All daughters deserve protection

Since 2012, Washington State Congressional District 6 has been represented by Derek Kilmer. Norm Dicks retired and shoehorned young Kilmer into his seat. If you have heard Kilmer speak you most likely have heard about his family. He mentions his immigrant grandma, his teacher parents and his two daughters so often you would think they were on his staff. In 2016 he said his daughters were one of the main reasons he strongly supported Hillary Clinton because he wanted them to “see that a woman could be president” and in almost every speech, he works in that his goal is to make this country and world a better place for his daughters to grow up in. The Princeton/Oxford graduate and former McKinsey consultant is good with words at a community bbq.

In 2014 Kilmer cosponsored a bill spending hundreds of millions of dollars for a missile defense system for Israel saying, “The first time I went to Israel, I saw firsthand what it was like for little kids to live under threat. As a parent of two girls, I want to do everything we can to ensure that innocent civilians are protected from attacks.”

According to the Israeli military, the first rocket by Gazan resistance groups was fired on April 16, 2001. This came after Israeli forces had shelled and invaded Gaza, killing 570-plus Palestinians in the previous six months. Up until May 09, 2021, Gaza rockets have killed a total of 30 Israelis. During the same period, Israeli air strikes have killed more than 4,000 Gazans. Hamas uses mostly homemade rockets and rocks while Israel has F35 Fighter Jets and precision bunker busting bombs (which they buy from us using money we give them).

Israeli forces have killed at least 63 Palestinian children in the past week and more than 1,000 Palestinian children have been killed and thousands more maimed by Israeli forces over the past 20 years. What about Palestinian daughters Representative Kilmer? They are not just “living under threat” they are dying under attack! Is this the “better world” you want your daughters growing up in?

Derek Kilmer has taken two “all-expense-paid” trips to Israel courtesy of AIPAC. He has sponsored legislation to approve the sale of missile systems to Israel, paid for with the almost $4 billion per year he approved from our tax dollars. The majority of that $4 billion is required to be spent purchasing specific weapons systems from the war corporations Raytheon, Boeing and others who strongly fund Kilmers re-election campaign every two years.

Derek Kilmer has nearly $3 million in his campaign account right now. Not coincidentally, two of the main benefactors of the sweetheart weapons deal have Kilmer’s mentor and former 6th District representative Norm Dicks as their lobbyist. Dicks takes home nearly $500,000 per year to “stay in touch” with members of Congress like Derek. When you hear corporate mouthpieces in Congress like Kilmer talk about “Hamas terrorists” and “thousands of rockets fired on Israel” without mentioning expanding settlements, Israeli targeting of hospitals, schools and homes or the tragic number of Palestinian children killed or maimed by one of the most powerful and advanced militaries in the world, then you need to recognize where the loyalty of YOUR member of congress lies. #VoteKilmerOut

Mike Coverdale

Westport