Mideast War blowback

Post Reply New Topic

In the span of two days, one Jewish lawmaker became the first to call on Israel to ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, another called the Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war “unacceptable,” and a third said suffering in Gaza was a “moral failure.”

On Wednesday, Sen. Jon Ossoff, who has been a consensus-seeking voice on Israel within the Democratic party and who has carefully avoided overly criticizing the Jewish state since entering Congress in 2021, issued a blistering critique of the IDF’s ongoing military operation against Hamas in Gaza.

“The extent of civilian death and suffering in Gaza is unnecessary. It is a moral failure, and it should be unacceptable to the United States,” Ossoff said in a speech from the Senate floor on Wednesday

While Ossoff had hitherto been critical of certain Israeli policies in the West Bank, he had tapered that criticism and relied heavily on talking points regarding the importance of a two-state solution while working to build relationships with several key Israeli lawmakers. He has led efforts in Congress to back largely consensus initiatives such as boosting funding for the US Security Coordinator in Jerusalem and encouraging an independent investigation into the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

Since October 7, the 35 Jews in the US House of Representatives and in the Senate — all but two of them Democrats — have been among the most stalwart in defending Israel since Hamas’s massacres that day that launched the war.

Last month, three Jewish lawmakers, including two progressives, spearheaded a letter from more than half of House Democrats supporting Biden’s robust backing for Israel. All 24 Jewish Democrats in the House signed it.

Now — as the war enters its sixth week, the Palestinian death toll rises and the humanitarian crisis intensifies — anguished expressions of dissent from Reps. Becca Balint of Vermont and Dean Phillips of Minnesota, and Ossoff in Georgia, suggest that wall of support might be crumbling.

Phillips, Ossoff and Balint each said that the massacres Hamas carried out, killing 1,200 people and taking some 240 captive, recalled the horrors of the Holocaust. “These events call to mind the Einsatzgruppen SS, the Nazi death squads who hunted and massacred our relatives across Eastern Europe 80 years ago,” Ossoff said on the Senate floor.

But they said they have been haunted by the subsequent carnage, in which the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry has said that more than 11,000 Palestinians have died, including thousands of children.

On Thursday, Balint became the first Jewish member of Congress to endorse a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

“What is needed right now is an immediate break in violence to allow for a true negotiated ceasefire,” she said in an op-ed for VTigger, a Vermont news site. “One in which both sides stop the bloodshed, allow critical access to humanitarian aid and move towards negotiating a sustainable and lasting peace.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat who is a leader of the “Squad,” the most left-wing faction in the House, immediately seized upon Balint’s support, noting her Jewish identity.

Balint also said in her op-ed that a condition of a ceasefire must be the removal of Hamas from power — which is Israel’s objective in the war.

Ocasio-Cortez’s letter, which got 24 signatures, makes no such condition.

Later in the day, Ossoff took to the Senate floor to excoriate Israel’s conduct. He did not call for a ceasefire — he said Israel must pursue Hamas. But he was unstinting in his criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war and its resistance to Biden Administration pleas to allow in humanitarian assistance.

On Friday, Phillips, who is mounting a long-shot primary challenge to Biden and is known for his moderate positions, released a statement outlining his vision for a way out of the war that did not spare Israel or its leadership. He too called on Israel to dismantle Hamas’ fighting capacity.

“Israel has every right and expectation to target Hamas terrorists and dismantle their capability of destroying the state of Israel,” he said. “But that response has taken an unacceptable toll on Palestinians, many of whom are subject to Hamas terror — not supporters of it.”

He took aim in particular at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he said had “exacerbated” policies of “repression and illegal settlement on Palestinian lands.” He said Israelis should hold elections soon. Netanyahu also has low approval ratings within Israel.

Phillips presented a five-point plan to create a “future of peace.” The document was notable considering Phillips has been a leader in Congress in terms of calling out fellow Democrats for Israel criticism that he believed was antisemitic.

Until now the only Jewish Democrat forcefully criticizing Israel’s response has been Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the unofficial leader of congressional progressives. But he has refused to call for a ceasefire and has distanced himself from fellow progressive who do.

The shifts by Jewish lawmakers comes amid accelerating volleys of sentiment by people in and close to the US government. Hundreds of Biden administration staffers have signed statements criticizing the administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war and calling for Biden to do more to support the Palestinians, The New York Times reported this week.

Also this week, more than 100 former staffers for Barack Obama issued a letter praising Biden’s “moral clarity” for backing Israel and endorsing his request for a $14 billion emergency assistance package to Israel

The University of Alberta says it has fired the director of its campus sexual assault centre after she signed an open letter calling reports of sexual violence during Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel an “unverified accusation.”

University president Bill Flanagan issued a statement Saturday afternoon, saying that “effectively immediately,” the director of the U of A Sexual Assault Centre “is no longer employed by the university.”

The centre and its director, Samantha Pearson, were listed as signatories to a petition from Ontario MPP Sarah Jama and Victoria Coun. Susan Kim, which called on MPs who support a humanitarian cease fire in Gaza to resign in protest.

The letter took particular issue with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who it said “repeated the unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence.”

The Jewish Federation of Edmonton quickly condemned the use of the term “unverified accusation.”

“Samantha Pearson, @ualbertasac director, and the @ualbertasac have signed a letter alleging that Israelis were not raped or sexually assaulted by #Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7,” it wrote in a social media post. “Shouldn’t a sexual assault centre believe all victims, and not just the non-Jewish ones?”

People in my former Christian community did not think that Jews were liars.

I had thought Jagmeet represented Canada's version of the mainstream Left, so I find it ironically amusing to see him accused of sympathizing with Israel.

As for whether Jewish rape victims ought to be believed, I suppose it might matter if you've been raised to believe the Jews to be a mendacious people, which I don't think is unusual in any Christian society.

He's the leader of the Federal NDP which isn't our left or the right. It's our working class party.

Exactly. That was my point.
I don't understand how "the credibility of Jews" is even a talking point here, or in the news.

Jews are highly credible in my experience. Israelis tend to be brutally honest. But lately it seems people don't want to hear their opinion, idk.