The United States House and Senate unanimously passed a resolution in support of Isreal’s attack on Gaza, which has thus far killed 115 Palestinians and three Israelis. While the  unconditional bipartisan support of Israel isn’t unique (The U.S. government has made it painstakingly clear in the past  that no amount of dismembered Palestinians will affect their unwavering bipartisan support for Israel), this particular resolution is more sickening than usual.

As Laura Freidman points out at The Daily Beast,  it “contains no mention of any aspiration to see hostilities end and includes no exhortation for the President to in any way to engage to try to calm the violence or bring about a ceasefire.”

Furthermore, it “doesn’t even pay lip service to, or offer even canned language feigning concern for, civilian life on both sides—or even on either side. This is bizarre, given that innocent civilians, including children, have already been killed and injured on both sides, and these numbers are almost certain to grow.”

The most troubling aspect isn’t necessarily what left out, but rather what was cut out. While this latest resolution was drawn almost word for word from the one passed by the Senate in 2009 during Operation Cast Lead, language about protecting innocent civilians, addressing humanitarian needs in Gaza and working towards a ceasefire were stripped out. Samer Araabi from the Arab American Institute created a striking mash-up of the two resolutions, highlighting what appear to be very deliberate omissions.

Friedman argues that this “sends the message that the Senate isn’t concerned about harm (already done or potential) to civilians” and that they’re “in no hurry to see a ceasefire—consistent, perhaps, with recent remarks by Israel officials to the effect that ‘We’re in no hurry to receive messages about a cease fire from Egypt or other states’ and ‘We’ll continue the pressure and the attacks on Gaza until Hamas begs for a cease-fire.'” [emphasis mine]

So there you have it. The United States Congress could care less if children in Gaza get blown to bits. In fact, they care so little, they’re not even going to support an end to the killings.

On a not too different note, AP reporter Matt Lee echoed similar concerns this morning when he grilled a State Department spokeswoman on their failure to end the hostilities, saying, “You’re being silent while people are dying left and right.” That pretty much says it all.