Chaos in DC. War in Israel

This week saw the U.S. House of Representatives descend into chaos as Florida's self-important Representative Matt Gaetz continued his campaign against the Speaker, Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy had committed the unspeakable sin of working with the Democratic side of the House to pass a Continuing Resolution that prevented the U.S. Government from going into a shutdown since Congress passed no budget by the end of the fiscal year.

That move seemed to infuriate Gaetz and his band of nay-sayers. If you remember, he was the leader of a small right-wing group that humiliated McCarthy with a round of 15 votes back in January before a Speaker could even be seated. Although McCarthy made many concessions to the group then, including placing them on important committees, the worst error he made was allowing a rules change that allowed a single member to push for a vote to vacate the chair. That proved to be his undoing. On Tuesday, Gaetz moved to vacate the chair and led his small group of eight to vote to unseat the Speaker. Over 200 Republicans voted against this move. However, because of strained relations, all the Democrats supported the move. (After working with the Speaker on Saturday, to prevent a shut-down, Democrats saw McCarthy go on the Sunday talk shows and blame the Democrats for the current issues relating to the continuing resolutions, which was untrue.)

After being defeated, McCarthy said he would not run for the position again. An interim Speaker with limited powers is now serving as a caretaker of the currently recessed House. A few candidates have emerged to run for the position. The two most prominent, to my mind, speak to a lot of what is wrong with the Republican Party today. One, Jim Jordan of Ohio, is another MAGA bomb thrower, so to speak; he is known for espousing conspiracy theories and holding pointless hearings such as on the crime rate in New York City after the DA there indicted DJT, even though his District in Ohio has a higher crime rate. Reports say the former president who also wanted to shut down the government endorsed his candidacy. Jordan refused to answer a subpoena from the House Select Committee on January 6^th. Many authorities suspect he knew and approved of the January 6^th Insurrection and was in touch with the White House throughout that day, even though he has refused to clarify his moves.

The other prominent candidate is Representative Steve Scalese of Louisiana, self-described at one time as ‘David Duke without the baggage’-referring to the infamous White Supremacist and Klan member. A deranged gunman severely wounded Scalese at the Congressional Baseball field a few years ago. He is now undergoing treatment for myeloma, a form of blood cancer, according to the AP.

Although both men have been in Congress for several years, neither one has distinguished himself as a legislative leader. Both voted, after the insurrection, to de-certify the election. Surely, there must be some moderate Republican who is serious and interested in governing who could stand for the position of Speaker other than either of these men.

Another consideration has to be who can take the position of McCarthy as a Republican Party fundraiser. He is known as one of the most successful fund-raisers in the party and donates to those candidates who support his views. An article in the Washington Post recently noted he had raised over 88 million dollars from just eight families. (Aside from thinking that it is cringe-worthy to learn that just eight families could or should have that much power to address electoral politics, that is just a minor part of the money he raised.) The house will begin to vote for the new Speaker on Tuesday. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post, proposing shared responsibilities.

Jeffries also said:

“The need to change course is urgent. Congress is in the midst of a Republican civil war that undermines our ability to make life more affordable for American taxpayers, to keep communities safe, and to strengthen democracy. Traditional Republicans need to break with the MAGA extremism that has poisoned the House of Representatives since the violent insurrection on Jan 6, 2021, and its aftermath — when the overwhelming majority of House Republicans continued to promote the “big lie” and voted not to certify the presidential election.”

Wiser members of the Republican Party would do well to heed his words. The city stands in chaos. No one knows what will happen with the promised funding for Ukraine. No one knows what will happen at the end of the 45 days set for the CR. To many, despite the efforts of President Biden to show the government working and the economy improving with a strong jobs report, the House appears rudderless. In vacuums often comes opportunistic trouble. Adversaries of our country might assume confusion reigns and take advantage.

That is what many observers of the horrific situation in Israel are concluding. Israel has been undergoing a battle of Democracy vs. Autocracy. Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to lessen the role of the Courts, and since they have no written constitution, he can do this with legislative support. Throngs in opposition to these moves have crowded the streets for months. Despite criticism, he conceded to the right-wing parties, since they are his strength. Some commentators noted that these pre-occupations might have distracted the highly regarded security and intelligence services recently and allowed them to miss the build-up of Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip. The night-time attacks on Israel caught both Israel and the U.S. by surprise. The loss of life on both sides in just two days has been overwhelming. Some think, that because Israel was thought weak and unaware, they were attacked now. The Israelis vow to respond with a huge military force but will be restrained because hostages have been taken. Hamas has killed some Americans, others are missing and thought to be among the hostages.

Israel has approximately 9.5 million residents. The population of the Gaza Strip is about 2.5 million, while the West Bank has about 3 million residents. There should be a way to resolve the issues of Israeli sovereignty and safety while also providing a homeland for the 5.5 million Palestinians somewhere. The two-state solution does not appear to work if Netanyahu keeps building settlements in the occupied West Bank, so I do not have an answer.

My concerns are that with the continued chaos in DC, some others might think the U.S. is also vulnerable. We should guard against this.

I have copied comments from many articles this weekend that discuss the War in Israel. Since these are the experts, I’ll share their thoughts rather than just my ideas below.

According to the Economist:

“It is too soon to know how the next few weeks will unfold. Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has vowed to exact “a huge price” and he is right: Hamas must be made to pay for its atrocities, which include the massacre of more than 250 young Israelis at a festival in the south. But Israel’s response comes with grave risks.” 

The article concludes with these thoughts:

“Nobody should underestimate the difficulties that lie ahead. The second intifada turned young Israelis against talking to the Palestinians. This outrage will surely create a new generation of Israelis who cannot imagine how Palestinian factions could be a partner for peace. At the same time, Israel’s right-wing coalition has been focused on annexing parts of the West Bank. It will redouble these efforts.”

“Despite that, hard-headed Israelis will need to grapple with the fact that they must once again start to deal with the Palestinian issue. Israel’s security apparatus needs a counterparty to work with if it is to have any sway over the Palestinian territories. That means it needs a Palestinian interlocutor.”

“What comes next will depend greatly on who is in power in Jerusalem. For the moment, Israel is pulling together, but it will soon undergo a bitter reckoning that could yet lead to a new coalition or even a new prime minister. If Israelis are to be safe, whoever is in charge will need to stop thinking of the Palestinians as a problem that can be shelved and start thinking of them as a people who must be engaged.” 

According to the New York Times:

“Mr. Netanyahu said early Sunday that the “first phase” of Israel’s response had come to an end, claiming that Israeli forces had fought off most Hamas militants inside its territory. Amid speculation that Israel was preparing for a substantial ground invasion of Gaza, he pledged to continue the offensive “without reservation and without respite.”

“President Biden and other world leaders condemned Hamas — which the United States classifies as a terrorist organization — saying they support Israel and its right to defend itself. Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, have called for de-escalation, but have avoided blaming Hamas.”

 

An Editorial published in the Washington Post states in part:

“Palestinian Authority leaders are being equally shortsighted by blaming Israel for inviting the attack. While dramatic, the cross-border incursion will not lead to the defeat of Israel nor change its policies in the occupied territories. Ordinary Palestinians will pay a heavy price for Hamas’ wanton and unprovoked massacres of innocent Israelis. Meanwhile, the chances of substantive territorial concessions in the West Bank as part of a prospective peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel have shrunk further.

 

Eventually, Israeli leaders will need to confront their own mistakes: The fact that Hamas could have planned such an assault — involving dozens of fighters, boats, paragliders, and drones — over months without Israel’s vaunted intelligence services catching wind represents a massive failure. There is plenty of blame to go around. The Netanyahu government’s attempts to transform the judiciary have needlessly riven Israeli society and distracted the military and security services. Its hardline policies in Jerusalem and the occupied territories have fueled Palestinian anger and desperation, endangering Israelis far from the settlements.”

 

“But all that’s for another time. For now, Israel’s priority must be to destroy the ability of Hamas and its ilk to further threaten the country’s security. Pursuing peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors will be much harder in the near term, which no doubt was one of the militants’ aims. Yet all parties should recognize that, once the fighting is over, such efforts will also be more important than ever — and something all sides in this conflict should still aspire to and pursue. The alternative is only more bloodshed, death, and terror.”

 

From Heather Cox Richardson:

There are serious questions about how the Netanyahu government did not see this attack coming. It was either a spectacular intelligence failure or a security failure or both, and it strikes at the heart of the Netanyahu government’s promise to keep the country safe. At the same time, the attack is making Israelis rally together. The hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been protesting Netanyahu’s strengthening hold on the government have said they would come together in this dangerous moment.”  

“A number of countries, including the U.S., have designated Hamas a terrorist organization. It is backed by Iran, which provides money and weapons, and last month high-level Iranian officials apparently met with Hamas leaders in Lebanon. Today Iran praised Hamas for the attack. Iran has opposed the recent talks between Saudi Arabia and Israel about normalizing relations. Since the decline of Iraq as an independent power, Iran has viewed the combination of Israel, its main enemy, with Saudi Arabia, its main rival for power, as the greatest threat to its security in the region.” 

She concludes with:

“In the United States, Republicans used the moment to attack President Biden. In an echo of a similar lie from Trump, who falsely claimed the Obama administration had paid $150 billion to Iran for a nuclear agreement, they took to social media in a flood to say that the U.S. had funded the attack on Israel because it had recently “paid” $6 billion to Iran.” 

“The statement was wrong across the board: the U.S. did not pay Iran anything. It helped to ease restrictions on Iranian money that had been frozen in South Korea, enabling Qatar to take control of the money and use it for humanitarian aid. In any case, the money has not yet been transferred. Still, it was a surprising decision to attack the U.S. government at a time when the country would normally be united behind Israel.”

“Nonetheless, the attack has made the national implications of Republicans’ own troubles even more clear. In times of crisis, the executive branch briefs the so-called Gang of Eight on classified intelligence matters. The Gang of Eight is made up of the leaders of each party in the House and the Senate, and the leaders of each party in each chamber’s intelligence committee. But without a House Speaker, this leading intelligence group is missing a key member. It is not clear if the acting speaker, Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who was tapped by former speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and not elected, can participate.” 

“The lack of a speaker is a problem. Although House committees can still meet, the House can’t do much. McHenry is responsible mostly for overseeing the election of a new speaker; he does not have the authority to bring bills or even resolutions to the floor.” 

And with those words, I will conclude. We move into a new week with many uncertainties both at home and abroad. We should all hope that next weekend will show the resolution of some.

‘Til next week- hope for peace.