Can’t Uygurs drink Starbucks and taste American freedom?

“Morally bankrupt”? Was Michigan Republican John Moolenaar talking about himself? Last week, the chairman of the House Select Committee on China demanded that Starbucks “immediately reverse course and close its stores”.

The coffee chain’s crime? It opened two stores in Urumqi – the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region – in the city centre’s Grand Bazaar and its international airport. The way Moolenaar talked about it, you would think Starbucks was committing genocide and crimes against humanity, or at least being complicit in them.

A committee press release said: “This week, Starbucks opened stores in Xinjiang, the Chinese region where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is committing genocide against Uygurs and other minorities.”

Moolenaar said in the release: “This is a shocking and morally bankrupt decision by a company that prides itself on social responsibility. Every cup sold in these stores ties an iconic American brand to the CCP’s brutal campaign against the Uygurs. Starbucks should immediately reverse course and close its stores in Xinjiang.”

I don’t know, maybe the Uygurs and other minorities might sometimes want to take a break from constant oppression by Han Chinese and buy an American cuppa or a frappuccino? There is a danger, I admit, that they might be compelled to work as baristas under China’s forced labour regime.

While Moolenaar expresses outrage at Starbucks trying to sell a few more cups of coffee, he and the majority of US members of Congress, including most of those on his committee, have gone out of their way to support Israel with massive bombs that vaporised humans during the war in Gaza. Granted, there are a few honourable exceptions.

You don’t see Moolenaar and his kind jumping up and down as the Trump administration now prepares to sell Israel 60,000 heavy bombs. The whole world knows what Israel has used them for since October 7, 2023. The latest sale, worth US$2.8 billion, reportedly includes 2,000lb (907kg) bombs such as 20,000 MK-84s, 20,000 BLU-117s and 20,000 I-2000 Penetrators.

The MK-84 is an unguided general-purpose bomb built for blast and fragmentation against buildings. It can kill or injure people hundreds of metres away. The BLU-117 looks like the MK-84 but can be fitted with precision-guidance kits and has a thermal protective coating for safer storage. The I-2000 Penetrator is a “bunker buster” with a much thicker, harder casing, designed to punch through hardened structures before detonating.

Together, these and other powerful weapons have killed tens of thousands and displaced millions in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

Then US president Joe Biden’s administration paused some deliveries of 2,000lb bombs in 2024 because of criticism from rights groups about civilian deaths. Current US President Donald Trump resumed such arms sales to Israel after taking power the following year.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Project on Defense Alternatives says a 2,000lb bomb blast severely damages, injures or kills everything within 35 metres (115 feet). Preliminary research suggests Israel has used these bombs more often since the Gaza war began. One example is the October 31, 2023 strike on the Jabalia refugee camp, which killed dozens of civilians. The UN Human Rights Office said that strike could amount to a war crime.

According to an Al Jazeera investigation, Gaza civil defence teams have documented 2,842 Palestinians who “evaporated” in blasts, leaving almost no remains. Experts and witnesses attribute this to thermal and thermobaric weapons. The investigation links US-made MK-84 and BLU-series munitions to these disappearances. Metal powders have reportedly been added to the explosive mix to push temperatures to 2,500-3,000 degrees Celsius (4,500-5,400 Fahrenheit).

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The sales come despite reports that US munition stockpiles are being depleted during the war with Iran.

I strongly recommend the following reports related to Palestine for Moolenaar’s reading pleasure:

• Amnesty International (December 2024)

• International Criminal Court (November 2024)

• Human Rights Watch (December 2024)

• B’Tselem (July 2025)

• International Association of Genocide Scholars (August 2025)

• Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (December 2023)

• Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (July 2025)

• United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (August 2025)

The congressman has been a consistent and staunch supporter of Israel. He unfailingly supports military and foreign aid packages to the country and has publicly called for unwavering alignment with it. These include his April 2024 vote in favour of a US$26 billion US aid package designated to support Israel’s military operations.

So, selling Israel 2,000lb bombs that vaporise women and children is perfectly fine, but selling chocolate mocha and espresso in Xinjiang? Now that’s complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity.