right and boasted helping get one of the doctors referenced out of Gaza.
Veasey spoke of what he described as a “very terrible and unfortunate and terrible situation that has occurred since the rapes and atrocities and killings that happen on October 7”, and a “very intricate tunnel system that Hamas has built”, stating that “the money that the Qatari’s have sent to them, instead of feeing the people that live in Gaza, they’ve used it to built tunnels and missiles and things like that.” While Veasey did say that he believed the only way to end the conflict was the creation of a Palestinian state, he insisted that “Palestinians will hopefully choose leadership to get them to idea that they can have that state.”
After Veasey’s address, the protestor, clearly unsatisfied, doubled down on the initial question of whether Representative Veasey would support a ceasefire call, to which the Congressman stated, “I’m not calling for a ceasefire because I don’t want to strengthen the hand of Hamas.”