July 24 may come to be remembered as one of the most shameful days in recent American history. That was the day Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, a man who has authorized atrocities to save his own political skin, was permitted to address a joint meeting of Congress at the invitation of the four top congressional leaders, two of them Democrats. But there have been many shameful days since the war in Gaza began almost a year ago. So far, more than forty thousand Gazans have been killed, including many thousands of women and children. (The Lancet, a medical journal, estimates that the number of deaths caused by the war, directly or indirectly, could actually be as high as 186,000.) Hunger and disease stalk the perpetually displaced survivors. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has been credibly accused of using Palestinian civilians, disguised in IDF uniforms, as human shields before entering Hamas’s underground tunnels. Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s Sde Teiman detention camp have been subjected to lethally unsanitary conditions, sexual abuse, and torture. All of this has been done at the behest of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government, with the tacit permission—or at least the forbearance—of the Biden administration, and with the blessing of nearly all Republicans and too many Democrats on Capitol Hill. Netanyahu received fifty-four standing ovations during his address to Congress.
To her credit, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ presidential nominee, declined to be there. She claimed to have a scheduling conflict, but her absence was widely interpreted as a snub to the prime minister. According to a White House readout of Harris’s meeting with Netanyahu the next day, she “reiterated her longstanding and unwavering commitment to the security of the State of Israel and the people of Israel,” but she also “expressed concern regarding civilian casualties and discussed the need to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” Most significantly, perhaps, she discussed “actions that undermine stability and security in the West Bank, such as extremist settler violence and settlement expansion”—thus signaling that, unlike Netanyahu, she still favors a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The readout does not record Netanyahu’s response, but it can safely be assumed he wasn’t pleased. After the meeting, Harris delivered a televised statement in which she said, “It is time for this war to end…. We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.”
But two weeks later, at a campaign rally in Detroit, Harris sent a less encouraging signal when she rebuked a heckler who was protesting the war in Gaza: “You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.” The moment went viral and was widely celebrated by centrist pundits as evidence of Harris’s resolve. The implication was that the war in Gaza ought mainly to be understood in terms of its effect on the upcoming presidential election, rather than the other way around. It is important, for many reasons, that Donald Trump not win in November—however inadequate Biden’s policies in the Middle East have been, Trump’s would be worse—but it is not less important that the war in Gaza be brought to an end as soon as possible. Harris should make it clear to the many Americans protesting their own country’s complicity in the war that she does not regard them as mere pests in the way of her political aspirations. She also needs to make it clear that, if she’s elected, her own policies will not simply be a continuation of President Biden’s. His whole approach to the war in Gaza, which combines unstinting military support for Israel with mealy-mouthed pleas for it to try to kill fewer civilians, has been a humiliating failure.
Partly because of this failure, the threat of a larger war now looms over the entire region. As we go to press, Iran is threatening to attack Israel in response to the recent assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, and Fuad Shukr, a top commander of Hezbollah. Iranian officials have warned that only a ceasefire in Gaza would prevent them from retaliating, but the latest round of ceasefire negotiations has reportedly been stymied by Netanyahu’s intransigence concerning who will control a nine-mile corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Meanwhile, the United States has sent more combat aircraft, warships, and a guided-missile submarine to the region in anticipation of a larger conflict.
Whatever happens in the days to come, there will be no lasting peace until the war in Gaza ends for good and Israel accepts a framework for Palestinian statehood. If Harris wants to demonstrate a true concern for the suffering in Gaza, she can begin by promising to enforce the Leahy Laws, which prohibit the United States from assisting any foreign security force that violates human rights. These laws have been enforced hundreds of times in the past three decades but they have never been applied to Israel—which receives more U.S. military aid than any other country. Suspending arms shipments may or may not convince Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza immediately, but it will at least restore some small measure of credibility to U.S. foreign policy and to America’s lofty rhetoric about human rights. It’s time to begin practicing what we preach. No more standing ovations for war criminals. No more empty warnings behind closed doors. And no more weapons for the collective punishment of an entire people.
