The Week Ahead
Greetings from Washington, D.C. I’m still coming down from a high from last night after hearing Joe Biden address the crowd at the Human Rights Campaign annual gala dinner, as we chanted, “Four more years!” His has been the most pro-LGBTQ+ administration in the history of our country, and we were proud to endorse Biden/Harris for 2024 and to continue our work to see this equality-focused administration return for another term.
One moment that struck me in particular was when President Biden tied in what is going on in the larger world to what is going on here at home:
Folks, we have to reject hate in every form. Because history has taught us again and again, antisemitism, islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, they’re all connected. Hate toward one group left unanswered opens the door for more hate toward more groups, more often, readily.
I have these powerful words in mind as I look ahead with great trepidation and heartbreak over what is unfolding in the Middle East.
Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the front lines near Gaza and stated that the Israel Defense Forces were ready to commence a major ground operation at any moment. The visit follows days of aerial bombardments of Gaza to destroy Hamas positions and soften up their defenses in advance of the imminent ground invasion. The attacks and planned ground war are in response to the bloodiest terror attack and mass killing of Jews since the Holocaust, with Israel losing more than 1,300 citizens, and over a hundred kidnapped and taken into Gaza as hostages.
Israel issued an evacuation notice for more than one million Palestinians in the north region of Gaza, which has been without food, water or electricity for many days. As thousands of desperate families stream south, human rights groups have decried the evacuation notice, which they say amounts to a logistically impossible scenario resulting in massive civilian displacement and a humanitarian crisis. Per the New York Times, over 2,300 people in Gaza have been killed in the past week. Hospitals are already overrun with the injured, which include nearly a thousand children. Gaza’s Health Ministry will not evacuate hospitals, noting that doing so would confer a death sentence on the wounded. “Our moral position obliges us to continue working,” the ministry stated.
The initial unqualified support by its allies in Europe and the U.S. for Israel’s right to act in self-defense is now tempered by criticism that the retaliatory attacks have become “indiscriminate attacks against civilians,” according to the president of the European Council. Over the weekend, President Biden stated, while reiterating that the U.S. stands with Israel, “We can’t lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas and the appalling attacks.”
The conflict threatens to spread
Iran told Israel on Saturday that it does not wish further escalation of the conflict, but also declared that it will have to intervene if the operation in Gaza continues. This would expand the war from a conflict between Hamas and Israel to a broader regional conflict that could open another front should Hezbollah (which is backed by Iran) or any Syrian-backed militant groups join the fighting. Specifically, Iran warned that if Israel follows through with its planned ground invasion, Iran will have to respond.
The U.S. has been warning other countries and groups not to take advantage of the situation and expand the war to a regional one. It has sent aircraft carrier groups to the region as a show of force.
The U.S. remains without key leadership
Amid the crisis, the U.S. House of Representatives remains without a speaker after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), an extreme MAGA ally of ex-president Trump, won his party’s nomination by secret ballot but not by a margin big enough to seal the deal. There is a faction of less-extreme Republicans, numbering in the dozens, who may refuse to elevate someone as radical and controversial as Jordan to Speaker, fearing voter reprisals in their more moderate, purple districts next November.
Jordan’s strategy appears to be to mount a pressure campaign against the holdouts, naming, shaming and blaming them for their failure to back him. It is unclear how effective this strategy will be. Indeed, it may backfire should the more moderate members push back against the strong arm tactics.
Meanwhile, paralysis in the Senate, due to holds on military and diplomatic appointments and promotions placed mainly by Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), continues to leave the U.S. without key leadership in the Middle East, both from the State Department and the Pentagon. Analysts have begun to warn that the terrorism that struck Israel was aided in part by political divisions there, and that the lack of U.S. preparedness might encourage similar terrorist opportunism.
Some further thoughts
Sometimes the week ahead look is rosy, and others, such as today, it is not at all so. Like the invasion of Ukraine last year, the war in Gaza was not something most observers and experts had anticipated, yet it also has the strong potential to up-end all of our geopolitics and create further strains on our society, our economy and any hopes for lasting peace.
The commencement of war near and in Gaza, however, also has the potential to galvanize once far-apart parties into unity, at least for a time. For example, the crisis could provide a handful of Republicans with the political cover they need to work with Democrats to 1) end the speakership chaos, and 2) fund both Ukraine and Israel in one move. The utter failure of the Netanyahu government to keep the nation of Israel safe also could mark an end to his illiberal, anti-democratic rule as even his allies in the Knesset turn against him.
While we work, urge and pray for an end to these wars, the senseless violence and brutality can lead to greater moral clarity, urgency and unity for those who are fighting for liberal, humanitarian, and democratic values. It is, admittedly, the thinnest of silver linings, but it is where we may vest our hope.
I’ll see you back here tomorrow.
Jay
Jordan, Tuberville, and Paul are traitors and have no business being in Congress. All 3 are/were election deniers and anti-democracy agitators. Per Liz Cheney, Jordan was at key meetings where the January 6 insurrection was planned. Tuberville and Paul ignore warnings from American officials and continue to threaten US security due to their opposition to diplomatic and military promotions and positions. They are among the worst of the worst, and it's appalling that they are given so much power and "respect" by their GOP colleagues.
“The thinnest of silver linings” - well said. I am holding onto that and building from it. Sending good energy to the many healers on the ground, the caretakers, the peaceful warriors. ...And I think we are so fortunate to have a president like Biden right now, a man of empathy (who calls out the hate), intelligence, and wisdom with regard to foreign affairs. He also demonstrates that a person can account for past mistakes and do better as a result. This is huge!