‘I can’t keep silent’: Pelosi quotes Israeli poet to urge Trump removal

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday quoted an Israeli poet and songwriter as she urged Republican lawmakers to back the removal of US President Donald Trump from office over his supporters’ storming of the Capitol last week.

Pelosi quoted Ehud Manor’s poem “I Have No Other Land” (“Ein Li Eretz Aheret” in Hebrew) during a floor speech as the House of the Representatives debated a bill calling for US Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, hailed Ehud Manor as a “great Israeli poet” and said she has previously recalled his poem during Trump’s presidency.

“I can’t keep silent in light of how my country has changed her face, won’t quit trying to remind her. In her ears, I’ll sing my cries until she opens her eyes. I can’t keep silent of how my country has changed her face,” she said, reciting the words.

הרגע הזה שננסי פלוסי, יו"ר בית הנבחרים האמריקאי, מצטטת את "המשורר הישראלי הגדול אהוד מנור" ומקריאה שורות מתוך "אין לי ארץ אחרת".

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חזק מאוד. pic.twitter.com/4Ws9Mi79Bb

— Yanir Cozin – יניר קוזין (@yanircozin) January 13, 2021

Pelosi also quoted the poem, which was later made into a song, during her speech to the J Street conference last year.

Written in 1982 when a right-wing Likud government was waging a controversial war in Lebanon, the song speaks of Manor’s love for Hebrew but features a pledge to “not remain silent and sing” to a country that “has changed its face.” Manor’s widow, Ofra Fuchs, said in 2015 that it was intended as a left-wing protest song.

JTA contributed to this report.