Ten months into its genocidal war on Gaza, Israel showed no signs of acknowledging international demands to halt its attacks and seek a ceasefire this week—quite the opposite.
The United States is further into the final months of the Presidential election season. Kamala Harris is now firmly accepted as the Democratic nominee, and she’s trying to court the Left, Palestinian, and Arab communities critical to defeating Trump, avoid attacks from the Israel lobby, itself fresh off a victory against Cori Bush in Missouri, and raise campaign money. Most of America is excited to put Joe Biden behind them, and Harris is riding a wave of enthusiasm for her campaign. But these conflicting pressures inside the Democratic Party were on display this week as Harris struggled to respond to protestors demanding action on forcing a ceasefire.
First, she was overly harsh and dismissive to protestors interrupting a rally, telling them, “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.” It later emerged that she met with leaders of the Uncommitted National Movement before the rally. They claim she said that she was open to considering an arms embargo on Israel over their genocidal conduct in Gaza. Harris’s camp quickly denied that. There is still no space in the Democratic Party to question arming Israel, no matter what horrors it commits.
Netanyahu and the Israeli government believe Harris is weak and incapable of the significant political shift necessary to change the relationship with Israel. They also think that Trump will let them do whatever they want in Gaza and elsewhere. And so, during her first full week campaigning for President, Israel slaughtered Palestinians across Gaza. The brutality has gotten so bad that even Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, called Netanyahu today and told him to stop and seek a ceasefire.
But everyone knows the opinions and statements of governments worldwide do not matter. The only nation that can stop this is the United States. And the only person in the United States that can stop this is Joe Biden. He has made it crystal clear that he is willing to end his political life standing over the shredded bodies of Palestinian children he helped murder by sending weapons to Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military.
If Kamala Harris does win – and polling indicates that she has a solid chance of doing so – the most impactful and legacy-defining action she can take in the arena of foreign policy is resetting the U.S. relationship with the Middle East by forcing Israel to face accountability for its crimes of occupation, apartheid, and genocide.
Does she have it in her? Let me know what you think.
Must-reads this week
Qassam Muaddi writes about the anguish, destruction, and psychological impact Palestinians in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem are suffering from after repeated Israeli raids over the last ten months. Attention is rightly heavily focused on Gaza, but we cannot ignore Israel’s escalated attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
Mitchell Plitnick sees some promising signs that Palestine advocacy is building political power in Washington. He writes: “Pushing Josh Shapiro aside and massively raising the price tag to defeat a Jamaal Bowman or a Cori Bush are the results of years of movement building, political organizing, and a new combination of passionate, grassroots activism and professional political messaging and lobbying. For the first time, advocates for Palestinian rights have the foundation to build a force for political change.”
Craig Mokhiber says the International Court of Justice’s ruling that international law protects the rights of Palestinians, and they do not need to negotiate with their Israeli oppressors for those rights, dealt a definitive blow to decades of Western efforts to keep Israel outside the reach of the law. Mokhiber also joined the Mondoweiss Podcast last month to discuss this critical ruling.
Chris Habiby looks at Israel’s intentional system of economic fragmentation and dispossession that is an essential part of its plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land. He calls this overlooked aspect of Israel’s efforts “economic apartheid.”
Michael Arria reports on the No Harbour for Genocide campaign, which is working to prevent cargo vessels from docking in ports worldwide. An oil tanker with 300,000 barrels of military-grade jet fuel in the Mediterranean may have been refused port services in Gibraltar due to activists’ pressure.
Jonathan Ofir is tracking the horrible story of Palestinian prisoners raped by guards inside Israeli prisons. He says, “Israeli society’s monstrous sadism, deriving from a deep hate of Palestinians, is on display for the rest of the world to see.”
Joseph Grim Feinberg responded to Anna Rajagopal’s piece last month, arguing that Jews don’t need to invoke “Jewish values” to justify their work toward Palestinian liberation because that reinforces the very ideology they seek to dismantle. He writes, “It seems to me that if there is going to be a self-consciously “Jewish” contribution to the Palestinian cause, it is far better to invoke Jewish values—ideas drawn from Jewish history—than to rely on the unearned authority of Jewish identity.”
They so.far have managed to keep her under tight control. Let’s see what happens when she opens her mouth more.