Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who is a leader in the Democratic foreign policy establishment, gave an extraordinary speech on the Senate floor on Monday night, excoriating the Netanyahu government for deliberately blocking aid to civilians. He and Sen. Jeff Merkley traveled to the Egypt side of the Rafah crossing around five weeks ago, and Van Hollen came back livid at Israel’s deliberate stalling of aid. On the Senate floor, he said that he had recently heard reports that children are now beyond starving and are actually dying of starvation. He texted Cindy McCain, the head of the World Food Programme, and asked if the rumors were true. He quoted her response to him: “This is true. We are unable to get in enough food to keep people from the brink. Famine is imminent. I wish I had better news.”
He drove the point home: “Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food. In addition to the horror of that news, one other thing is true: That is a war crime. It is a textbook war crime. And that makes those who orchestrate it war criminals,” he said , adding that he had recently spoken with officials at humanitarian relief organizations. “Every one of them, every one, has stated that their organizations have never experienced a humanitarian disaster as dire and terrible as the world is witnessing in Gaza.”
The senator’s speech pulsed with moral clarity — until it petered out into a stumbling rationale for his forthcoming yes vote. He would still be voting to send some $14 billion to the people he had just described as “war criminals,” he said, because the bill also included $60 billion for Ukraine’s war effort and humanitarian aid for Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine, and elsewhere. (It also ponies up $8 billion for a Taiwan war effort.) He acknowledged that the aid money wouldn’t be worth anything to the Palestinians if Netanyahu wouldn’t let it in, and he pleaded with Biden to pressure Netanyahu to do so. But if even this level of moral clarity from somebody like Van Hollen isn’t matched with any action, it’s hard to see why those pleas will be heard this time.
When the roll was called, only Sen. Bernie Sanders and Merkley, Van Hollen’s companion on that recent trip to Rafah, voted no. It needed 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and thanks to significant opposition from Republicans, it only got 66. A small bloc of Democrats could have blocked it and forced the Senate to consider each spending piece separately.
I’ve already given my position. I want to support the people of Ukraine defending themselves from genocide. I would, however refuse to do so if the ONLY way to support them is to shoot through the people of Palestine defending themselves from genocide. Would it be worth you killing someone/everyone you love to provide aid to Ukraine? Killing Palestinian civilians should be just as repulsive a proposition, the only difference is bias.
In giving them more money post genocide commencement, it is now an American-Israeli coordinated genocide as far as I’m concerned, just as we did with the Native Americans.
That’s where we differ then, since the risk of Russia gaining power in the world is completely unacceptable. Besides the immediate threat to Europe, Russia is responsible for disinformation campaigns across the West and has caused untold damage with Trump and his ilk. To me, that is the greatest danger we need to address and defending Ukraine is top priority.
I wish politicians would unlink unrelated funding programs, but that’s a problem that can’t be solved in the short term. Ideally pressure continues to mount against the Israeli response to the situation in Gaza (as it is doing, albeit too slowly).