Nov 17, 2023
AIPAC Vows Revenge After Democrats Send Biden Letter Urging Ceasefire in Gaza
AIPAC is furious after 24 House Democrats sent a letter to President Biden urging a ceasefire in Gaza.
- 15 minutes
Almost three dozen members of Congress
have now banded together
to call for a bilateral cease fire
between Israel and Hamas.
That is already drawing condemnation.
And not just condemnation, but bucks
or at least promises of bucks to come.
Because AIPAC, according to a new report,
has a plan to spend in just
[00:00:18]
the Democratic primary over $100 million
to take out some of those who have signed
this call for the cease fire.
Members of the squad
and others, we'll get to that.
But first, I want to talk about the actual
cause for the cease fire, because on
Wednesday, you had 24 members of the House
sending a letter to both President Biden
[00:00:37]
as well as the secretary of state.
And we want to give you just
a little bit of what is in that call.
They say we write to you to express
deep concern about the intensifying war
in Gaza, particularly grave violations
against children, and are fear
that without an immediate cessation of
hostilities and the establishment of a
robust bilateral cease fire, this war will
lead to a further loss of civilian life
[00:00:56]
and risked dragging the United States
into dangerous and unwise conflict
with armed groups across the Middle East.
It seems like a reasonable concern
considering the last two decades
of American foreign policy.
They go on to say we reaffirm
our unequivocal condemnation
of the Hamas attacks on Israel
that took place on October 7th.
[00:01:13]
We also share dire concerns
with the ongoing Israeli response,
in which the Israeli Defense Forces
have killed over 11,078 Palestinians,
nearly half of whom have been children.
Now, there are a lot of people
on that list, some of them standouts
that you're not going to be surprised
to find out are signatories, including
[00:01:30]
Representatives Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez.
But on top of that, you also have
Representative Becca Balint,
who became the first Jewish member of
Congress to call for a cease fire as well.
And that is notable particularly
because some of the previous comment
from the representative
went in a slightly different direction
[00:01:48]
so early on had said that Israel's right
to defend itself against the unprecedented
surprise attack against them
is basically absolute, that that's what we
should be focusing on at that point.
But now we have in this op ed,
I want to give you sort of the evolution
says I'm one generation removed from the
horrific trauma of the Holocaust, which
[00:02:06]
impacted my family and reshaped the world.
Like me, there are thousands of
American Jews that share a deep emotional
connection to Israel because of what it
meant for the survival of the Jewish
people in the face of extermination.
This same history also drives
so many of us to fight for
the protection of Palestinian lives.
[00:02:23]
I do not claim to know how to solve every
aspect of this decades long conflict, but
what I do know is that killing civilians
and killing children is an abomination
and categorically unacceptable.
No matter who the civilians are
and no matter who the children are.
And let me just add, same for for all
of that from the initial attack,
[00:02:42]
which was utterly horrendous.
I love the historic context
that Representative Ballot adds
and then talks about why there seems like
there should be a natural connection
between your desire to protect civilians
on both sides of this conflict.
And so it is good to see that.
[00:02:57]
So we have overall 34 members
of Congress calling for a cease fire.
Just one senator, though,
that is Senator Dick Durbin.
None others have joined them, including
Bernie Sanders, who sort of doubled down
on not using that terminology,
saying, I am not quite sure how you would
negotiate a cease fire with a terrorist
organization that is dedicated to
[00:03:15]
perpetual war and as a practical matter,
long term or even medium term.
Yeah, that might well be difficult,
but it would be really nice to have it
for as long as is possible,
even if that's a short time.
Dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands
of lives could be on the line,
[00:03:31]
even with a brief cease fire.
And that certainly seems like something
worth engaging in a little bit
of experimental diplomacy over.
That said, I have thrown a lot out there.
Sharon, I want to start with you.
What are your thoughts about some
of these recent developments?
I think that when you lead with.
Well, I'll say it, bullying money force.
[00:03:50]
It's never going to end.
And we're in a climate worldwide
of polarization.
And so when a representative
makes a measured not even careful,
just a decent measured statement, I think
it deserves more attention than that.
[00:04:08]
Respectfully, Senator Sanders, he's
talking about the terrorist organization.
Others are bringing up
the Palestinian people.
And I think that when you have children,
you know, babies dying and you have people
[00:04:23]
who have lost everything, including lives,
so many of them on both sides of this.
I'm not making any kind of
moral equivalency about how we got here
with this incident in October, but it's
just there's a time that you have to give
people a seat at the table and threatening
and bullying and using gobs of money.
[00:04:44]
More money, I guess, than maybe, maybe,
perhaps will ever be used in this way.
What are you really going to accomplish?
I am so disappointed
in Bernie Sanders, and I am.
[00:05:00]
So impressed by Representative Rebecca.
That's her name.
The Jewish representative
who's calling for a cease fire.
Because it is.
[00:05:15]
I mean, this whole issue,
I feel like logic and reason has left
the building with this entire issue.
Like people who I normally consider sane,
reasonable, thoughtful,
[00:05:32]
intelligent people are just they're
just like, no, no, no, no, no.
And it's like, no, you know what?
Two things can be true.
A we can call for a cease fire
to stop killing children and babies.
[00:05:50]
And we can also be pro-Israel
and and anti Hamas.
Like, why are we conflating
these two things?
Why is calling for a cease fire
automatically make me anti-Semitic
or anti-Israel or pro Hamas?
[00:06:06]
Like two things can be true, people.
And I feel like, you know, people
who would normally be able to see that
and speak to that in a reasonable way.
It's just like,
I don't know what you know.
I mean, I'm sure I know, you know,
there's all this history,
[00:06:25]
you know, with the Holocaust and stuff,
but also the, you know, let's face it,
there's money behind a lot of this.
Who's giving the money where?
And I just I just can't believe
more people are not speaking out.
[00:06:40]
Like.
Like I personally have lost a few thousand
followers on my Instagram account
because I've said really?
Like because I posted a video of a clearly
a Palestinian child who had been injured
[00:06:56]
and attacked and who was the same age
as my nephew, and it broke my heart.
And I literally just reposted the video
of this suffering toddler,
and I and I, I hashtag cease fire now.
And I lost like 3000 Instagram followers
[00:07:11]
because people just can't like logic
and reason has left the building
in this whole issue, I feel, and I and I
can't believe it, I can't believe it.
It really does feel like that.
And by the way, I don't know
Representative Becca Balint,
but, you know, being the first
Jewish member of Congress, I imagine this
[00:07:29]
is an incredibly difficult thing to do.
I can't imagine what messages she's
getting, you know, not necessarily just
from randos, but from from colleagues,
from perhaps family members.
Like there's, as you point out,
there is just so much vitriol and there is
[00:07:45]
so little willingness to extend, like,
like a quantum of grace in any of this.
I was reading a Reddit discussion
of the DNC protest,
and there were so many people willing
to just say, you know, they're doing that.
[00:08:00]
They're calling for the cease fire
because they hate Jewish people
and they want them all dead.
And I thought,
I don't I don't think that's probably it.
Many of them are Jewish
that were in the protest.
So that's probably not what it is.
I don't feel like that's driving like
there's just there's so little willingness
[00:08:15]
to extend any grace.
And I understand that that is not that is
not true only of one side, I am sure,
when I, you know, talk about this issue,
I'm sure I could do better.
And I will try to, but
but we are not in a we're not in the realm
of the hypothetical right now.
[00:08:32]
We're not in the immediate aftermath
of the horrendous attack of October 7th
with an idea of what the strategy
is going to be talking about hypotheticals
of, no, there should be a cease fire,
because what if people die?
We're not there.
Over 11,000 people have already died.
[00:08:50]
And if that doesn't get through to you,
if that doesn't cause you to take pause,
and even if somehow it doesn't get you to
to like to, you know, favor a cease fire,
if that doesn't cause you
to at least want to reassess the strategy,
then I would put forward
that perhaps nothing will, but it's.
[00:09:08]
But it's truly horrendous to me.
It is good to see that we have at least,
you know, 8% of the house.
No, not even less than that.
Being willing to to call for one senator.
You can't get two senators
to rub together on this.
[00:09:23]
It is. It's amazing.
But we might soon have even less
dissension because, as I said, there is
now this report, although AIPAC disputes
it, that they are going to put more than
$100 million into the Democratic primary
to take out some of the most vocal critics
[00:09:39]
of Israeli policy and military strategy
so close watchers now expect,
according to Alexander Salmon of Slate,
expect them to put 100 million forward,
largely trained on eliminating
incumbent squad members from their seats.
[00:09:54]
So look, the members of the squad
have been challenged
in basically every election.
- They to some.
- Extent challenge entrenched power.
So that's not surprising.
But now there's going to be a lot
more money that goes towards it.
Bush, Bowman, Lee and Omar
have drawn primary opponents already.
[00:10:11]
You know,
many of them are safe blue seats.
We will see how they can ward off
these sorts of challenges.
But $100 million is a lot of money,
and it's almost certain that they will
be able to raise money to counter that.
I don't know if they'll be able
to counter $100 million.
[00:10:27]
And notably, while the Democratic caucus
generally says that they support their
incumbents, that's why they don't support
primary challengers to people like
Representative Henry Cuellar or something.
It doesn't seem like they're super
concerned about this massive war chest
[00:10:44]
being rumored to target
some of the most outspoken
and in some cases, popular members.
So it's sort of weird where they
like lock arms to protect the incumbents
and where they're like, well,
you know, let's see how this goes.
But I want to read, to be fair,
spokesman from APC saying
[00:11:02]
we are reviewing a number of races
involving detractors of Israel, but we
have made no decisions at this time.
I'm not going to like beat a dead horse,
but I will give a brief version
of what I always say, which is challenging
government policy, particularly of a party
or a governing coalition
that is as unpopular as it is in Israel.
[00:11:20]
Criticizing a military strategy
is not criticizing a country or a nation,
or a people or a religion.
That's not how it happens.
That's how propaganda works.
And I hate that the way
that people throw those terms around.
But but AOC responded to this,
saying criticism of the Israeli government
[00:11:37]
and she's specific, see,
is virtually nonexistent in US politics.
But apparently that's not enough.
Got to spend 100 million
to unseat the few who believe in
Palestinian human rights and a cease fire
that most Americans already support.
That's true. The polls bear it out.
The acceptable level of dissent is zero.
And look, we cannot be too surprised.
[00:11:54]
This is what money and politics is for.
Massive sums of money from a variety
of different groups that are raised
to counter, like the popular will.
It's not about engaging in persuasion
and trying to rally people to your cause.
It's flooding the zone in the election,
largely with misinformation.
[00:12:10]
And so we're looking
at another round of that.
Helen, I apologize.
I went on for a long time there.
This whole thing frustrates me.
- What are your thoughts?
- This is the.
Thing that this is why
I'm so disappointed in Bernie Sanders
is because, as many of you know, I was an
active campaigner for Bernie in both 2016
[00:12:29]
and 2020 for him to get the presidency.
And I often encountered people
who said Jewish people who would say,
oh, he's anti-Semitic,
and I'd be like, he's Jewish.
And they'd be like, no,
he's anti-Semitic, because.
[00:12:45]
And I'd be like, why?
And he's like, oh, because he's
into because he likes Palestinians.
And I'd be like, oh, do you mean the one
time he said, Palestinians are people too?
And that's, you know, and that's kind
of where we are for some reason now,
[00:13:01]
like saying Palestinians are people, too.
Palestinian babies don't have nothing
to do with Hamas and had nothing to do
with the attack on Israel in October,
on October 7th, which was horrendous
and Hamas is horrendous.
[00:13:19]
But why are we bombing babies
that are happen to be
in geographic closeness to Hamas?
You know what I mean?
Like, it's just it's so like people,
please, like I keep going back to like two
things can be true and we can accept that
[00:13:39]
we shouldn't be bombing babies anywhere.
You know, like when you say never again,
you can't say never again.
For one group, it's got to be never again
across the board, right?
Never again. Genocide period.
I think we should all be on board with.
[00:13:56]
And that's not what's happening.
That's not what's happening right now.
It's like just because I say,
I don't think Palestinian babies
deserve to die doesn't make
me anti-Semitic or anti-Israel.
- Like two things can be true, people.
- I couldn't agree more.
[00:14:11]
And this litmus test
for who's anti-Semitic ceasefire,
I guess, is the question.
And if you say you want ceasefire,
then there it is.
There's the litmus test for it.
When 66% of Americans say, we don't,
we don't want to see any more of this.
[00:14:27]
We want something to be figured out.
To me, it means that we we
don't have the right leaders.
We kind of knew that before,
but it's like putting a punctuation mark
at the end of this thing.
I think laser focus should be
on the Democratic Party
and the leadership when they are.
[00:14:42]
Crickets won't stand up
for these incumbents.
It seems that both sides I was going
to say, you know, the Republicans,
they don't agree with you.
You got to wipe you out.
You're not allowed to stay here.
But look at the Democratic Party
and what they're not saying
and how they're not helping here
because I believe they don't want dissent.
[00:14:59]
Either.
They are tired of those
eight people in their ear.
They wish they would just capitulate,
and since they won't,
well, it might not be such a bad thing
to let the other side do our dirty work.
Yeah, yeah, well, risky game,
considering what the polls show,
[00:15:14]
particularly amongst younger voters,
particularly with Joe Biden already
so unpopular, particularly with the really
difficult Democratic Senate map in 2024.
Feels like you might want
to show the people
that you're hearing them, but we'll see.
We've got about three dozen.
Perhaps that will grow over time.
[00:15:32]
The only question is how many civilians
need to die before that happens?
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