The week that has passed since Ben & Jerry’s announced their decision to stop selling their frozen goods in the Palestinian areas occupied by Israel in 1967 provided ample time to come up with puns and memes about this rare intersection of ice cream, Israel and antisemitism.
The “No Fear” rally was designed to present a Jewish community united in its concern over recent spikes in attacks and in hatred directed at Jews.
This week, Nathan Guttman reports from Miami, where families and friends are still hoping to find their loved one’s alive under the rubble.
Naftali Bennett, Israel’s new prime minister, has little international experience. Like Netanyahu, he opposes the Iranian nuclear deal.
Bibi could somehow peel off a couple of wavering right-wing members from the new coalition and force another round of elections. It’s extremely unlikely, but, as opposed to storming Capitol Hill, it is a legal option.
It’s not about progressive circles questioning America’s unconditional support for Israel, nor is it about the far-left margins of the party that reject the mere idea of supporting Israel. It is about centrist Democrats willing to break rank and express views that—while still supportive of Israel—doubt Israel’s goals and question the tactics in the ongoing Gaza conflict.
This dispatch comes to you from Israel, a nation still trying to overcome the loss of 45 lives during a Lag B’omer celebration on Mount Meron last Thursday.
Ever since Joe Biden took office and Democrats became the majority party in both chambers of Congress, all of the dovish lobby’s dreams seem to have come true: One by one, the administration has been rolling back Trump-era policies adopted to marginalize the Palestinians; American foreign aid money is once again flowing to Palestinian causes; Israel is being called out when it crosses the line on settlement activity, and the term “two-state solution” is back in America’s diplomatic lexicon. Not to mention the launch of a diplomatic effort aimed at reviving the Iranian nuclear deal, which Trump had dropped out of, triggering an Iranian resumption of nuclear activity.
Nuclear talks with Iran are resuming. Absent from the table will be the United States, which dropped out of the nuclear deal in 2018.
Elections have consequences, as the saying goes, and among these consequences is the reshuffling of power within the Washington inner circle. This is true not only for politicians who either move up the influence ladder or descend toward irrelevance but also for those in the policy advocacy game.
Why is Washington so pro-Israel? Political correspondent Nathan Guttman explores this question and more in this week’s Politics & Power.
