| by Jonathan Kuttab This past week witnessed the good news of numerous primary election victories across a number of U.S. states. Most notable among them was the victory of Abdul El-Sayed against Haley Stevens in the Democratic Primary for the Senate Seat of Michigan, with a possibility of becoming the first ever Muslim senator. The victory was particularly sweet because Abdul El-Sayed, son of Egyptian immigrants, was pitted against an establishment candidate who drew massive support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), whose PAC contributed over $30 million dollars, and the corporate establishment, who put up another $30 Million, to defeat El-Sayed through a campaign of negative ads and hitherto unprecedented spending.Countering that financial 11-1 advantage was a massive effort by volunteers knocking on doors and raising enthusiasm, especially among the young, in a Mamdani-like campaign which beat the odds and led to victory. This was not only good news for pro-Palestinian allies, including many progressive Jews who challenged AIPAC and the establishment, but it was good news for all Americans who are worried about the influence of money on American politics and the degradation of democracy in America generally. The lesson was that the example of Social Democrats, if not their actual party name, was relevant beyond New York and that ordinary people can, in fact, defeat PACS, megadonors, and the entrenched establishment, through hard work and enthusiasm, as they seek to address ordinary people and their problems. This could be good news as the midterm elections loom ahead, and people realize it is indeed possible to defeat both the Trump crowd and the lethargic Democratic establishment at the same time. The argument that you need to vote for the “electable” Democratic ticket in order to defeat MAGA and its agenda has now been seriously challenged. We do not have to settle for the lesser of two evils or accept the Democratic establishment’s definition of “electability.” We are not caught in a choice between Trump and Democratic politics as usual. A principled agenda of denouncing genocide, opposing eternal wars, seeking universal healthcare, taxing billionaires, demanding reform of the influence of money in politics, and curbing PACs and special interests can be pursued.It even has a chance of succeeding, without submitting to the fear of the election of Trump and his supporters. Indeed, that is good news! The sad news came this week in the form of a massive funeral for 112 Palestinians who were massacred over two years ago. Buried under the rubble, their bodies could not be extracted until today. They belonged to two families, the Abu Sharia and Hassayna families, who were all buried in the rubble of their homes after an air strike in November 2023. The dead include 44 children and 30 women.Their bodies could not be retrieved because of Israeli restrictions, ongoing strikes, and the lack of heavy machinery to excavate the bodies from under the rubble until now. These figures alone are astonishing and cannot be explained other than as being the result of an evil massacre marked by a total disregard for their human value. The fact that this somber funeral did not even merit a mention in most of the Western press is a harsh reminder to all of us that the genocide continues unabated, that the impunity felt by Israelis is growing, that the world has in fact failed to uphold its own standards, and that Gaza is still being crushed, starved, and deprived of all the basics required for human living. The so-called “ceasefire” is totally one sided, and the commitments under its already outrageously unfair terms seem to apply only to Palestinians while Israel violates them daily, claiming the right to assassinate, bomb, and continue to shoot at will while systematically levelling all forms of life and habitation. Since the “ceasefire” took place, not a single Israeli soldier has been killed in Gaza, and not a single rocket was fired into Israel by Hamas. Yet, Israel has killed about 1400 Palestinians, including hundreds of women and children. Israel still does not allow the entry of the required hundreds of trucks per day. It bombs hospitals and hospital warehouses, as it did last week, and has expanded its own “yellow line” to push Palestinians into narrower and narrower enclaves while shooting at will anyone who attempts to pass the unclear yellow line or move back across it to their lands and property. Not only that, but Israel is now openly proclaiming its use of these same tactics of total devastation and area denial in Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and possibly elsewhere. A recent, thoroughly documented work: Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide, by Eyal Weizman (Penguin Press) thoroughly documents this process, arguing that it gives new meaning to the word “genocide” by making the land itself thoroughly incapable of sustaining human habitation. While maintaining hope and enjoying the occasional victories, we must remain focused on the task at hand and redouble our efforts to put an end to this ongoing genocide. |
