Israel/Palestine Conflict
Question:
Where do you stand on the apartheid and genocide that Israel is conducting and do you feel like the US should be supplying them with weapons and money instead of spending money on our own citizens? -A (Danville, CA)
Answer:
I hold the same position on this conflict as I do on all foreign conflicts: we need to move towards peace and normalized relations. I won’t pretend that I understand the entire history of the region, which goes back hundreds of years and is deep and complicated.
But here is what I believe is true after analyzing as much information from across the news spectrum as time permits, and considering the broader environment from which this conflict arose. I believe that any politician, commentator, or news organization that speaks in black-and-white terms about this issue is biased or disingenuous. You will see that my analysis is more nuanced. I will update my answer as the conflict evolves and I learn things that cause my position to change.
I support a ceasefire because it is the only way to long-term peace. I solve problems by asking what steps need to be taken now so that in 10 years the issue is resolved or moving towards resolution.
On October 7, Hamas killed over 1,100 Israelis, mostly innocent men, women, and children. This was a terrorist attack.
In response, Israel has leveled Gaza and killed over 30,000 Palestinians, mostly innocent men, women, and children. This was a disproportionate response and meets the definition of genocide.
Israel, with the help of Western intelligence, could have more surgically eliminated the threat posed to Israel by Hamas, just as the U.S. eliminated ISIS. Israeli leadership chose instead to leverage October 7 to level Gaza and attempt to push Palestinians out of Gaza.
In 2006, Hamas won a plurality in a democratic election by promising to be less corrupt than the ruling Fatah party. However, shortly after Hamas obtained control, they became a totalitarian regime, which was not what Palestinians voted for. Over the past 20 years, Hamas rule and education are all Palestinians have known.
Over the decades, Israel created and maintained an oppressive, apartheid environment in Gaza, concerned about the threat from Hamas.
Hamas commandeers humanitarian aid coming into Gaza from the West and receives support from middle eastern governments and organizations for their operations, which include operations hostile to Israel.
Many men, women, and children in Gaza are trapped — they democratically elected Hamas, but Hamas was not what it promised to be. It is the combination of oppression by Hamas and by Israel (which increases the Hamas threat to Israel), that have destroyed Palestinians’ quality of life, which makes many more Palestinians hostile towards Israel. This is a vicious cycle. I will not pretend I know how to get out of it.
I believe the U.S. should not continue to provide offensive weapons and munitions to Israel because Israel’s disproportionate response is causing growing hatred toward Israel and the United States, which threatens our own national security and Israel’s security. Specifically, I believe there are radical groups organizing within the U.S. to carry out mass casualty events, like 9/11.
I support the U.S. providing resources for defensive systems and munitions (i.e Iron Dome), and coordinating with Israeli intelligence to surgically eliminate the threat from Hamas.
I will not pretend to know how to rebuild and recolonize Gaza, but I believe this needs to be done.
Broader Scope:
There are growing problems between parts of the Arab world and the West. Some muslims want death to Israel, the United States, and the West at large. Some want to expand their culture into the West instead of assimilating into Western culture. This is causing growing tensions, especially in Europe.
The U.S. and the West are not innocent bystanders in this growing tension. The United States used 9/11 as a false pretense to invade Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. The war also displaced tens of millions more refugees, pushing them into Europe, and destabilizing the Middle East and Europe. The same happened with Syria.
Tensions between the West and the Arab world need to be addressed and peacefully resolved over time or they will escalate into larger regional, kinetic conflicts.
I will not pretend I know how to solve these problems because there are dozens of variables, and time is one of them. But as a member of Congress, I will work diligently to critically analyze all the variables and choose a path forward that I believe will lead to a peaceful end result.
Question Submitted: 2/22/24
Answered: 2/29/24