Democrats in Congress Weigh Calls for Cease-Fire Amid Pressure From the Left
They have grown more vocal about urging measures to mitigate civilian casualties in Gaza, but supporters of a cease-fire are few and far between.
Reporting from Washington
Democrats in Congress, torn between their support for Israel in its war with Hamas and concern about civilian suffering in Gaza, are struggling with how far to go in calling for measures to mitigate civilian casualties as the left wing of the party escalates pressure for a cease-fire.
In recent days, several House and Senate Democrats have urged temporary humanitarian pauses to facilitate aid deliveries of food, water and fuel to the Gaza Strip, echoing the Biden administration. They have argued that the pauses are necessary to keep an already dire humanitarian crisis from worsening, and to negotiate the release of more than 200 hostages, including Americans, being held in Gaza since Hamas waged a bloody attack on civilians and soldiers in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
But few have embraced progressive Democrats’ demands for a complete and lasting cease-fire, even as pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets over the weekend to demand a total cessation of hostilities. Most Democrats, including some of Congress’s most influential liberal leaders, have argued that a full cease-fire would give Hamas time to regroup and launch another assault on Israel.
“You’ve got to have a pause in the bombing. You’ve got to take care of the immediate disaster. Israel’s got to change its strategy,” Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont and a prominent Jewish progressive, said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “I don’t know how you can have a cease-fire — permanent cease-fire — with an organization like Hamas, which is dedicated to turmoil and chaos and destroying the state of Israel.”
The comments drew a backlash from some progressive activists that highlighted the cross pressures Democrats are dealing with on the issue. Their dilemma, which mirrors the one President Biden has been facing as he confronts growing hostility on the left to his backing of Israel, could carry political consequences for the party overall. Democrats will be heavily reliant on strong support and turnout among their liberal core supporters in their push to hold the White House and the Senate, and win control of the House, in the 2024 elections.
Richard J. Durbin of Illinois last week became the first Democratic senator to call for a cease-fire, which he said he would support under certain conditions, including Hamas first agreeing to release hostages. His decision reflected a shift underway on Capitol Hill that has coincided with changes in Mr. Biden’s public messaging on Israel.
Reactions to the Conflict in the U.S.
- Protests: Tens of thousands of demonstrators crowded the streets of American cities on Nov. 4 to denounce Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Here is a snapshot of the many different groups calling for a cease-fire.
- Jewish Viewers: Fox News, long a preferred source of news for the right, has become an information refuge for some American Jews who believe that the mainstream media has been too hostile to Israel.
- American Chefs: The war is spilling over into the food world, with food professionals starting petitions and dishes like hummus becoming weaponized like never before.
- A Polarizing Debate: As tensions mount on U.S. college campuses, Republican politicians and activists have waded into the emotional debate that is playing out among students and faculty members.
Mr. Biden has been resolute about declaring that the United States stands in solidarity with Israel. But in the last several days, he and top administration officials have emphasized their efforts to persuade Israeli officials of the need for humanitarian pauses to allow the United Nations to deliver aid to civilians.
The change in tone comes as progressive polls indicate that a majority of Democratic voters favor a cease-fire, as well as evidence that younger people and people of color are critical of the Biden administration’s stance on the war.
Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan and the only Palestinian American in Congress, put a sharp point on the disconnect last week in a video that accused Mr. Biden of supporting a genocide in Gaza and threatened him with electoral consequences in 2024 if he failed to call for a cease-fire.
“Mr. President, the American people are not with you on this one,” Ms. Tlaib said.
International law defines genocide as a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in times of war or peace. Top Israeli officials have said they are targeting Hamas, not the Palestinian people.
The video also featured pro-Palestinian protesters in Michigan chanting “from the river to the sea,” a rallying cry referring to the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that many regard as calling for the eradication of Israel.
The backlash from other Democrats to the slogan, which the Anti-Defamation League considers antisemitic, was severe.
Representative Elissa Slotkin, also a Michigan Democrat, insisted in a series of posts on the social media platform X that Ms. Tlaib apologize.
“None of us, especially elected leaders, should amplify language that inflames a tense situation & makes it harder for our communities to find common ground,” wrote Ms. Slotkin, a centrist who is Jewish. “If I knew that a phrase I’d used had hurt any of my constituents, I would apologize & retract it, no matter its origin. I’d ask the same from you.”
Mr. Biden has requested that humanitarian aid for Palestinians be part of any package to send military assistance to Israel.
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat of Florida, also criticized Ms. Tlaib’s use of the slogan, as well as her calls for a cease-fire.
“This phrase means eradicating Israel and Jews. Period,” she wrote in a post on X. “Only a return of hostages, eliminating Hamas and liberating Gaza from oppressive terror will save civilian lives and secure the peace, justice and dignity you seek.”
Ms. Tlaib defended the slogan as “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate.” In a statement, she also accused her colleagues of focusing on pillorying her at the expense of saving lives.
“My colleagues are much more focused on silencing me — the only Palestinian American voice in Congress — than they are on ending the horrific attacks on civilians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank right now,” she said.
Mr. Sanders shrugged off the criticism of Ms. Tlaib, calling her “a friend of mine” and arguing that given her Palestinian roots, “she has been shaken, as all of us are, about what is going on right there right now.”
Asked about her use of the word genocide, he said, “Words matter, but what matters more is you have a horrible humanitarian disaster that has to be dealt with right now.”
The rifts among Democrats are only deepening as proponents of a cease-fire demonstrate against bipartisan congressional efforts to fund Mr. Biden’s request for $14.3 billion in military assistance to help Israel fight Hamas, arguing with increasingly angry rhetoric that the money and weapons will lead to more civilian carnage.
Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed more than 1,400 people. The death toll in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, has exceeded 10,000, according to health officials there.
The Republican-led House last week passed a bill that would provide military aid to Israel but nothing for the Palestinians. It is dead on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate, where there is bipartisan support for including humanitarian aid for the Palestinians and packaging it all with assistance for Ukraine and other security needs.
It is not yet clear when the Senate will act on the plan.
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