Part 1: Pro-Israel Establishment vs. The Masses
“I’ve never seen such a disconnect between where voters and constituents are and where Congress is, and that’s saying something because there’s always a disconnect.”
“At the strategic level though, the war is about perception, telling a story about who is the victim and who is the aggressor. And if the prelude to the invasion of Gaza is any indication, lies, mistruths, and disinformation will play a key and continuing role in this fight.” - Rand Corporation
Israel and the Pro-Israel crowd have enjoyed decades-long support from the west, particularly within the U.S. In the past, when human rights groups and activists have sounded the alarm about Israel’s Apartheid, ethnic cleansing or genocide, Pro-Israel advocacy groups like the ADL and lobby groups such as AIPAC, have successfully censored and cancelled said entities. Unaccustomed to massive criticism in the west, the worldwide backlash against Israel’s attempts to quell criticism of genocide has caused DEFCON 1 level freak out within the Pro-Israel advocacy and lobby crowd.
Let’s Recap What Happened
The Establishment
Shortly after the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel, Pro-Israel lobbyist & billionaires descended on Washington, DC to shape the U.S. narrative & support for Israel. The result was a unified Congress & White House (a rarity) committed to fully supporting Israel’s military operation against the Gaza Strip. Members of Congress immediately scheduled trips to Israel to personally convey their commitment to giving Israel whatever it needs at U.S. taxpayer expense. Upon their return, candlelight vigils were scheduled by members of Congress on the steps of the U.S. Capitol where members mourned the 1400 (later confirmed to be 1239) Israelis killed, pledged their unwavering support on social media and the House passed a $14.3 billion military aid package to include an unprecedented $3.5 billion for transfer of Advanced Weapons conducted in secret which is exempt from Congressional oversight, reporting and accountability.
Furthermore, U.S. Congress is actively attempting to pass laws to curtail freedom of speech as it pertains to Israel through a myriad of legislation aimed at redefining criticism of Israel’s war crimes, apartheid and genocide as “support for Hamas and/or Hezbollah” and hate speech (antisemitic) which is unprotected speech under U.S. law and a criminal offense. Even more troubling, the language in the legislation uses an alarming amount of false information and denies documented facts as reported by human rights groups to justify the resolutions.
House Resolution 883: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the slogan, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is antisemitic and it’s use must be condemned.
House Resolution 888: This resolution reaffirms Israel's right to exist. It also (1) recognizes that denying Israel's right to exist is a form of antisemitism; (2) rejects calls for Israel's destruction; and (3) condemns the Hamas-led attack on Israel.
House Resolution 798: Condemns the support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations at institutions of higher education, which may lead to the creation of hostile environment for Jewish Students, faculty, and staff; and urges the Secretary of Education to direct the Office for Civil Rights to investigate and, where appropriate, take action immediately.
House Resolution 894: (1) strongly condemns and denounces all instances of antisemitism occurring in the United States and globally; (2) reaffirms and reiterates its strong support for the Jewish community at home and abroad; (3) calls on elected officials and world leaders to condemn and fight all forms of domestic and global antisemitism; (4) clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism; and (5) rejects all forms of terror, hate, discrimination, and harassment of members of the Jewish community.
Rubio Introduces Bill to Suspend Terrorist Activity on College Campuses: To require institutions of higher education to include reporting regarding campus antisemitism in the annual security report required under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, to ensure that institutions of higher education do not support terrorist activity of foreign terrorist organizations, and for other purposes.
Rubio, Banks, Colleagues Insist DC Rename Plaza Following BLM Pro-Hamas Rhetoric: The letter from members of Congress claims (among other accusations) “the D.C. chapter of BLM posted that Israel is guilty of “apartheid,” while sharing posts that cast doubt on the atrocities that took place on October 7, including the beheading of babies.”
Rubio Demands Investigations Into Biden Staff Ceasefire Letter
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Bans Pro-Palestine Student Organizations
New York Governor Kathy Hochul Conducting Special Media Surveillance Efforts to Monitor Hate
Renewed Calls by members of Congress to Ban TikTok over Alleged Anti-Israel and Pro-Hamas Posts
Watching the Carnage
During this same period, the world watched as Israel with the help of its U.S. and European allies continued its brutal collective punishment on the Gaza Strip killing 20,031 civilians, injuring 36,350, and displacing 1.73 million civilians.
The devastation extended to what many call genocide where Israel cut access to food, water, electricity, fuel and communications; destroyed hospitals, killed babies in incubators, and flattened large parts of Gaza where thousands of bodies are still under the rubble and unaccounted. On social media we watched real-time coverage of parents holding their dead children, other parents holding remaining body parts of their dead children and even worse, parents holding small bags of the pulverized remains of their kids. We watched children shaking their dead parents to wake up, dead kids and infants being pulled out from the rubble of bombed buildings, survivors bicycling to safety while crying and praying as they passed dead bodies scatter on roads, displaced Palestinian caravans leaving Northern Gaza under Israel order get bombed by Israel minutes later and on and on.
Millions of social media users across platforms are also learning Apartheid in Israel is a real thing and a designation recognized by all major human rights groups (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and UN OHCHR).
Additionally, we are witnessing the Israeli government openly behave and speak of genocide with impunity and lie to cover incidents that mirror war crimes. Initially, westerners waited for their governments to react with outrage in the same manner in which they did for Ukraine but it never happened. Instead, we witnessed western governments reaffirm false Israeli narratives, make the case that what applied for Ukraine does not apply to Palestinians, ignore polling data showing the overwhelming majority want a ceasefire and condemn peace activists as Hamas supporters.
Americans are also discovering the U.S. government shields Israel from ICC investigation where it has vetoed 53 separate cases at the UN Security Council to investigate Israel for crimes against the Palestinians, all while claiming Israel is not committing genocide or collective punishment but defending itself against terrorism.
The Masses React
World reaction to the devastation in Gaza coupled with contradictory rhetoric of western governments’ unflinching support for Israel is one of horror and outrage which has transpired into an unprecedented worldwide grassroots movement in support of Palestinians. Millions of people have taken to the streets and social media to protest for ceasefire week after week. From the largest protest in London’s history to massive protests in every country, it’s a daily event. We’ve watched activists in the U.S.
shut down ports to block weapons from reaching Israel,
sit-ins in Congressional offices, in front of the White House, in front of the homes of members of Congress and AIPAC’s President,
protests which forced Boeing plants to close for the day only to find them there the next day,
Jewish Organizations uniting with Palestinian organizations to stage protests,
student walkouts across universities and on and on.
The world has united in an unprecedented way across geographical, cultural and religious lines in support of ceasefire and human rights for Palestinians.
We are also witnessing an unprecedented number of government officials resign or voice their protest against government decisions to ignore voters, human rights organizations and diplomats, and circumvent government protocol in order to provide Israel support and access to weapons. The reaction from the government establishment has been to persecute the Ceasefire movement through condemnation and legislation.
The yawning mismatch between voters’ and members’ sentiments on this issue strikes many staffers as outrageous.
“This building is not listening,” said one Democratic aide. “I’ve never seen such a disconnect between where voters and constituents are and where Congress is, and that’s saying something because there’s always a disconnect.” - Huffington Post
After 50+ days of the current war, what has become obvious is that there is a glaring disconnect between the masses who support ceasefire and justice for Palestinians and pro-Zionist establishment (government elected officials and Pro-Israel groups) who support Israel’s military operation.
Next in the Series
This disconnect has raised the alarm within the Pro-Israel crowd which has launched a multi-million dollar effort to squash this awakening. Part 2 of this series will examine the massive campaign launched by Pro-Israel lobby, advocacy and billionaires to reshape public perception.
Part 3 will discuss the unlikely Trifecta that is dismantling the Pro-Israel narrative.
Hamas uses their own citizens as human shield, so is there a responsibility for the deaths
DD - Unless you have already done it, could you please do a list of bullet points stating all of the main reasons you support Russia and then another list of bullet points stating all of the main reasons you do not support Ukraine?