Palestinians Go to Congress
Washington Watch
October 20th, 2025
Dr. James J. Zogby ©
President
Arab American Institute
Last week, the Arab American Institute, Churches for Middle East Peace, and the American Friends Service Committee brought a group of Palestinian Americans with family in Gaza to meet with members of Congress and media. Their two-day presence in Washington was designed to give voice to Palestinian victims of Israel’s assault on Gaza and to put a human face on those who have suffered. Our government officials have frequently met with and heard the stories of Israeli families. Palestinians haven’t had the same opportunity.
Planning for the Washington visit began months ago but was delayed by congressional recesses and the current government shutdown. When our date had been finalized and President Donald Trump announced his “peace plan,” a few naysayers expressed concern that the plan’s signing might dampen interest in hearing from Palestinians.
Trump got his victory lap and photo ops in Israel and Egypt where leaders heaped praise on him. Media commentators called the moment “historic” and “transformative,” and TV cameras recorded joyous demonstrations in Jerusalem and deeply emotional scenes of Israeli families reunited with loved ones held captive for two years. For days, papers included front-page stories of Israelis returning home and burials of those whose bodies had been returned.
Meanwhile, Palestinians remained as objectified or invisible as they’d been two years ago when this war began. Despite public opinion having shifted toward Palestinians, politicians and the mainstream media shied away from humanizing and personalizing Palestinian victims.
To be sure, there was media coverage of Gaza’s rubble—and photos of throngs of Palestinians greeting buses returning some of the 1,700 young Palestinians whom Israel had held hostage since early in the war. But there were no names, no photographs of mothers holding their sons or children with their fathers. Reduced to a faceless mass or body-counts without personalities, a people is easily dismissed. Their suffering isn’t felt, their stories unknown, and their humanity unaffirmed. This objectification and depersonalization—hallmarks of ingrained and unconscious bigotry—was what our visiting Palestinian Americans challenged.
The men and women, Muslims and Christians, we assembled from six states had profoundly moving stories to tell. One had travelled to Gaza in September 2023 for his annual visit with family. When the war began, he stayed to see his loved ones through whatever hardships they would encounter. He was with them during their forced moves and their hunger. He lived throughout bombing raids and pulled the shattered body of his little niece out of the rubble when her home was destroyed. He finally returned to the US a few months ago.
Others had come to the US as students and stayed. They too were frequent visitors to Gaza and retained close ties with family. They brought photos of loved ones, survivors as well as those who’d perished from bombings or the absence of medical services. They had pictures of their homes, now destroyed. An especially poignant photo showed a niece and nephew playing on the rubble of what had once been their home. Each delegation member also had stories of living through Israeli bombings, shootings, and the tragic deaths of loved ones that pre-dated October 7, 2023.
Their stories and photographs painted a powerful and painful portrait of a reality that the Senators and Representatives needed to hear. They reminded them of uncomfortable truths: Palestinian children have names; Palestinians aren’t just a faceless body count of collateral damage; and those who perished had been killed by Israel with bombs supplied by the US Congress.
Our group asked that an official congressional delegation visit Gaza, to see with their own eyes the devastation wrought by Israel, and to meet directly with Palestinians and assess their needs. A number of lawmakers responded positively to this request.
The visit was a success. The testimonies of these brave Palestinian Americans challenged lawmakers and media to recognize that the current celebrations are, at best, premature and that a “peace plan” must be more that a real estate and investment program and focused on much more than just Israeli security. Peace requires recognition of Palestinian humanity, their individual and collective trauma, and their needs for security, justice, and healing in the wake of this latest devastating assault. More such delegations will follow.
