Be careful what you wish for. Netanyahu has ALREADY SAID that he thinks Israel should stop being a ward of the United States, relying on foreign aid, and instead be a greater partner WITH US DEFENSE CORPORATIONS! In other words, they want to infiltrate our Defense industry, making it impossible to dislodge them no matter what they do! No.
I supported Israel all my adult life but, now as I enter my 8th decade, I understand that I’ve been played for decades! Israel, long ago abandoned a two state solution . I’m angry at myself that it took me so long to decry the mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza & the West Bank.
Netanyahu is a monster, but the Israelis who support him also have blood or their hands
I feel your pain. I too am in my eighth decade. I have felt since "W's" second term that evangelicals were being used by the republican party. It just never dawned on me that the people I once worshiped with were evil enough and stupid enough to fall into the hands of the heritage foundation.
Yes, I agree Netanyahu is a monster along with those who support him, but that's no different than johnson and thune being as much monsters as the trump regime.
The governments of Israel and The US are both authoritarian. And the central perversity of the authoritarian worldview is that they are entitled to impose their worldview on any and all they encounter (with Israel having recent good cause to fear others.) But both governments are so caught up in their delusion that they alone are blessed with right opinion that they cannot even imagine that the other side has legitimate grievances as well. Both Israel and the Palestinians are fighting over limited land and resources. And, both overplayed their hands and have few if any pathways to deescalation. Both the US and Israel have reactionary fanatics for leaders and both are nuclear powers. How long before they opt for a 'final solution'?
It would be more accurate to say -- the United States abandoned a two-state solution. After extraordinarily laborious efforts at Camp David, at Oslo, over successive administrations, it was our muscle, our influence, our say-so that got agreements signed that moved toward this. Then, as with so many other foreign challenges, we lost interest, shrugged our shoulders, went back to business as usual, and Netanyahu was the result. An inert, corrupt Palestinian leadership in the West Bank that might have otherwise provided a real alternative to Hamas's lunacy was another result.
Putting it a bit too simplistically, but I blame us more than him.
I know this is a minority view but it's still possible. There was a deal. Land for peace.
Most of the American Arabs I know are Christian, know that their people are just as vulnerable as Jews in an Mos;em coiuntry. We can't tell the players without a scorecard.
Same here, but half way through my 7th. Watching the BBC B&W's of the camp liberation's in the 50's, I swore I would always support the Israelis, but no more. When the government they elected inflicts on others what was done to them by Germany, I quit.
I heard some interviews of Israeli citizens recently and several of them expressed that exact sentiment. They see their own government committing genocide against the Palestinians and don't know how to deal with it.
Golda Meir, Yitshak Rabin, & David Ben Gurian must be rolling in their graves! My Jewish father & Catholic mother both taught me the lessons of WWII and to rejoice that the Jewish people decided Never Again. Netanyahu is a grifter-in-chief. Much like his new best friend…
Please understand that it is not all Israelis who support him. Netanyahu has been able to stay in power by promising the ultra religious Jews that their sons and daughters will never have to serve in the IDF. He is therefore able to cobble together a majority that includes this group in order to stay in power.
I'm in my 8th decade too, grew up in a west LA Jewish community. The lady across the street showed me the number the Nazis tattooed on her arm. I'm cognizant of 2000 years of hatred, discrimination, and outright murder of humans who choose to identify as Jewish. I'm not supportive of turnabout toward the humans that choose to identify as Muslim. But, let's not kid ourselves: Hamas & Hezbolah, and their funders in Tehran do not want a "two-state solution." They want the Jews gone altogether, alive or dead. Until that sentiment changes, I'm supporting Israel in protecting themselves however they see fit.
I, too, have met people who were in Nazi concentration camps. Back in the early 1990s I was involved in a public health research study, helping to collect lifestyle information from people who volunteered for the study. I called one man to ask if it was an error that his weight had been recorded at 85 pounds when he was about 20, only to be told that he had been in a Nazi concentration camp at that age. And then, later, the same study, I visited a couple in their home to do an interview, and the husband (a different man than the one I had called) had a concentration camp number on his arm. I have also heard the stories from my father of what he saw when he advanced into Germany with the American military near the end of the war. I will never forget. HOWEVER, how does it help to support Israel in destroying itself? Because that's what they are doing right now -- destroying all hope for a peaceful future and perhaps for any future. Sure, they had enemies in the Middle East, but now they have far more enemies -- and they make enemies out of people who used to be their allies.
Sympathy should not fade just because the state of Israel is currently run by a destructive authoritarian/religious right government. Are you saying that you have no sympathy for the millions of Jews who died and suffered in the Holocaust because of the current death and suffering of the Gazans at the hand of the Israeli government? Or that you have no sympathy for the suffering of the millions of people in Israel who do not support the current government yet are paying the price for its actions? Neither one is justifiable.
This isn't about Israel doing what it sees it needs to do to protect itself. It's about an increasingly exasperated Diaspora fed up with the messes Bibi creates for them to clean up. This Iran war crossed a line into extreme stupidity: for both Trump and Bibi. Now eight billion people are cursing both of their names because they can't afford cooking fuel to make dinner for their families. And it's going to get a lot worse--even if the Strait fully reopened tomorrow.
This latest war is already creating a tsunami of ill-will for the United States and Israel. And will likely cause a GLOBAL recession. If you don't think it will also seriously fuel antisemitism here in the US, you're not paying attention.
when I was little my parents had friends with numbers tatooed on their arms, a point of facination for my brother and I. Not EVERYONE had a tatoo back then, unlike now. My parents said do not ask them about it now they would explain later.
My understanding of Israel/Palestine changed when I went to Israel in 2019. To see with my eyes and hear their story with my heart changed my understanding.
Interesting point. Retired US Army Colonel, and also now Professor Emeritus of history & international relations, Andrew Bacevich has written extensively about the US Military and how US foreign policy creates blow-back that influences both US Military and US civilian culture in unexpected ways. He has described the Israeli military posture as hyper reactive. They are a small state living in a dangerous neighborhood and tend to react quickly with overwhelming force to every provocation. Bacevich noted the Israeli military thinking has started to influence US military thinking and criticized what he saw as a trend in the U.S. military starting to adopt that same hyper reactive posture. Bacevich’s critique is the US has the luxury of being able to be less reactive and more thoughtful/strategic in how it responds. Moving fast with excessive force creates unexpected blow back and new problems that frequently makes the situation worse.
An even closer tie between Israel and US defense contractors would not be in the US interest. If anything, US defense contractors would benefit from learning the lessons Ukraine defense forces and industry have been learning in their battles against Russia. Ukraine has become masters of low-cost, effective weapons systems.
I would disagree that the US is becoming more reactive. That's not the reality. The GOP has become a fascist party (which started with Reagan). N & T are power & money hungry. Both are corrupt with criminal charges waiting for them when they are not in office. The GOP is the minority party, but has used hate & lies to be elected. It has worked because too many Americans are racist, misogynistic, ignorant of the facts, and self-absorbed. The GOP has been aided by the news media since REAGAN ended the Fairness Doc. This mirrored Hitler's step in 1933 to take control of German newspapers to spread his lies & hate.
May I suggest you read the post more carefully. The argument is sbout how the US military is influenced by Israel's and vice-versa. Andrew Bacevich is a long-recognized voice from within our own military-industrial complex who knows a great deal about what he speaks.
"Moving fast with excessive force creates unexpected blow back and new problems that frequently makes the situation worse."
A foreign/military policy of 'move fast and break things' is neither competent nor responsible. It may be financially beneficial to the military industrial complex to keep selling materiel to Israel; it is not beneficial to our foreign relations to other countries,
Assuming that this defense industry alignment is true, there's a way to deal with it if Congress had the spine to do so: no more government contracts for corporations that do business with Israel.
It's not about having a spine. It's about the choices Americans make at the ballot box. We have the racist, fascist GOP party in control of the WH, the House and the Senate because of voter suppression in red ares of the nation and the ignorant/racist people who vote for them. The first step is to help whatever DEM has a chance of winning in any district or state to be elected. The ignorant chose to vote for T, not to vote, or voted for 3rd party candidates that had ZERO CHANCE of winning - all because Harris was just not good enough for them. THAT is why we are in this horrible situation. I am NOT a fan of Schumer's but we cannot risk losing that seat. His district is far from progressive. Challenging him could give the seat to a GOP.
U.S. arms sales to other countries should come with strict compliance rules that allow for contracts to be cancelled any time credible evidence of non-compliance arises. Indiscriminate civilian casualties would be at the top of that list.
Problem is, it was obvious that US bombs provided to Israel were being used for Bibi's genocidal plan. I was a big supporter of Biden, but the biggest mistake he made imo, was continuing to give Israel those bombs when we could see what Bibi was doing with them. So "non-compliance" can be in your face and yet ignored.
Absolutely agree! The Biden admin, like too many before and since, have blindly provided military aid to Israel with zero accountability. But you can be sure that the survivors of Israel's attacks blame both Israel AND the U.S. It's godawful that it's taken the loss of so many lives for people to finally wake up and demand a cut off of military aid to Israel. And before anyone says it, NO, this isn't about support of the Israeli people; it's a moral stance against their government.
The U.S. needs to impose strict standards and conditions upon which our government and our private sector industries will be permitted to give, sell or otherwise furnish any goods or services to Israel that could be used to support Israel’s external military policies, practices and activities.
Israel’s indiscriminate slash and burn devastation of Gaza that killed thousands and thousands of civilians and displaced millions of residents will forever condemn Israel for having committed its own waves of atrocities, for which Donald Trump will be equally remembered for his complicity.
Jen I commend you on writing this outstanding article showing true concern of our view of the current Israeli policy. This had to be very hard for you to write and it shows how strong your values are for defending democracy and rule of law. You continue to prove your independent media coverage is one of the best ways to get intellectual information. Thank you for all the hard work you do.
Jen has soft-pedaled her criticism of Israel and its genocide in Gaza. She's become more circumspect, yes, but still doesn't want to see how far Israel's wrongdoings go in the matter of Palestine.
Rubin has a lot to atone for, including her own strong and loud support for Netanyahu through all the Obama years. Bibi was just as bloodthirsty and radical then as he is now (and see below for my answer to the 'she changed her mind' response).
Even since then, her responses are at best conditioned and infrequent. It took The Contrarian until the summer of 2025 to write anything approaching a forceful criticism of the genocide in Gaza (it has never used that term). There has been next to nothing about Israel's constant assassinations of journalists, in Gaza and the West Bank, and now in Lebanon.
This article is the first time I have seen Rubin even mention Lebanon in her morning newsletters. Her only comment about the mass slaughter in Beirut of over 300 people hours after the first 'ceasefire' earlier this month is only to mention that Israel 'inflicts mass civilian casualties in Beirut'.
Her criticisms of AIPAC remain limited to their attacks on 'pro-Israel' candidates, like Contrarian favorite Tom Malinowski..she has yet to say anything about pro-Palestinian candidates that were targeted by AIPAC, like Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.
Her piece here is better than most from her, and her change is a welcome one....but is far from some profile in courage, now that even most elected Democrats have been open about criticizing Israel.
So in the light of new and worstening evidence she can't change her mind? Even some of the right wing media that have been banging the bell for Trump for years have stopped. Ms. Rubin should have the same right.
Can you find one single instance of Rubin justifying, explaining, or even acknowledging her many years of full throated support for Netanyahu and Israeli apartheid (as well has harsh criticisms of the Iran nuclear deal, among a hundred other hard right views)?
If so, then post.
The damage she did then can't just be resolved by an overnight about-face with no explanation at all. Her change is welcome, but not enough to make up for all that on its own.
I just saw Anthony Scaramucci on The Left Hook..Over and over he apologized for his past support of Trump and said he was wrong. That is what I would like to hear from Rubin.
She certainly can, but I used to read her opinion pieces in WAPO. And I was disgusted by her unwavering support for the GOP as it clearly was moving to the far right. The people of the LINCOLN Project had supported and aided the GOP right up until T. These are intelligent people who were too blind and unwilling to think for themselves or to question their beliefs until it was too late. They didn't care to notice the consequences of REAGAN ending the Fairness Doc or the GOP since Reagan, the FACT that GOP policies since Reagan had enriched the rich and hurt the rest of the people in the country, They used UNREGULATED capitalism, which allowed near monopolies to grow, caused the housing and loan crisis, and left huge messes for Clinton, Obama and Biden to clean up. Once upon a time I was an independent. As I watched what was happening to the GOP since Reagan, I became a democrat. This was NOT the party of Eisenhower. He would have seen the fascism rising. Despite all this, when she left WAPO and started the Contrarian, I wanted to see what it would bring to the table. It is always important to see what a range of people are reporting.
So Netanyahoo now says Israel's dependence on US aid should wind down in the next ten years...how very convenient for him.
NO! It must end immediately. It should have ended long ago. I never liked political litmus tests. But this year voters should have one: no support of any kind for any candidate who will not commit to ending all financial aid to Israel immediately.
Rubin correctly blames “ MAGA Republicans, encouraged by Christian Zionists and Islamaphobic white Christian evangelicals”, but she leaves out the many “centrist” Democrats who still support Israel’s genocide and apartheid, including the several Dem Senators who just weeks ago voted against stopping some military aid to Israel. This included the minority leader Charles Schumer.
Rubin insists on calling Israel a “democracy “ despite the fact that over 5 million Palestinians in the Occupied Territories live under Israel military rule, with no say over the occupying government and no control of their borders or trade. Israel is a “democracy” no more than there is a “ceasefire” in Lebanon or Gaza (or the West Bank, for that matter).
The US is quickly losing our democracy. Are you going to help the fascists complete the job by not voting for or by encouraging others not to vote for certain dems because they don't fit all your litmus tests? We would NOT be here if more people had voted for Harris? What litmus test did they apply? Racism, misogyny, their own self absorption, or just plain ignorance of the facts? How did they NOT know what would happen if T was elected? No candidate has going to have all the characteristics that each & every citizen has in mind for the perfect one. The question is: which of the 2 candidates will be better for the country? I like progressives. I don't want money in politics. I want a candidate who is intelligent, strong, willing to work hard and empathetic to the needs of regular Americans. Both HRC & Harris should have won, but Americans still think their opinions & beliefs are the ONLY thing that matters. Europeans whose news media reported the facts before our election were stunned by these results. One asked me - why didn't they see who T was? Do they not study WWII? She said that they are required to learn every detail so they would recognize fascism.
This piece is called 'Netanyahu Shows Why U.S. Aid To Israel Must End'..it is not called 'Netanyahu Shows Why U.S. Aid To Israel Must End....unless that aid is approved by Democrats'.
I said zero about voting or not voting, so you can stop putting words in my mouth and read the piece more carefully again, as well as my comments on it.
As far as the genocide in Gaza goes, Biden, Harris, Schumer, Jeffries and many others from the Dem 'centrist' wing are just as responsible as most of the GOP (although there's nothing 'moderate' about supporting genocide).
That obviously does not mean those Dem leaders are not preferable to the raging fascist maniacs in Trump's cabal. That also does not mean we should never criticize Democrats. Blind obedience is what fascists demand, not people who support real democracy.
Also, for the record, that includes criticizing journalists. It is downright weird how so many Contrarian readers seem to think Rubin should not be even slightly accountable and does not need to explain even a little bit her many years as a hard line right winger who took the exact opposite position on practically everything that she says now. Her comments then on Iran, Israel, Palestine would make Pete Hegseth blush.
GREAT 😔 another litmus test! What part of the fact that WE MUST WIN AS MANY SEATS AS POSSIBLE IN CONGRESS In 2026 DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? That is EXACTLY the reason Harris lost in 2024. It was not just the T voters who cost us this mess, but those who didn't vote and those who voted 3rd party because Harris just wasn't good enough. Was it racism, misogyny, self absorption or just plain ignorance of the fact that our democracy would be in danger if she did not win? I do not like Schumer. But his district is a rich one and is unlikely to vote for anyone who is even slightly more progressive. Mamdani could win in NYC because of its diversity, its democratic history, its ranked choice voting and the fact that Cuomo is hated in NY. PLEASE, look at the big picture. If we do not win both the House & the Senate, our democracy will be dead and we will unquestionably have another Great Depression as the corruption and the deficit rises.
Gayle, we're talking about genocide here. Genocide enabled by our dollars. . Compromise of a view or a position is one thing, compromising a fundamental value is another matter. However each of us ends up voting in the privacy of the election booth, left with our own consciences, is a personal dilemma. But demanding that our candidates commit to ending our role in Israel's genocide is imperative.
Thank you, Jen! Yes, it is important that Israel is protected. But supplying American weapons used to wipe out their neighbors is disturbing. And, it's not just the genocide, the killing of ten of thousands of inhabitants in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank, it's the displacement of an estimated 1.9 million people in Gaza, and over 1 million in Lebanon, with thousands more displaced in the West Bank. I can't imagine how horrible it must be for so many innocent bystanders.
You throw around the word genocide like you know what it means. I've gone around with you on this before. You hate Israel and would love if it were wiped ff the map.
I don't defend Netanyahu and his gang. But you are a true Jew hater.
Wow, take a breath, Marilyn. No I don't hate Jews. I don't hate Americans (I am one) but I put my president in the same category as I put Netanyahoo and Pootin. They are all war criminals and detestable despots because of their cruelty and bigotry. I'm not going to try to define the term genocide for you because more authoritative sources than I have already done this--and been quoted in this substack pretty often. Jewish authorities have also called what Netanyahoo has done in Gaza a genocide.
And I don't want to see Israel wiped off the map. I just wish Netanyahoo weren't wiping Gaza and the West Bank, as we've known those lands since 1947, off the map.
Like you, there are a few other posters who assign all the blame on Israel. What responsibility does the terrorist group Hamas have in the so called "genocide?" Didn't they use Gazans as human shields? Didn't they steal their food?
Gazans elected to have a terrorist organization lead them. The Hamas charter calls for the genocide of Jews worldwide. Don't the Gazans deserve condemnation? Shouldn't they share the blame?
I fully agree with you that Putin, tRump and Bibi are detestable. I agree that what the Jewish extremists are doing in the WB is also detestable.
It seems futile to have a discussion with someone who jumps to conclusions, "baits and switches" issues, and deflects from criticism of one person by saying "But look at all the other terrible things being done by others." I tried a similar argument on a traffic officer once ('But everyone is speeding!") and it didn't work then either.
Do you forget that Netanyahu allowed, encouraged Qatar fo fund Hamas so they'd survive, to ensure that the PLA would fail, and with it the chance of a Palestinian state being established? Vis-vis Hamas, Netanyahu doesn't have clean hands.
PS: Yesterday Palestine held its first election since 2006. Meaning that half the population of Palestine wasn't event alive when Hamas was voted into power. Supports of Mahmoud Abbas (Al Fattah) and not Hamas, seem to have won the election over the weekend.
I understand that this horror is GENOCIDE. It will NOT stop if the GOP wins races against Dems because of a 3rd party candidate or a candidate that is progressive in a centrist or conservative area. That is exactly how the GOP has won the presidency in at least 3 elections. If we do not have a democratic Congress, we will LOSE our democracy. Is that what you want for the next generations? There will be no way to stop genocides or mistreatment of others if we do not stabilize our own country. I get it. I sometimes cannot sleep because my heart aches for those in our concentration camps or for those being senselessly killed by the US and Israel's corrupt leaders. I'm 79. I'm exhausted by all the hate. But we cannot make lasting change if we don't look at the big picture.
Of course genocide and other horrors won't stop if the GOP wins in 2026 and 2028. It also will not stop if we elect compromised Democrats whose priority is protecting the status quo for their donors. We got where we are today because people were made to distrust voting for principle over expediency. Witness Bernie's losses.
That is NOT how we got here. And Bernie was sadly part of the problem. His rants and misinformation played right into GOP's hands and their long use of "socialism" as something associated with communism. He was wrong about capitalism being the problem. The problem was the unregulated capitalism used by every GOP president that served since Reagan. They started ignoring or ending the regs that were put in place by FDR et al since the Great Depression. For example, monopolies were banned and those in existence were split. Now we have multiple near monopolies. (note: Biden admin went after THREE of them - 2 successfully; the 3rd was in process against Bezos/Amazon). The majority of the people see capitalism as a way of gaining individual success by owning a business and "moving up". The best economic strategies on the other hand are regulated capitalism with programs that help the public and the needy. Not many people understand or know about these differences, although more now realize that billionaires have something to do with the problem. Had Bernie explained issues like AOC and Mamdani do now, we might very well not be here.
There are now more Dem MOC who are seeing the light about Israel and N because they see the damage our own dictator is doing and the fact that the rest of the world is angry at us - just as they are angry at N.
Why again are you unable to see the danger in more GOP getting elected if you and others have this litmus test? We will lose our democracy and put the next generations in a country that will commit its own genocide. WE CAN SEE THE CAMPS. WE KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING INSIDE THEM. LITMUS TESTS GAVE US T IN 2016 AND 2024. Just stop for a minute, maybe 2, to think outside of your box. Agreed - we don't want genocide anywhere. If we fail in 2026 to get whatever dem can win in any given district, there will be more genocides - including in the US. If we win at least the large majority of seats, the likelihood of stopping genocides increases. There are more centrist democrats that are seeing the problem because they are hearing what we say. If we do not, because a 3rd party candidate or progressive candidate ends up running in a race THEY cannot win, then genocides continue.
Were you asleep for 15 months while Biden and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate provided tens of billions of dollars in weapons to keep the genocide going? Along with political protection?
I'm definitely not interested in getting more GOP elected to Congress, Gayle, and I can't imagine you believe that. But I can't jump onto the Vote Blue No Matter Who bandwagon. Democratic candidates want our votes: What, specifically, will they commit to doing for their electorate, for the country? I want to hear specifics, plans and programs akin to what Liz Warren offered. (Yet another excellent candidate who was considered too "left" or progressive to win.) I want clarity and truthfulness on their positions.
And Bernie is too smart a man to reject capitalism per se. That's never what he meant when he called himself a democratic socialist. He wants government to work for all the people, not just the wealth class. He wasn't timid about stating what his political positions were and for that the Democratic leadership feared him and, for all practical purposes, rejected his candidacy. Just as Schumer et al did to Mamdani.
I'll say it again: Democratic leadership have led us to believe that we can't win elections unless we placate the status-quo and their funders. Compromise or courage: which do we want?
It's hard to tell in this complicated thread but I was responding to this statement by Ms. Woodward far above--"I never liked political litmus tests. But this year voters should have one: no support of any kind for any candidate who will not commit to ending all financial aid to Israel immediately."
That helped us get Trump and fascism. That kind of strategy is extremely self-defeating as if we get the Republicans in because we are too pure to save our own country, what will that do for us and the world?
And no, my idea is not that Democrats are above any criticism. That is ridiculous. I don't live by the black and white fallacy; that's why no litmus tests. Democrats should be criticized vigorously and made to do better.
The one and only way that Democrats can be 'made to do better' is if criticism is backed up with meaningful action, which is, that these candidates must be 'made' to earn their votes.
I am past sick and tired of hearing Blue No Matter Who Democrats blame the progressives in the party for every loss, and not blame policies and actions of 'centrist' Democrats that range from feckless to outright terrible...especially when those same leaders turn around and refuse to endorse or support popular progressives (Mayor Mamdani is a clear example).
When Democratic voters demand no accountability, their 'vigorous criticism' is not only meaningless, but provides a phony facade of democratic process and 'big tent' debate.
Biden/Harris's loss cannot be blamed on the base - their loss is entirely their fault, and the fault of the Democratic Party. Even in an anti-incumbent election due to the economic impacts of covid, it is still startling that a party could lose to such an abjectly horrible opponent. But here we are...and rather than any real self examination, so many leaders and their supporters still want to scapegoat those that were horrified by the Biden/Harris open support for genocide and war crimes, rather than the massive errors of the campaign.
Start with the fact that Biden ran at all for no reason other than pure arrogance. Harris had a hard job from the start, but her bear hug embrace of a pro war Republican like Liz Cheney, which won her exactly zero votes, while not allowing even a single pro-Palestinian representative to speak at the Dem Convention was a double slap in the face to the 'anti-genocide voters' (its sickening that this could even be considered a voting bloc)...there are plenty of other reasons o course.
And even now, the DNC purposely withheld the results of their own 'autopsy' from the public, and just weeks ago, leading Senate Dems, including the minority leader, refused to vote for even a small reduction in arms for Israel. Even now, the Party refuses to learn any lessons.
Base Democratic voters that were appalled by Biden's support of genocide tried hard to get the campaign to listen with the 'Uncommitted' vote strategy during the otherwise meaningless pony show of a primary campaign season....and Biden responded by sending more weapons to Israel right up to the very last days of his presidency.
Biden, Harris and the Democratic Party's support of genocide, among many other huge errors and faults, 'helped us get Trump and fascism'.
Ta-Nahisi Coates put it this way:
“We are at a moment right now where people are asking themselves why can’t the Democratic Party defend this assault on democracy . . . and I would submit to you that if you can’t draw the line at genocide, you probably can’t draw the line at democracy.”
AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHY T IS PRESIDENT NOW. PEOPLE REFUSED TO VOTE FOR HARRIS BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN, POC AND CLOSER TO THE CENTER OF THE PARTY. Our responsibility as a voter is to vote for one of the 2 candidates who could be elected. It is not a game where you get to take your ball home when people don't play the way you want them to. We got GW and 2 terms of the most dangerous man and his tribe because of this idiocy. Try a course in statistics and focus on the bell curve. Millions of voters vote in the Dem party primaries - including independents. The majority of them will be in the center of the party. That is why Biden won the primaries. Harris is also near the center, but left of Biden, a woman and POC. A presidential election is about protecting our democracy. It is NOT about YOU and what you want. It's not a present. Of the 2 candidates, T or Harris, which one is our democracy safe with? Had the millions of people who did not vote or voted for a 3rd party candidate, we would NOT be where we are now! I like progressive ideas. Not enough people know what these would actually mean for them. But the billionaires sure know what they want and those who didn't vote for Harris helped them.
'Until just a few months ago, I firmly believed that Joe Biden was one of the most consequential and transformative presidents that our nation had seen since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His administration managed to put in place groundbreaking domestic policies in the last three years that his predecessors couldn’t manage even in two terms. But no amount of landmark legislation can outweigh the more than 100,000 people killed, wounded or missing in Gaza. The scales of justice will not allow it."
This was not an election between Harris and Mitt Romney or John McCain. It was an election between Harris and, literally, a PROVEN scourge of the earth. A fascist, a moron, a Nazi, a misogynist, a racist, a criminal mob boss--I could go on but I think the point is made. Yes, you are entitled to your opinion, your outrage, your vote, your pride in following your conscience, all of it.
But this was a foreseeably very, very close election, decided in a few swing states like Michigan on merely tens of thousands of votes. So while you are entitled to your choice of conscience, along with that goes some responsibility for where we are today. The U.S, our allies, Ukraine, immigrants, US Aid, random fisherman in the Caribbean, the people of Venezuela, Iran and soon Cuba, the sick, the hungry, veterans, due process, the economy and much more including, yes, a desperate Gaza which Trump has slated to be some grotesque Miami of the Middle East.
I too want to end arms to Israel. I want a lot of things, some of which my representatives may not do; all I can do is try to persuade. What I don't want is ANYTHING that this criminal administration is doing in our name. What I don't want is the end of the American experiment. In real life with real consequences, drawing lines of personal rectitude can be cold comfort.
Excellent reply. But unfortunately, Jason does not even try to see past what he wants - a progressive candidate that fits his beliefs. He's like the billionaires who cannot see past what they want.
Your first two sentences illustrates the point I made above...the fact that Biden/Harris (it's such a bad comedy of errors, one can't even say it was a single person's race) lost to a candidate you correctly identify as 'fascist, a moron, a Nazi, a misogynist, a racist, a criminal mob boss' shows how terrible their campaign was.
This cannot be blamed on Democratic voters. It certainly cannot be blamed on, for instance, the Palestinian American voters in Michigan who saw their entire families slaughtered with US made bombs and US political support. These same voters, a long time loyal Democratic voting block, then had to endure the hostility from the Party that demanded their fealty while spitting in their faces. It's a little bit off-putting that you talk of 'real life and real consequences' as if the massacre of entire families isn't the biggest real life consequence anyone could face, especially since you do specifically point out Michigan.
Again, to embrace and campaign side by side with a warmongering, longtime supporter of Trump like Liz Cheney, whose 11th hour change of heart means next to nothing compared to her solid support for Trump throughout his first term, over even a single Pro-Palestinian representative, is a deep, fundamental failure...but this was only one failure of many.
I still wonder why the bigger voting block that Biden/Harris lost, those that were more concerned about the price of eggs than their leaders and taxes supporting genocide, have not been shamed in the same way. Maybe they should be blamed instead? Or maybe blame the tens of millions of people that voted for Trump...
But really, the blame goes to Biden, to Harris and the Democratic Party , for losing to a 'PROVEN scourge of the earth', one who everyone knew well this time around.
For the record, I did dutifully vote in the completely meaningless primary with no genuine competition (I actually left my ballot blank, since NY State has no 'none of the above' option), then I dutifully cast my completely meaningless vote for Harris, a candidate exactly zero primary voters actually chose, in a blue state where the Electoral College means 99% of votes count the same as 50.00001%. How can anyone but the candidates and the Party be blamed for such a ridiculous chain of events?
Also, for the record, Donna says above that 'I never liked political litmus tests. But this year voters should have one: no support of any kind for any candidate who will not commit to ending all financial aid to Israel immediately'. She clearly is not talking about a past or future presidential election, she is talking about the local, state and Congressional races coming up, including the primaries.
Any reasoning about Trump has nothing to do with electing progressive Democratic candidates who refuse AIPAC money and aren't afraid to say the word 'genocide' over so-called 'centrists' who continue to support war crimes and brutality with lame excuses.
In NYC we just saw leaders across the 'mainstream' of the Democratic Party, from Bill Clinton to Mike Bloomberg, not only refuse to endorse the candidate clearly chosen by Democratic voters in the mayoral primary, but instead support and endorse the misogynist scumbag loser who insisted on running again as an independent, and losing again. Others, like Charles Schumer, refused to endorse the chosen Democratic candidate in his hometown. . I am not interested in one word from this Party about 'personal rectitude' or 'self-defeating' strategy after this latest insult.
Both Parties are complicit in the Israeli-Netanyhu human rights violations. Biden provided Israel with weapons with no restrictions, while hamstringing Ukraine with restrictions. Trump's cheering on and involvement in the US/Israeli assasination of other countries' political leaders, and advocating political violence against those on the left (in the US and abroad), while feigning outrage of political violence against him says it all. I'm 74 years old, and I am increasingly feeling as my father must have when he fled Germany in 1935.
Reagan started the march of the GOP to fascism and to a rich white male dominated society. Reagan liked the Heritage Society (P2025). He was also a racist who hid behind his cowboy quote of pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps. Hitler got control of the German newspapers to spread his hate & lies about Jews. Reagan cut the Fairness Doc. This led to news journalists not using facts and evidence in their reporting and instead focusing on opinions and beliefs. They stopped judging debates by the facts the candidates used to represent their sides. When I mentioned the patterns I saw, most people said - not possible - it would not happen here. 😔. Even when T spewed hate & lies, they voted for him or REFUSED TO VOTE FOR WOMEN, because they just were not good enough. Now people are in our own concentration camps and the majority are doing what the Germans did.
This is the closest you can get to mentioning the Gaza Genocide? Really? Was Treblinka a summer camp? Were the Turks just aggressive relocation specialists? Is Osiewicim just a historical footnote? Did East Timor depopulate itself? Was the Holodomor sponsored by Ozempic? Say it. Gaza Genocide. Say it.
Even frequent Contrarian guest and head of J-Street, Jeremy Ben-Ami, admitted last summer that Israel has committed genocide. So has Israeli human rights orgs B’Tselem and Physicians for Hunan Rights… let alone virtually every other global human rights group, UN officials, and genocide scholars everywhere.
I've heard it both ways but if I am wrong I apologize. I don't think I can edit this but if I can I will. And even you spell it two different ways. This does not make my point less correct. And I disrespectfully disagree with your 'shriek like a loon' characterization, you POS. GFYMIH.
I laud Bernie Sanders for continuing to bring bills to the floor to stop aid and arms sales to Israel. We shouldn't be part of their continued killing sprees, nor their efforts to annex the West Bank.
So, I agree with what you said here but unfortunately the regime in Washington reflects Netanyahu's desires NOT American citizens' desires. It seems trump is just fine with Bibi leveling the Gaza Strip so that they can eventually have the Middle East Riviera located there with a plethora of trump backed hotels & a golf course or two.
And now Bibi wants to occupy southern Lebanon & is destroying homes there & leveling that area too.
While it definitely angers a large part of our population the regime in DC could hardly care less what, we, the citizens, think!
This is a problem that humans, in their current mindset, can not solve. Until the nations that "created" Israel by relocating Palestinians who had inhabited that land for centuries alongside Jews, realize that doing that created this entire mess then I see no way to rectify the situation. Let me ask you, if China decided that San Francisco's Chinatown should be made into its own country & that non-Chinese people had to give up their homes & businesses to make room for only Chinese immigrants what would we say??? I don't think I have to answer that do I. Well that is what the "great powers" did in 1948 when they created Israel! We will pay for this forever until we realize that the original sin of creating a new country out of an existing country & moving those residents out that it can only lead to hatred of one against the other.
Yes, because the Arabs hated the Jews and tried to destroy Israel repeatedly. History would have been very different if the original Israel, a tiny dot of a country, had been accepted and a Palestinian state created.
In 1947 Arabs comprised 67% of the population of the land of the Palestinian Mandate, and Jews were 33% of he population. However Jews were allotted about 56% of the land, while Arabs were allotted 43%. (About one percent of the land, the city of Jerusalem, was set aside for the city of Jerusalem.) From the outset the Arabs considered this inequitable. The Partition is at the root of the Arab-Israeli conflict and subsequent wars. The hatred flowed in both directions, Arabs for Jews and Jews for Arabs. Conflicts between Arabs and Jews had a broader historical context, but the problems of modern Palestine and the state of Israel are very much attributable to the way the land was divided. A two-state solution would seem to be the best option; so long as Netanyahu remains in power, this is unlikely to happen.
I'm not sure the Arabs would have agreed to any division since they didn't want the Jews there at all. I also don't know what factors other than population numbers were the reasons for the lines drawn. I do agree that a two-state solution is needed, but not only must Netanyahu and the Israeli right wing no longer be in power, but the Palestinians must have a different government as well. Both Hamas and the PA are corrupt and untrustworthy. That is a factor ignored by many who solely condemn Israel for the current situation. It is complicated and the Palestinian leadership is a significant part of the problem.
I'm not sure we can say that the Arabs didn't want Jews in Palestine at all, since there had been communities of Jews throughout Arab lands for centuries, evidently without the conflicts that grew after the end of the Ottoman Empire. But it does seem as if once the Balfour Declaration was issued, Arabs resented that Jews would be granted a homeland within Arab lands. As Arabs saw things, Jews would be given ownership over land once belonging to Arab communities. After the 1947 Partition the Arabs thought that Britain had reneged on representations they'd made concerning Arab rights. There anger, though, wasn't directed at the British and the other powers behind the Partition, but at Israel, who after all did deserve a safe home country. It is complicated. It doesn't seem reasonable to blame Palestinian leadership more than Israel's leadership for the current state of affairs. At different times each has engaged in tactics against the other than seem unjustified, disproportionally horrific. With the recent elections in Palestine and a change of government in Israel sooner rather than later, maybe leaders with different mindsets will find a way forward.
Bob K: My heart stopped when I read this. Are you kidding? I'm not going to explain why you are wrong as it would take a book. And with a comment like that it would be a waste of my time since you would not listen.
Why aren't you condemning Hezbollah and the 1,900 rockets they have lobbed into Israel since 2024? How about what Hamas does to Gazans? The hypocrisy of some people on this site is astounding.
When we began our financial support for Israel, it was a new state. It is no longer a poor country. Our aid to Israel should be redirected to Gaza immediately. Let the Israeli groups who lobby and donate to US politicians, give that money to Israel instead. And send our US dollars to Gaza, a land demolished by the bombs we paid for.
Netanyahu is a war criminal who has turned the beautiful state of Israel into a monstrosity. He is a disgrace to his country, his people and all Jews everywhere.
One of the reasons for this is that the longer he wages war, he apparently stays in office and stays out of jail for his fraudulent dealings.
Thank you for this reporting. Netenyahu is not to be trusted. His cost to Isarael will be difficult to change when he is gone.We need tyo see that perpetual war finally solves little and causes great harm.
Exactly the same had happened here. How do you suggest we stop the racism, misogyny and the fact that Americans think their opinions and beliefs are more important than facts? They also have no clue that there are responsibilities that come with our rights.
For the US-Israel relationship to "mature," Israel must leave behind Netanyahoo's extremist approach to its Arab neighbors. As Arab states must leave behind their aims of eliminating the state of Israel. And for heavens sake, let the US send competent, well-informed diplomats to any Mideast negotiations we attend.
The worst part of Nut-and-Yahoo's policies are that in the long run they mainly serve only him, not Israel. Bibi has only 2 goals:
1. To stay in power
2. To stay out of prison
And beyond that he couldn't care less about Israel. He figures by making perpetual war he can avoid the completion of his trial, and maybe even get a pardon.
Don the Con and Nut-and-Yahoo are both full of crap, but the mechanism is different. According to a metric I remember reading in a Zakaria column when I still read the WaPo, there's a difference between a liar and a bull(stuff)er.
Paradoxically, a liar actually respects the truth. Liars know the truth, or at least believe something to be true, but then go ahead and say things they know or believe are not true.
In contrast, bull(stuff)ers say whatever is convenient at the moment, without knowledge or care of whether there's any truth involved.
Bibi's a liar who deliberately lies, obfuscates the truth, or misleads people for self serving reasons.
Don the Con has no filter between his brain and mouth, and so articulates whatever thought happens to pop into his otherwise-empty head. He neither knows nor cares whether there's even a grain of truth in there.
"In the past, our aid helped “to incentivize Israel to negotiate peace deals with the Palestinians. "
And that was the past. Israel is now a wealthy and war-like country in its own right. Like corporations that don't need government subsidies (corporate welfare) when they are already doing well enough on their own, Israel is in the same condition. The only difference is that Israel is not doing anything for our benefit. It is time to stop supporting a government that commits war crimes and genocide. It's time to turn off the military and financial aid to this country.
Mr. Pebbles may be on to something as we are witnessing here at home. Deflection. Stay in power as a means of avoiding accountability for corrupt practices. A further note. American Jews face a conundrum re support for Israel. The road to an Israeli- Palestinian accord is frought with so much animosity on both sides and so much mis information serving so many fragmented groups in the equation ,that ,just as Oct 7 demonstrated ,for Israel a paper accord laid on a bed of deep religio- political animosity as the Islamic world demonstrates toward Jews portends continued existential challenges. No matter how you move the pieces on the mid eastern geopolitical board one comes up with existential threat and insecurity rendered by the Islamic world about Israel on all sides. For the most part Israel has been able to protect itself ,but the protection causes a lot of collateral death. So American Jews are placed in a position of having to prioritize their fealty. America where we live peacefully,albeit with rising antisemitism fostered or excused as a reaction to Israeli policies and for our generation ,still marred by Holocaust memories,is of prime consideration ie voting based on American - Israeli relations or based on what is good for America nationally and internationally. One hopes the latter prevails as the current American politics demands a profound change from its current state.
That would require us to first get rid of every GOP in Congress. AFTER that is accomplished, we can demand an end to lobbying by corporations and end Citizens' United. We need to look at and help more people understand progressive policies. With that accomplished, we might be able to vote out people like Schumer and still get a dem in his place.
Be careful what you wish for. Netanyahu has ALREADY SAID that he thinks Israel should stop being a ward of the United States, relying on foreign aid, and instead be a greater partner WITH US DEFENSE CORPORATIONS! In other words, they want to infiltrate our Defense industry, making it impossible to dislodge them no matter what they do! No.
I supported Israel all my adult life but, now as I enter my 8th decade, I understand that I’ve been played for decades! Israel, long ago abandoned a two state solution . I’m angry at myself that it took me so long to decry the mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza & the West Bank.
Netanyahu is a monster, but the Israelis who support him also have blood or their hands
I feel your pain. I too am in my eighth decade. I have felt since "W's" second term that evangelicals were being used by the republican party. It just never dawned on me that the people I once worshiped with were evil enough and stupid enough to fall into the hands of the heritage foundation.
Yes, I agree Netanyahu is a monster along with those who support him, but that's no different than johnson and thune being as much monsters as the trump regime.
Fast approaching 78, and I saw this happening starting with Ronald Reagan's presidency.
religion (all of them) has a very dark side for many centuries
Exactly! Religion is the root cause of the fascist policies in the US and Israel.
Religion, like race and other ways of "sorting" people, is the root cause of all fascist policies, worldwide.
All fascistic tendencies look for any kind of otherism that can be used to justify their hate.
The governments of Israel and The US are both authoritarian. And the central perversity of the authoritarian worldview is that they are entitled to impose their worldview on any and all they encounter (with Israel having recent good cause to fear others.) But both governments are so caught up in their delusion that they alone are blessed with right opinion that they cannot even imagine that the other side has legitimate grievances as well. Both Israel and the Palestinians are fighting over limited land and resources. And, both overplayed their hands and have few if any pathways to deescalation. Both the US and Israel have reactionary fanatics for leaders and both are nuclear powers. How long before they opt for a 'final solution'?
As does every single American who chose not to vote for Harris. We have concentration camps in the US and have attacked a nation without just cause.
and we have allowed our own country to be attacked
It would be more accurate to say -- the United States abandoned a two-state solution. After extraordinarily laborious efforts at Camp David, at Oslo, over successive administrations, it was our muscle, our influence, our say-so that got agreements signed that moved toward this. Then, as with so many other foreign challenges, we lost interest, shrugged our shoulders, went back to business as usual, and Netanyahu was the result. An inert, corrupt Palestinian leadership in the West Bank that might have otherwise provided a real alternative to Hamas's lunacy was another result.
Putting it a bit too simplistically, but I blame us more than him.
I seem to remember that it was actually an assassination perpetrated by the right wing in Israel that put them on their current track
Yes. Itzhak Rabin -- the "peace of the brave." Many unclean hands.
It was at this time that Israel lost any interest in peace because they were only interested in expansion once the right wing took over
a coincidence,but post Rabin assisnation is when i first became aware of Netanyau
I know this is a minority view but it's still possible. There was a deal. Land for peace.
Most of the American Arabs I know are Christian, know that their people are just as vulnerable as Jews in an Mos;em coiuntry. We can't tell the players without a scorecard.
Just as some Americans voted Trump in, some Israelis voted Netanyahu in. Thre is plenty of blame to go round.
both..we can't always get off the hook, we have to own this stuff...starting with the Indian badness
Same here, but half way through my 7th. Watching the BBC B&W's of the camp liberation's in the 50's, I swore I would always support the Israelis, but no more. When the government they elected inflicts on others what was done to them by Germany, I quit.
I heard some interviews of Israeli citizens recently and several of them expressed that exact sentiment. They see their own government committing genocide against the Palestinians and don't know how to deal with it.
hurt people hurt people
“I and the public know what all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done do evil in return.”
- W. H. Auden, from “September 1, 1939”
What an appropriate time for that statement to have been made.
Golda Meir, Yitshak Rabin, & David Ben Gurian must be rolling in their graves! My Jewish father & Catholic mother both taught me the lessons of WWII and to rejoice that the Jewish people decided Never Again. Netanyahu is a grifter-in-chief. Much like his new best friend…
Please understand that it is not all Israelis who support him. Netanyahu has been able to stay in power by promising the ultra religious Jews that their sons and daughters will never have to serve in the IDF. He is therefore able to cobble together a majority that includes this group in order to stay in power.
Again, religion is the problem.
I'm in my 8th decade too, grew up in a west LA Jewish community. The lady across the street showed me the number the Nazis tattooed on her arm. I'm cognizant of 2000 years of hatred, discrimination, and outright murder of humans who choose to identify as Jewish. I'm not supportive of turnabout toward the humans that choose to identify as Muslim. But, let's not kid ourselves: Hamas & Hezbolah, and their funders in Tehran do not want a "two-state solution." They want the Jews gone altogether, alive or dead. Until that sentiment changes, I'm supporting Israel in protecting themselves however they see fit.
I, too, have met people who were in Nazi concentration camps. Back in the early 1990s I was involved in a public health research study, helping to collect lifestyle information from people who volunteered for the study. I called one man to ask if it was an error that his weight had been recorded at 85 pounds when he was about 20, only to be told that he had been in a Nazi concentration camp at that age. And then, later, the same study, I visited a couple in their home to do an interview, and the husband (a different man than the one I had called) had a concentration camp number on his arm. I have also heard the stories from my father of what he saw when he advanced into Germany with the American military near the end of the war. I will never forget. HOWEVER, how does it help to support Israel in destroying itself? Because that's what they are doing right now -- destroying all hope for a peaceful future and perhaps for any future. Sure, they had enemies in the Middle East, but now they have far more enemies -- and they make enemies out of people who used to be their allies.
but sympathy fades when they did genocide in Gaza
Sympathy should not fade just because the state of Israel is currently run by a destructive authoritarian/religious right government. Are you saying that you have no sympathy for the millions of Jews who died and suffered in the Holocaust because of the current death and suffering of the Gazans at the hand of the Israeli government? Or that you have no sympathy for the suffering of the millions of people in Israel who do not support the current government yet are paying the price for its actions? Neither one is justifiable.
I have enormous sympathy for Holocaust victims...am saddened by modern Jews doing genocide in Gaza...
doing what was done to their ancestors...hence sympathy fades for modern Jews
This isn't about Israel doing what it sees it needs to do to protect itself. It's about an increasingly exasperated Diaspora fed up with the messes Bibi creates for them to clean up. This Iran war crossed a line into extreme stupidity: for both Trump and Bibi. Now eight billion people are cursing both of their names because they can't afford cooking fuel to make dinner for their families. And it's going to get a lot worse--even if the Strait fully reopened tomorrow.
This latest war is already creating a tsunami of ill-will for the United States and Israel. And will likely cause a GLOBAL recession. If you don't think it will also seriously fuel antisemitism here in the US, you're not paying attention.
when I was little my parents had friends with numbers tatooed on their arms, a point of facination for my brother and I. Not EVERYONE had a tatoo back then, unlike now. My parents said do not ask them about it now they would explain later.
My understanding of Israel/Palestine changed when I went to Israel in 2019. To see with my eyes and hear their story with my heart changed my understanding.
Amen!!!B'shalom.
Interesting point. Retired US Army Colonel, and also now Professor Emeritus of history & international relations, Andrew Bacevich has written extensively about the US Military and how US foreign policy creates blow-back that influences both US Military and US civilian culture in unexpected ways. He has described the Israeli military posture as hyper reactive. They are a small state living in a dangerous neighborhood and tend to react quickly with overwhelming force to every provocation. Bacevich noted the Israeli military thinking has started to influence US military thinking and criticized what he saw as a trend in the U.S. military starting to adopt that same hyper reactive posture. Bacevich’s critique is the US has the luxury of being able to be less reactive and more thoughtful/strategic in how it responds. Moving fast with excessive force creates unexpected blow back and new problems that frequently makes the situation worse.
An even closer tie between Israel and US defense contractors would not be in the US interest. If anything, US defense contractors would benefit from learning the lessons Ukraine defense forces and industry have been learning in their battles against Russia. Ukraine has become masters of low-cost, effective weapons systems.
I would disagree that the US is becoming more reactive. That's not the reality. The GOP has become a fascist party (which started with Reagan). N & T are power & money hungry. Both are corrupt with criminal charges waiting for them when they are not in office. The GOP is the minority party, but has used hate & lies to be elected. It has worked because too many Americans are racist, misogynistic, ignorant of the facts, and self-absorbed. The GOP has been aided by the news media since REAGAN ended the Fairness Doc. This mirrored Hitler's step in 1933 to take control of German newspapers to spread his lies & hate.
May I suggest you read the post more carefully. The argument is sbout how the US military is influenced by Israel's and vice-versa. Andrew Bacevich is a long-recognized voice from within our own military-industrial complex who knows a great deal about what he speaks.
americans are idiots...I had no idea how many of us are so aflicted
"Moving fast with excessive force creates unexpected blow back and new problems that frequently makes the situation worse."
A foreign/military policy of 'move fast and break things' is neither competent nor responsible. It may be financially beneficial to the military industrial complex to keep selling materiel to Israel; it is not beneficial to our foreign relations to other countries,
Assuming that this defense industry alignment is true, there's a way to deal with it if Congress had the spine to do so: no more government contracts for corporations that do business with Israel.
It's not about having a spine. It's about the choices Americans make at the ballot box. We have the racist, fascist GOP party in control of the WH, the House and the Senate because of voter suppression in red ares of the nation and the ignorant/racist people who vote for them. The first step is to help whatever DEM has a chance of winning in any district or state to be elected. The ignorant chose to vote for T, not to vote, or voted for 3rd party candidates that had ZERO CHANCE of winning - all because Harris was just not good enough for them. THAT is why we are in this horrible situation. I am NOT a fan of Schumer's but we cannot risk losing that seat. His district is far from progressive. Challenging him could give the seat to a GOP.
U.S. arms sales to other countries should come with strict compliance rules that allow for contracts to be cancelled any time credible evidence of non-compliance arises. Indiscriminate civilian casualties would be at the top of that list.
Problem is, it was obvious that US bombs provided to Israel were being used for Bibi's genocidal plan. I was a big supporter of Biden, but the biggest mistake he made imo, was continuing to give Israel those bombs when we could see what Bibi was doing with them. So "non-compliance" can be in your face and yet ignored.
Absolutely agree! The Biden admin, like too many before and since, have blindly provided military aid to Israel with zero accountability. But you can be sure that the survivors of Israel's attacks blame both Israel AND the U.S. It's godawful that it's taken the loss of so many lives for people to finally wake up and demand a cut off of military aid to Israel. And before anyone says it, NO, this isn't about support of the Israeli people; it's a moral stance against their government.
The U.S. needs to impose strict standards and conditions upon which our government and our private sector industries will be permitted to give, sell or otherwise furnish any goods or services to Israel that could be used to support Israel’s external military policies, practices and activities.
Israel’s indiscriminate slash and burn devastation of Gaza that killed thousands and thousands of civilians and displaced millions of residents will forever condemn Israel for having committed its own waves of atrocities, for which Donald Trump will be equally remembered for his complicity.
Ten years is way too long for a transition period for Israel to wean itself from the US as its primary bombs and weapons supplier. Two years max.
Netanyahu wants to keep wars going to stay in power & to avoid prosecution for his many crimes.
Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
True, except one has already been tried and convicted, but not yet sentenced. Of course, more prosecutions are forthcoming.
Jen I commend you on writing this outstanding article showing true concern of our view of the current Israeli policy. This had to be very hard for you to write and it shows how strong your values are for defending democracy and rule of law. You continue to prove your independent media coverage is one of the best ways to get intellectual information. Thank you for all the hard work you do.
Jen has soft-pedaled her criticism of Israel and its genocide in Gaza. She's become more circumspect, yes, but still doesn't want to see how far Israel's wrongdoings go in the matter of Palestine.
Rubin has a lot to atone for, including her own strong and loud support for Netanyahu through all the Obama years. Bibi was just as bloodthirsty and radical then as he is now (and see below for my answer to the 'she changed her mind' response).
Even since then, her responses are at best conditioned and infrequent. It took The Contrarian until the summer of 2025 to write anything approaching a forceful criticism of the genocide in Gaza (it has never used that term). There has been next to nothing about Israel's constant assassinations of journalists, in Gaza and the West Bank, and now in Lebanon.
This article is the first time I have seen Rubin even mention Lebanon in her morning newsletters. Her only comment about the mass slaughter in Beirut of over 300 people hours after the first 'ceasefire' earlier this month is only to mention that Israel 'inflicts mass civilian casualties in Beirut'.
Her criticisms of AIPAC remain limited to their attacks on 'pro-Israel' candidates, like Contrarian favorite Tom Malinowski..she has yet to say anything about pro-Palestinian candidates that were targeted by AIPAC, like Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.
Her piece here is better than most from her, and her change is a welcome one....but is far from some profile in courage, now that even most elected Democrats have been open about criticizing Israel.
So in the light of new and worstening evidence she can't change her mind? Even some of the right wing media that have been banging the bell for Trump for years have stopped. Ms. Rubin should have the same right.
Can you find one single instance of Rubin justifying, explaining, or even acknowledging her many years of full throated support for Netanyahu and Israeli apartheid (as well has harsh criticisms of the Iran nuclear deal, among a hundred other hard right views)?
If so, then post.
The damage she did then can't just be resolved by an overnight about-face with no explanation at all. Her change is welcome, but not enough to make up for all that on its own.
I just saw Anthony Scaramucci on The Left Hook..Over and over he apologized for his past support of Trump and said he was wrong. That is what I would like to hear from Rubin.
She certainly can, but I used to read her opinion pieces in WAPO. And I was disgusted by her unwavering support for the GOP as it clearly was moving to the far right. The people of the LINCOLN Project had supported and aided the GOP right up until T. These are intelligent people who were too blind and unwilling to think for themselves or to question their beliefs until it was too late. They didn't care to notice the consequences of REAGAN ending the Fairness Doc or the GOP since Reagan, the FACT that GOP policies since Reagan had enriched the rich and hurt the rest of the people in the country, They used UNREGULATED capitalism, which allowed near monopolies to grow, caused the housing and loan crisis, and left huge messes for Clinton, Obama and Biden to clean up. Once upon a time I was an independent. As I watched what was happening to the GOP since Reagan, I became a democrat. This was NOT the party of Eisenhower. He would have seen the fascism rising. Despite all this, when she left WAPO and started the Contrarian, I wanted to see what it would bring to the table. It is always important to see what a range of people are reporting.
come on pal give us a break here please
yawn.
I am still waiting for one single person to post one single instance of Rubin explaining or acknowledging her many years of hardcore right wing views.
Her statements back then would fit in perfectly with any number of comments from Hegseth, Miller or Trump himself.
So Netanyahoo now says Israel's dependence on US aid should wind down in the next ten years...how very convenient for him.
NO! It must end immediately. It should have ended long ago. I never liked political litmus tests. But this year voters should have one: no support of any kind for any candidate who will not commit to ending all financial aid to Israel immediately.
Yup.
Rubin correctly blames “ MAGA Republicans, encouraged by Christian Zionists and Islamaphobic white Christian evangelicals”, but she leaves out the many “centrist” Democrats who still support Israel’s genocide and apartheid, including the several Dem Senators who just weeks ago voted against stopping some military aid to Israel. This included the minority leader Charles Schumer.
Rubin insists on calling Israel a “democracy “ despite the fact that over 5 million Palestinians in the Occupied Territories live under Israel military rule, with no say over the occupying government and no control of their borders or trade. Israel is a “democracy” no more than there is a “ceasefire” in Lebanon or Gaza (or the West Bank, for that matter).
The US is quickly losing our democracy. Are you going to help the fascists complete the job by not voting for or by encouraging others not to vote for certain dems because they don't fit all your litmus tests? We would NOT be here if more people had voted for Harris? What litmus test did they apply? Racism, misogyny, their own self absorption, or just plain ignorance of the facts? How did they NOT know what would happen if T was elected? No candidate has going to have all the characteristics that each & every citizen has in mind for the perfect one. The question is: which of the 2 candidates will be better for the country? I like progressives. I don't want money in politics. I want a candidate who is intelligent, strong, willing to work hard and empathetic to the needs of regular Americans. Both HRC & Harris should have won, but Americans still think their opinions & beliefs are the ONLY thing that matters. Europeans whose news media reported the facts before our election were stunned by these results. One asked me - why didn't they see who T was? Do they not study WWII? She said that they are required to learn every detail so they would recognize fascism.
This piece is called 'Netanyahu Shows Why U.S. Aid To Israel Must End'..it is not called 'Netanyahu Shows Why U.S. Aid To Israel Must End....unless that aid is approved by Democrats'.
I said zero about voting or not voting, so you can stop putting words in my mouth and read the piece more carefully again, as well as my comments on it.
As far as the genocide in Gaza goes, Biden, Harris, Schumer, Jeffries and many others from the Dem 'centrist' wing are just as responsible as most of the GOP (although there's nothing 'moderate' about supporting genocide).
That obviously does not mean those Dem leaders are not preferable to the raging fascist maniacs in Trump's cabal. That also does not mean we should never criticize Democrats. Blind obedience is what fascists demand, not people who support real democracy.
Also, for the record, that includes criticizing journalists. It is downright weird how so many Contrarian readers seem to think Rubin should not be even slightly accountable and does not need to explain even a little bit her many years as a hard line right winger who took the exact opposite position on practically everything that she says now. Her comments then on Iran, Israel, Palestine would make Pete Hegseth blush.
GREAT 😔 another litmus test! What part of the fact that WE MUST WIN AS MANY SEATS AS POSSIBLE IN CONGRESS In 2026 DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? That is EXACTLY the reason Harris lost in 2024. It was not just the T voters who cost us this mess, but those who didn't vote and those who voted 3rd party because Harris just wasn't good enough. Was it racism, misogyny, self absorption or just plain ignorance of the fact that our democracy would be in danger if she did not win? I do not like Schumer. But his district is a rich one and is unlikely to vote for anyone who is even slightly more progressive. Mamdani could win in NYC because of its diversity, its democratic history, its ranked choice voting and the fact that Cuomo is hated in NY. PLEASE, look at the big picture. If we do not win both the House & the Senate, our democracy will be dead and we will unquestionably have another Great Depression as the corruption and the deficit rises.
Gayle, we're talking about genocide here. Genocide enabled by our dollars. . Compromise of a view or a position is one thing, compromising a fundamental value is another matter. However each of us ends up voting in the privacy of the election booth, left with our own consciences, is a personal dilemma. But demanding that our candidates commit to ending our role in Israel's genocide is imperative.
Thank you, Jen! Yes, it is important that Israel is protected. But supplying American weapons used to wipe out their neighbors is disturbing. And, it's not just the genocide, the killing of ten of thousands of inhabitants in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank, it's the displacement of an estimated 1.9 million people in Gaza, and over 1 million in Lebanon, with thousands more displaced in the West Bank. I can't imagine how horrible it must be for so many innocent bystanders.
You throw around the word genocide like you know what it means. I've gone around with you on this before. You hate Israel and would love if it were wiped ff the map.
I don't defend Netanyahu and his gang. But you are a true Jew hater.
Wow, take a breath, Marilyn. No I don't hate Jews. I don't hate Americans (I am one) but I put my president in the same category as I put Netanyahoo and Pootin. They are all war criminals and detestable despots because of their cruelty and bigotry. I'm not going to try to define the term genocide for you because more authoritative sources than I have already done this--and been quoted in this substack pretty often. Jewish authorities have also called what Netanyahoo has done in Gaza a genocide.
And I don't want to see Israel wiped off the map. I just wish Netanyahoo weren't wiping Gaza and the West Bank, as we've known those lands since 1947, off the map.
Like you, there are a few other posters who assign all the blame on Israel. What responsibility does the terrorist group Hamas have in the so called "genocide?" Didn't they use Gazans as human shields? Didn't they steal their food?
Gazans elected to have a terrorist organization lead them. The Hamas charter calls for the genocide of Jews worldwide. Don't the Gazans deserve condemnation? Shouldn't they share the blame?
I fully agree with you that Putin, tRump and Bibi are detestable. I agree that what the Jewish extremists are doing in the WB is also detestable.
It seems futile to have a discussion with someone who jumps to conclusions, "baits and switches" issues, and deflects from criticism of one person by saying "But look at all the other terrible things being done by others." I tried a similar argument on a traffic officer once ('But everyone is speeding!") and it didn't work then either.
Do you forget that Netanyahu allowed, encouraged Qatar fo fund Hamas so they'd survive, to ensure that the PLA would fail, and with it the chance of a Palestinian state being established? Vis-vis Hamas, Netanyahu doesn't have clean hands.
PS: Yesterday Palestine held its first election since 2006. Meaning that half the population of Palestine wasn't event alive when Hamas was voted into power. Supports of Mahmoud Abbas (Al Fattah) and not Hamas, seem to have won the election over the weekend.
I understand that this horror is GENOCIDE. It will NOT stop if the GOP wins races against Dems because of a 3rd party candidate or a candidate that is progressive in a centrist or conservative area. That is exactly how the GOP has won the presidency in at least 3 elections. If we do not have a democratic Congress, we will LOSE our democracy. Is that what you want for the next generations? There will be no way to stop genocides or mistreatment of others if we do not stabilize our own country. I get it. I sometimes cannot sleep because my heart aches for those in our concentration camps or for those being senselessly killed by the US and Israel's corrupt leaders. I'm 79. I'm exhausted by all the hate. But we cannot make lasting change if we don't look at the big picture.
Of course genocide and other horrors won't stop if the GOP wins in 2026 and 2028. It also will not stop if we elect compromised Democrats whose priority is protecting the status quo for their donors. We got where we are today because people were made to distrust voting for principle over expediency. Witness Bernie's losses.
That is NOT how we got here. And Bernie was sadly part of the problem. His rants and misinformation played right into GOP's hands and their long use of "socialism" as something associated with communism. He was wrong about capitalism being the problem. The problem was the unregulated capitalism used by every GOP president that served since Reagan. They started ignoring or ending the regs that were put in place by FDR et al since the Great Depression. For example, monopolies were banned and those in existence were split. Now we have multiple near monopolies. (note: Biden admin went after THREE of them - 2 successfully; the 3rd was in process against Bezos/Amazon). The majority of the people see capitalism as a way of gaining individual success by owning a business and "moving up". The best economic strategies on the other hand are regulated capitalism with programs that help the public and the needy. Not many people understand or know about these differences, although more now realize that billionaires have something to do with the problem. Had Bernie explained issues like AOC and Mamdani do now, we might very well not be here.
There are now more Dem MOC who are seeing the light about Israel and N because they see the damage our own dictator is doing and the fact that the rest of the world is angry at us - just as they are angry at N.
Why again are you unable to see the danger in more GOP getting elected if you and others have this litmus test? We will lose our democracy and put the next generations in a country that will commit its own genocide. WE CAN SEE THE CAMPS. WE KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING INSIDE THEM. LITMUS TESTS GAVE US T IN 2016 AND 2024. Just stop for a minute, maybe 2, to think outside of your box. Agreed - we don't want genocide anywhere. If we fail in 2026 to get whatever dem can win in any given district, there will be more genocides - including in the US. If we win at least the large majority of seats, the likelihood of stopping genocides increases. There are more centrist democrats that are seeing the problem because they are hearing what we say. If we do not, because a 3rd party candidate or progressive candidate ends up running in a race THEY cannot win, then genocides continue.
Were you asleep for 15 months while Biden and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate provided tens of billions of dollars in weapons to keep the genocide going? Along with political protection?
I'm definitely not interested in getting more GOP elected to Congress, Gayle, and I can't imagine you believe that. But I can't jump onto the Vote Blue No Matter Who bandwagon. Democratic candidates want our votes: What, specifically, will they commit to doing for their electorate, for the country? I want to hear specifics, plans and programs akin to what Liz Warren offered. (Yet another excellent candidate who was considered too "left" or progressive to win.) I want clarity and truthfulness on their positions.
And Bernie is too smart a man to reject capitalism per se. That's never what he meant when he called himself a democratic socialist. He wants government to work for all the people, not just the wealth class. He wasn't timid about stating what his political positions were and for that the Democratic leadership feared him and, for all practical purposes, rejected his candidacy. Just as Schumer et al did to Mamdani.
I'll say it again: Democratic leadership have led us to believe that we can't win elections unless we placate the status-quo and their funders. Compromise or courage: which do we want?
Oooohhh...good idea! Stamp your feet and vote for a democracy-ending Republican, that'll show 'em! Have you learned nothing?
This comment is ridiculous. No one has suggested anything like that.
Is your idea then that Democrats are above any criticism, and like good obedient fascists we should all shut up?
It's hard to tell in this complicated thread but I was responding to this statement by Ms. Woodward far above--"I never liked political litmus tests. But this year voters should have one: no support of any kind for any candidate who will not commit to ending all financial aid to Israel immediately."
That helped us get Trump and fascism. That kind of strategy is extremely self-defeating as if we get the Republicans in because we are too pure to save our own country, what will that do for us and the world?
And no, my idea is not that Democrats are above any criticism. That is ridiculous. I don't live by the black and white fallacy; that's why no litmus tests. Democrats should be criticized vigorously and made to do better.
The one and only way that Democrats can be 'made to do better' is if criticism is backed up with meaningful action, which is, that these candidates must be 'made' to earn their votes.
I am past sick and tired of hearing Blue No Matter Who Democrats blame the progressives in the party for every loss, and not blame policies and actions of 'centrist' Democrats that range from feckless to outright terrible...especially when those same leaders turn around and refuse to endorse or support popular progressives (Mayor Mamdani is a clear example).
When Democratic voters demand no accountability, their 'vigorous criticism' is not only meaningless, but provides a phony facade of democratic process and 'big tent' debate.
Biden/Harris's loss cannot be blamed on the base - their loss is entirely their fault, and the fault of the Democratic Party. Even in an anti-incumbent election due to the economic impacts of covid, it is still startling that a party could lose to such an abjectly horrible opponent. But here we are...and rather than any real self examination, so many leaders and their supporters still want to scapegoat those that were horrified by the Biden/Harris open support for genocide and war crimes, rather than the massive errors of the campaign.
Start with the fact that Biden ran at all for no reason other than pure arrogance. Harris had a hard job from the start, but her bear hug embrace of a pro war Republican like Liz Cheney, which won her exactly zero votes, while not allowing even a single pro-Palestinian representative to speak at the Dem Convention was a double slap in the face to the 'anti-genocide voters' (its sickening that this could even be considered a voting bloc)...there are plenty of other reasons o course.
And even now, the DNC purposely withheld the results of their own 'autopsy' from the public, and just weeks ago, leading Senate Dems, including the minority leader, refused to vote for even a small reduction in arms for Israel. Even now, the Party refuses to learn any lessons.
Base Democratic voters that were appalled by Biden's support of genocide tried hard to get the campaign to listen with the 'Uncommitted' vote strategy during the otherwise meaningless pony show of a primary campaign season....and Biden responded by sending more weapons to Israel right up to the very last days of his presidency.
Biden, Harris and the Democratic Party's support of genocide, among many other huge errors and faults, 'helped us get Trump and fascism'.
Ta-Nahisi Coates put it this way:
“We are at a moment right now where people are asking themselves why can’t the Democratic Party defend this assault on democracy . . . and I would submit to you that if you can’t draw the line at genocide, you probably can’t draw the line at democracy.”
AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHY T IS PRESIDENT NOW. PEOPLE REFUSED TO VOTE FOR HARRIS BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN, POC AND CLOSER TO THE CENTER OF THE PARTY. Our responsibility as a voter is to vote for one of the 2 candidates who could be elected. It is not a game where you get to take your ball home when people don't play the way you want them to. We got GW and 2 terms of the most dangerous man and his tribe because of this idiocy. Try a course in statistics and focus on the bell curve. Millions of voters vote in the Dem party primaries - including independents. The majority of them will be in the center of the party. That is why Biden won the primaries. Harris is also near the center, but left of Biden, a woman and POC. A presidential election is about protecting our democracy. It is NOT about YOU and what you want. It's not a present. Of the 2 candidates, T or Harris, which one is our democracy safe with? Had the millions of people who did not vote or voted for a 3rd party candidate, we would NOT be where we are now! I like progressive ideas. Not enough people know what these would actually mean for them. But the billionaires sure know what they want and those who didn't vote for Harris helped them.
This whole article, written by the mayor of Dearborn Michigan 9 months before the 2024 election, is worth reading:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/20/opinion/biden-dearborn-michigan-gaza.html
'Until just a few months ago, I firmly believed that Joe Biden was one of the most consequential and transformative presidents that our nation had seen since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His administration managed to put in place groundbreaking domestic policies in the last three years that his predecessors couldn’t manage even in two terms. But no amount of landmark legislation can outweigh the more than 100,000 people killed, wounded or missing in Gaza. The scales of justice will not allow it."
This was not an election between Harris and Mitt Romney or John McCain. It was an election between Harris and, literally, a PROVEN scourge of the earth. A fascist, a moron, a Nazi, a misogynist, a racist, a criminal mob boss--I could go on but I think the point is made. Yes, you are entitled to your opinion, your outrage, your vote, your pride in following your conscience, all of it.
But this was a foreseeably very, very close election, decided in a few swing states like Michigan on merely tens of thousands of votes. So while you are entitled to your choice of conscience, along with that goes some responsibility for where we are today. The U.S, our allies, Ukraine, immigrants, US Aid, random fisherman in the Caribbean, the people of Venezuela, Iran and soon Cuba, the sick, the hungry, veterans, due process, the economy and much more including, yes, a desperate Gaza which Trump has slated to be some grotesque Miami of the Middle East.
I too want to end arms to Israel. I want a lot of things, some of which my representatives may not do; all I can do is try to persuade. What I don't want is ANYTHING that this criminal administration is doing in our name. What I don't want is the end of the American experiment. In real life with real consequences, drawing lines of personal rectitude can be cold comfort.
Excellent reply. But unfortunately, Jason does not even try to see past what he wants - a progressive candidate that fits his beliefs. He's like the billionaires who cannot see past what they want.
Your first two sentences illustrates the point I made above...the fact that Biden/Harris (it's such a bad comedy of errors, one can't even say it was a single person's race) lost to a candidate you correctly identify as 'fascist, a moron, a Nazi, a misogynist, a racist, a criminal mob boss' shows how terrible their campaign was.
This cannot be blamed on Democratic voters. It certainly cannot be blamed on, for instance, the Palestinian American voters in Michigan who saw their entire families slaughtered with US made bombs and US political support. These same voters, a long time loyal Democratic voting block, then had to endure the hostility from the Party that demanded their fealty while spitting in their faces. It's a little bit off-putting that you talk of 'real life and real consequences' as if the massacre of entire families isn't the biggest real life consequence anyone could face, especially since you do specifically point out Michigan.
Again, to embrace and campaign side by side with a warmongering, longtime supporter of Trump like Liz Cheney, whose 11th hour change of heart means next to nothing compared to her solid support for Trump throughout his first term, over even a single Pro-Palestinian representative, is a deep, fundamental failure...but this was only one failure of many.
I still wonder why the bigger voting block that Biden/Harris lost, those that were more concerned about the price of eggs than their leaders and taxes supporting genocide, have not been shamed in the same way. Maybe they should be blamed instead? Or maybe blame the tens of millions of people that voted for Trump...
But really, the blame goes to Biden, to Harris and the Democratic Party , for losing to a 'PROVEN scourge of the earth', one who everyone knew well this time around.
For the record, I did dutifully vote in the completely meaningless primary with no genuine competition (I actually left my ballot blank, since NY State has no 'none of the above' option), then I dutifully cast my completely meaningless vote for Harris, a candidate exactly zero primary voters actually chose, in a blue state where the Electoral College means 99% of votes count the same as 50.00001%. How can anyone but the candidates and the Party be blamed for such a ridiculous chain of events?
Also, for the record, Donna says above that 'I never liked political litmus tests. But this year voters should have one: no support of any kind for any candidate who will not commit to ending all financial aid to Israel immediately'. She clearly is not talking about a past or future presidential election, she is talking about the local, state and Congressional races coming up, including the primaries.
Any reasoning about Trump has nothing to do with electing progressive Democratic candidates who refuse AIPAC money and aren't afraid to say the word 'genocide' over so-called 'centrists' who continue to support war crimes and brutality with lame excuses.
In NYC we just saw leaders across the 'mainstream' of the Democratic Party, from Bill Clinton to Mike Bloomberg, not only refuse to endorse the candidate clearly chosen by Democratic voters in the mayoral primary, but instead support and endorse the misogynist scumbag loser who insisted on running again as an independent, and losing again. Others, like Charles Schumer, refused to endorse the chosen Democratic candidate in his hometown. . I am not interested in one word from this Party about 'personal rectitude' or 'self-defeating' strategy after this latest insult.
Both Parties are complicit in the Israeli-Netanyhu human rights violations. Biden provided Israel with weapons with no restrictions, while hamstringing Ukraine with restrictions. Trump's cheering on and involvement in the US/Israeli assasination of other countries' political leaders, and advocating political violence against those on the left (in the US and abroad), while feigning outrage of political violence against him says it all. I'm 74 years old, and I am increasingly feeling as my father must have when he fled Germany in 1935.
Reagan started the march of the GOP to fascism and to a rich white male dominated society. Reagan liked the Heritage Society (P2025). He was also a racist who hid behind his cowboy quote of pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps. Hitler got control of the German newspapers to spread his hate & lies about Jews. Reagan cut the Fairness Doc. This led to news journalists not using facts and evidence in their reporting and instead focusing on opinions and beliefs. They stopped judging debates by the facts the candidates used to represent their sides. When I mentioned the patterns I saw, most people said - not possible - it would not happen here. 😔. Even when T spewed hate & lies, they voted for him or REFUSED TO VOTE FOR WOMEN, because they just were not good enough. Now people are in our own concentration camps and the majority are doing what the Germans did.
This is the closest you can get to mentioning the Gaza Genocide? Really? Was Treblinka a summer camp? Were the Turks just aggressive relocation specialists? Is Osiewicim just a historical footnote? Did East Timor depopulate itself? Was the Holodomor sponsored by Ozempic? Say it. Gaza Genocide. Say it.
Even frequent Contrarian guest and head of J-Street, Jeremy Ben-Ami, admitted last summer that Israel has committed genocide. So has Israeli human rights orgs B’Tselem and Physicians for Hunan Rights… let alone virtually every other global human rights group, UN officials, and genocide scholars everywhere.
If you're going to shriek like a loon and try to impress people by dropping names in Polish, it's Oświęcim. Say it. Oświęcim. Say it.
I've heard it both ways but if I am wrong I apologize. I don't think I can edit this but if I can I will. And even you spell it two different ways. This does not make my point less correct. And I disrespectfully disagree with your 'shriek like a loon' characterization, you POS. GFYMIH.
Your shrieking and cursing clearly tell us everything we need to know about you.
I laud Bernie Sanders for continuing to bring bills to the floor to stop aid and arms sales to Israel. We shouldn't be part of their continued killing sprees, nor their efforts to annex the West Bank.
So, I agree with what you said here but unfortunately the regime in Washington reflects Netanyahu's desires NOT American citizens' desires. It seems trump is just fine with Bibi leveling the Gaza Strip so that they can eventually have the Middle East Riviera located there with a plethora of trump backed hotels & a golf course or two.
And now Bibi wants to occupy southern Lebanon & is destroying homes there & leveling that area too.
While it definitely angers a large part of our population the regime in DC could hardly care less what, we, the citizens, think!
This is a problem that humans, in their current mindset, can not solve. Until the nations that "created" Israel by relocating Palestinians who had inhabited that land for centuries alongside Jews, realize that doing that created this entire mess then I see no way to rectify the situation. Let me ask you, if China decided that San Francisco's Chinatown should be made into its own country & that non-Chinese people had to give up their homes & businesses to make room for only Chinese immigrants what would we say??? I don't think I have to answer that do I. Well that is what the "great powers" did in 1948 when they created Israel! We will pay for this forever until we realize that the original sin of creating a new country out of an existing country & moving those residents out that it can only lead to hatred of one against the other.
It pains me to say that the creation of the State of Israel was one of the greatest mistakes of Western civilization.
Yes, unfortunately,you are right. It created a nest of hatred where once co-existence seemed to be working.
Oh please. Read a little history of the Middle East. Plus: working for whom?
Jews needed a home, but the Partition Plan of 1947 was terribly crafted, if we can even use that term. Designed for failure.
Yes, because the Arabs hated the Jews and tried to destroy Israel repeatedly. History would have been very different if the original Israel, a tiny dot of a country, had been accepted and a Palestinian state created.
In 1947 Arabs comprised 67% of the population of the land of the Palestinian Mandate, and Jews were 33% of he population. However Jews were allotted about 56% of the land, while Arabs were allotted 43%. (About one percent of the land, the city of Jerusalem, was set aside for the city of Jerusalem.) From the outset the Arabs considered this inequitable. The Partition is at the root of the Arab-Israeli conflict and subsequent wars. The hatred flowed in both directions, Arabs for Jews and Jews for Arabs. Conflicts between Arabs and Jews had a broader historical context, but the problems of modern Palestine and the state of Israel are very much attributable to the way the land was divided. A two-state solution would seem to be the best option; so long as Netanyahu remains in power, this is unlikely to happen.
I'm not sure the Arabs would have agreed to any division since they didn't want the Jews there at all. I also don't know what factors other than population numbers were the reasons for the lines drawn. I do agree that a two-state solution is needed, but not only must Netanyahu and the Israeli right wing no longer be in power, but the Palestinians must have a different government as well. Both Hamas and the PA are corrupt and untrustworthy. That is a factor ignored by many who solely condemn Israel for the current situation. It is complicated and the Palestinian leadership is a significant part of the problem.
I'm not sure we can say that the Arabs didn't want Jews in Palestine at all, since there had been communities of Jews throughout Arab lands for centuries, evidently without the conflicts that grew after the end of the Ottoman Empire. But it does seem as if once the Balfour Declaration was issued, Arabs resented that Jews would be granted a homeland within Arab lands. As Arabs saw things, Jews would be given ownership over land once belonging to Arab communities. After the 1947 Partition the Arabs thought that Britain had reneged on representations they'd made concerning Arab rights. There anger, though, wasn't directed at the British and the other powers behind the Partition, but at Israel, who after all did deserve a safe home country. It is complicated. It doesn't seem reasonable to blame Palestinian leadership more than Israel's leadership for the current state of affairs. At different times each has engaged in tactics against the other than seem unjustified, disproportionally horrific. With the recent elections in Palestine and a change of government in Israel sooner rather than later, maybe leaders with different mindsets will find a way forward.
Bob K: My heart stopped when I read this. Are you kidding? I'm not going to explain why you are wrong as it would take a book. And with a comment like that it would be a waste of my time since you would not listen.
Why aren't you condemning Hezbollah and the 1,900 rockets they have lobbed into Israel since 2024? How about what Hamas does to Gazans? The hypocrisy of some people on this site is astounding.
"Israeli defense exports hit a new record in 2024, totaling $15 billion." - International Trade Commission
Meanwhile, also in 2024:
"US military aid to Israel reached a record high of over $17.9 billion...according to a report by Brown University's Watson Institute."
So while they're selling arms for profit, we are giving them military aid in nearly the same amount?
When we began our financial support for Israel, it was a new state. It is no longer a poor country. Our aid to Israel should be redirected to Gaza immediately. Let the Israeli groups who lobby and donate to US politicians, give that money to Israel instead. And send our US dollars to Gaza, a land demolished by the bombs we paid for.
I suggest that money is removed completely from politics. No more lobbying. No mire Citizens United.
Netanyahu is a war criminal who has turned the beautiful state of Israel into a monstrosity. He is a disgrace to his country, his people and all Jews everywhere.
One of the reasons for this is that the longer he wages war, he apparently stays in office and stays out of jail for his fraudulent dealings.
Remind you of anyone?
Thank you for this reporting. Netenyahu is not to be trusted. His cost to Isarael will be difficult to change when he is gone.We need tyo see that perpetual war finally solves little and causes great harm.
Exactly the same had happened here. How do you suggest we stop the racism, misogyny and the fact that Americans think their opinions and beliefs are more important than facts? They also have no clue that there are responsibilities that come with our rights.
For the US-Israel relationship to "mature," Israel must leave behind Netanyahoo's extremist approach to its Arab neighbors. As Arab states must leave behind their aims of eliminating the state of Israel. And for heavens sake, let the US send competent, well-informed diplomats to any Mideast negotiations we attend.
The worst part of Nut-and-Yahoo's policies are that in the long run they mainly serve only him, not Israel. Bibi has only 2 goals:
1. To stay in power
2. To stay out of prison
And beyond that he couldn't care less about Israel. He figures by making perpetual war he can avoid the completion of his trial, and maybe even get a pardon.
Don the Con and Nut-and-Yahoo are both full of crap, but the mechanism is different. According to a metric I remember reading in a Zakaria column when I still read the WaPo, there's a difference between a liar and a bull(stuff)er.
Paradoxically, a liar actually respects the truth. Liars know the truth, or at least believe something to be true, but then go ahead and say things they know or believe are not true.
In contrast, bull(stuff)ers say whatever is convenient at the moment, without knowledge or care of whether there's any truth involved.
Bibi's a liar who deliberately lies, obfuscates the truth, or misleads people for self serving reasons.
Don the Con has no filter between his brain and mouth, and so articulates whatever thought happens to pop into his otherwise-empty head. He neither knows nor cares whether there's even a grain of truth in there.
That is why I believe in the possibility that what happened on 10/7 may not have been such a surprise.
"In the past, our aid helped “to incentivize Israel to negotiate peace deals with the Palestinians. "
And that was the past. Israel is now a wealthy and war-like country in its own right. Like corporations that don't need government subsidies (corporate welfare) when they are already doing well enough on their own, Israel is in the same condition. The only difference is that Israel is not doing anything for our benefit. It is time to stop supporting a government that commits war crimes and genocide. It's time to turn off the military and financial aid to this country.
We need to stop supporting our current gov't. If only EVERYONE would get out and protest at the same time every day like Minneapolis citizens did!
Mr. Pebbles may be on to something as we are witnessing here at home. Deflection. Stay in power as a means of avoiding accountability for corrupt practices. A further note. American Jews face a conundrum re support for Israel. The road to an Israeli- Palestinian accord is frought with so much animosity on both sides and so much mis information serving so many fragmented groups in the equation ,that ,just as Oct 7 demonstrated ,for Israel a paper accord laid on a bed of deep religio- political animosity as the Islamic world demonstrates toward Jews portends continued existential challenges. No matter how you move the pieces on the mid eastern geopolitical board one comes up with existential threat and insecurity rendered by the Islamic world about Israel on all sides. For the most part Israel has been able to protect itself ,but the protection causes a lot of collateral death. So American Jews are placed in a position of having to prioritize their fealty. America where we live peacefully,albeit with rising antisemitism fostered or excused as a reaction to Israeli policies and for our generation ,still marred by Holocaust memories,is of prime consideration ie voting based on American - Israeli relations or based on what is good for America nationally and internationally. One hopes the latter prevails as the current American politics demands a profound change from its current state.
We must stop funding Israel's genocide of Palestine and Lebanon. Netanyahu is a monster and he, and his cohorts must go to jail permanently.
That would require us to first get rid of every GOP in Congress. AFTER that is accomplished, we can demand an end to lobbying by corporations and end Citizens' United. We need to look at and help more people understand progressive policies. With that accomplished, we might be able to vote out people like Schumer and still get a dem in his place.
He belongs in a cell with our president and Pootin. And they should share a special circle in the afterlife, with Epstein included.
Yep!
Would you also want Hamas and Hezbollah to join them? I would.
Perhaps, but there are many here to start with first.