If you are upset about the genocide in Gaza or worried that the massive US naval buildup in the Middle East is a precursor to an attack on Iran or could otherwise trigger nuclear war, please channel your anger and anxiety into productive action, namely writing or calling your Congressional representatives. If you have the time and energy, I would suggest forwarding the same note with a minimal cover message to the White House, to the office of the Vice President, and to the State Department.
With fresh polls showing that Biden’s approval rating among Democrats has fallen 11% in a month, and that more Democrats support Palestine than Israel. Politically-survival-minded Democrats should know the Biden policy is a negative for them when Biden’s poor record was already putting other candidates at risk. In diehard blue New York, Trump is now lagging Biden by only 9 points, as opposed to his former 21 points, despite prosecutions by New York State almost garnering more negative coverage there than in other parts of the US.
But what these polls do not reveal is the intensity of the anti-war, anti-ethnic-cleansing sentiment. This is where voter messages play a critical role.
In a recent broadcast, Scott Ritter stressed the paramount importance of writing your Congressmen to oppose the march to a wider war in the Middle East. He said that when the US was considering escalating in Syria, a flood of opposition, including letters, led Obama to back off. I can’t directly confirm that, but I do recall a long New York Times magazine story, How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk. It depicted Obama as natively cautious in not backing Hillary’s persistent efforts to mix things up militarily. So does a BBC retrospective on Obama’s Middle East policy (amusingly critical when Obama looks like a genius compared to what Biden and his team hath wrought). But Obama would be unlikely to admit that domestic politics played into his thinking and would defend his decision in terms of principles, US stakes, and risks.
Since it was focused on Hillary and clearly written with her cooperation, she and her allies may have chosen to skip over the role of voter outcry in swaying Obama in deciding on a compromise of sorts in Syria of arming those moderate rebels, rather than taking more aggressive action, particularly the no-fly zone in Syria she kept touting in her failed 2016 campaign, which she clearly knew would be tantamount to starting a hot war with Russia.
An e-mail does not have to be long to be effective. Or if you are time-stressed, you can call your Congressional representatives, ideally on their in-state rather than Washington phone number, and voice your opposition. It is critical to convey the notion that you are politically engaged, well informed, and highly motivated, as in if your supposed representative continue to support escalation, you will be a determined and effective opponent of their re-election, even if they support the same bad policies, because your representative was in power and had the opportunity to do the right thing and refused to.
The hook is the upcoming vote on Biden’s $106 billion funding package for Ukraine and Israel. Make clear you oppose any more funding for either cause. For Israel, you could add other issues, like wanting Biden to stop his buildup in the Middle East, or calling on your Congressional rep to advocate for a cease-fire and press Biden to back his verbal support for a two-state solution with action.
If your representatives are Democrats, it sadly will be helpful to make clear (if true) that you are not part of who they stereotype as opponents of Israel’s policies towards Palestinians, as in young and/or Muslim. The Democrats are not much afraid of young voters because older voters are typically more affluent and therefore more prized. If you are a long-standing Democrat and/or donate to political campaigns, point that out. If Biden’s conduct generally or with respect to Israel and Palestine has turned you into a Trump backer, say that too. You can also stress out that Mike Johnson supports cutting Medicare and Social Security, and more pouring money into wars where there is no threat to US security will play into their hands.
If your Congresscritters are Republicans in solid Republican districts, I would make clear you will support anyone who is not them in a re-election if they support Israel’s current conduct and more war spending, including supporting primary opponents.
As for substantive reasons for opposing the war, there are many. You don’t need a laundry list, just a reason or a few that are important to you, such as:
The risk of nuclear war
Objecting to the US supporting ethnic cleansing and not backing a ceasefire
Objecting to more military spending at the expense of pressing domestic needs
Objecting to the US escalating against Iran
How the US is losing soft power, witness the UN General Assembly vote, where 120 countries backed an Arab state resolution and only 14, including the US, voted against it. Turkiye’s Erdogan recently gave a speech in which he defended Hamas and warned of the risk of religious war. What happens if Turkiye, the NATO member with biggest military force in theater, turns away from the West?
How Israel is acting against its interest
Demanding that Congress stop abdicating Constitutional with respect to war
Tropes like the Monroe Doctrine are likely to be slightly better received that pointing out we have been losing wars and do not know how to fight terrorists, unless you can deploy a quote from someone authoritative.
As much as many readers take pride in their analytical and argumentation skills. what matters here is a clear statement of your opposition to the Administration policy of escalation, what you would like to see happen instead, and making clear you will actively oppose any elected official who supports Israel’s reckless and immoral slaughter in Gaza.
Some links to give further ideas and/or framing:
Mondoweiss ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 23: Israel threatens to bomb al-Quds Hospital as hundreds of thousands protest worldwide in solidarity with Gaza: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-23-israel-threatens-to-bomb-al-quds-hospital-as-hundreds-of-thousands-protest-worldwide-in-solidarity-with-gaza/ and Day 22: Total blackout in Gaza as Israel cuts off all communications, carries out most brutal attacks since October 7: https://mondoweiss.net/2023/10/operation-al-aqsa-flood-day-22-total-blackout-in-gaza-as-israel-cuts-off-all-communications-carries-out-most-brutal-attacks-since-october-7/
Haaretz reporting that Palestinians in a West Bank town who just had their olive groves destroyed warned to leave for Jordan: https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/why-america-is-out-of-ammunition
Israel not learning from America’s mistakes in invading Iraq….which Israel warned against at the time, by Israel’s then ambassador to the US, Daniel Kurtzer: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-29/ty-article-opinion/.premium/from-the-gulf-war-to-gaza-israel-must-not-make-americas-mistakes/0000018b-7974-d4a8-a3cf-fdfd4a2a0000
A discussion of international law issues: https://twitter.com/EpshtainItay/status/1718339626266505328
Foreign Affairs warning how difficult it will be for the IDF to clear Gaza: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/how-will-idf-handle-urban-combat
Full speech in the UN by Pakistan UN Envoy Munir Akram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUws5BlOS2Q
The Jewish Voice for Peace (https://twitter.com/jvplive) and the Torah Judaism (https://twitter.com/TorahJudaism twitter feeds as an example of a Jewish group opposed to Zionism and Israel’s campaign against Palestinians
Scott Ritter arguing for Iran, Syria Hezbollah, and Hamas to enter into a collective security agreement based on the danger Israeli military action in Gaza poses to the Palestinians and the Middle East generally to provide the legal foundation for pre-emptive self defense operations against Israel under Article 51: https://twitter.com/RealScottRitter/status/1718307232918487505
Text of an interview with Dominique De Villepin: https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1718201487132885246Matt Stoller on why the US has been unable to get its military contractors to increase production: https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/why-america-is-out-of-ammunition
Erdogan’s speech to the Turkish parliament (oddly only a 2 minute clip seem to be on the Innertubes and that via Judge Napoltano, see here for instance at 1:45: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUws5BlOS2Q) and the significance of his “cross and crescent” remark: https://bnn.network/conflict-defence/erdogans-threat-of-cross-and-crescent-war-a-new-chapter-in-east-west-relations/
Contact information:
Find Your Representative | house.gov
Contacting U.S. Senators
How You Can Write or Call the White House (Berkeley Library says that the contact information for Kamala Harris is the same as for Joe Biden)
Secretary Of State Antony Blinken Contact information
Yes, writing letters or calling no doubt may seem quixotic. But these events are so horrific that as a matter of conscience, those who object to these crimes being committed in their names by virtue of being US citizens should take whatever steps they can, even if they seem inadequate. to go on record that they do not support war crimes and want US officials to find a path to peace.
And you can never prejudge what effort might make a difference. From Johann Hari in the Independent in 2010:
And protest can have an invisible ripple-effect that lasts for generations. A small group of women from Iowa lost their sons early in the Vietnam war, and they decided to set up an organization of mothers opposing the assault on the country. They called a protest of all mothers of serving soldiers outside the White House – and six turned up in the snow. Even though later in the war they became nationally important voices, they always remembered that protest as an embarrassment and a humiliation.
Until, that is, one day in the 1990s, one of them read the autobiography of Benjamin Spock, the much-loved and trusted celebrity doctor, who was the Oprah of his day. When he came out against the war in 1968, it was a major turning point in American public opinion. And he explained why he did it. One day, he had been called to a meeting at the White House to be told how well the war in Vietnam was going, and he saw six women standing in the snow with placards, alone, chanting. It troubled his conscience and his dreams for years. If these women were brave enough to protest, he asked himself, why aren’t I? It was because of them that he could eventually find the courage to take his stand – and that in turn changed the minds of millions, and ended the war sooner. An event that they thought was a humiliation actually turned the course of history.
While protest may seems like a hopeless cause in the US, the rest of the world is becoming more united against Israel and its shrinking number of allies as the slaughter of civilians in Gaza continues. It may not take as much in the way of internal pressure in the face of increasingly united external opposition for something to break.