As Israel’s invasion of Gaza continue to claim lives of civilian Palestinians, even Jewish lawmakers in the US Congress are now calling on Israel to end the war.
With no end in sight for the Israel’s growing violence against Palestinians in the Gaza war, even US Jewish lawmakers in Congress are now calling for Israel to stop its war machine.
In an unprecedented move in relations between Israel and the United States, Jewish Congressman Sen. Jon Ossoff, who has been a consensus-seeking voice on Israel within the Democratic party, strongly rebuked the Israeli forces and their ongoing military operation in Gaza. Good to mention that since taking office in 2021, Ossoff has never overly criticized Israel for anything, even the recent far-right policies of the Netanyahu government against Palestinians.
“The extent of civilian death and suffering in Gaza is unnecessary. It is a moral failure, and it should be unacceptable to the United States,” Ossoff said in a speech from the Senate floor this Friday, becoming the first US Jewish lawmaker ever to call on Israel to ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The interesting point is that Ossoff is the same lawmaker who has led efforts in Congress to back largely consensus initiatives such as boosting funding for the US Security Coordinator in Jerusalem.
“An unmitigated humanitarian disaster in Gaza… undermines American national security; it heightens the risk that the war might spread and draw American forces further into combat; it sews the seeds of hate and dims the prospects for a long-term sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians; it gives fodder to terrorists who would strike Americans and our allies abroad and at home; it damages the credibility of the United States and our allies as champions of a future defined by humanitarian values,” Ossoff also said.
The tone is changing in US against blindly supporting Israel
Since Hamas attack on Israel back on October 7, all the 35 Jews in the US House of Representatives and in the Senate have been strongly supporting among Israel in their words and actions.
Last month, three Jewish lawmakers, including two progressives, sent a letter from more than half of House Democrats to the office of the US President Joe Biden, supporting his robust backing for Israel. But things seem to have changes.
As expected, Ossoff was not the only Jewish-American lawmaker who turned back on Israel in support of a ceasefire. Likewise, another Jewish representative of the US Congress, Dean Phillips from Minnesota, confirmed Balint’s words and described the killing of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel as “unacceptable” and called for a quick ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“What is needed right now is an immediate break in violence to allow for a true negotiated ceasefire,” she said, adding that “one in which both sides stop the bloodshed, allow critical access to humanitarian aid and move towards negotiating a sustainable and lasting peace.”
Last but not least, another Jewish lawmaker in US Congress Rep. Becca Balint also said the same day that she has been in a state of anguish since Hamas entered Israel in its Oct. 7 surprise attack, but that her anguish “has only grown” as thousands of civilians in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s “ensuing siege.”
Calling on Israel for a ceasefire, Balint also noted that “what is needed right now is an immediate break in violence to allow for a true negotiated cease-fire,” Balint wrote. “One in which both sides stop the bloodshed, allow critical access to humanitarian aid and move towards negotiating a sustainable and lasting peace.”
