Last week, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, freshly returned from a trip to Israel, used his authority to prevent his colleague Rashida Tlaib from holding an event lamenting the creation of Jewish state. Tlaib, however, was able to commemorate “Nakba Day” in the Senate side of the Capitol on Tuesday, thanks to the intervention of Bernie Sanders. Thus attendees could witness the spectacle of the congresswoman declaring, “No child should ever have to worry what will fall from the sky,” as—in the words of Lahav Harkov—“children across Israel’s south slept in safe rooms to protect themselves from rockets shot by Palestinian terrorists.” Noah Rothman comments:

Sanders can host whatever meetings he likes as chair of the Senate Labor Committee, and even Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer couldn’t stop him. But he could have objected to the display if the avowed defender of Zionism found it objectionable. Schumer’s office has yet to issue any statement about this display, though a source close to the senator told the New York Post that he was caught off guard by the event. Indeed, among Senate Democrats, so far only the Nevada senator Jacky Rosen condemned the event, calling it “deeply offensive,” a distortion of the history around Israel’s founding, and a rejection of America’s support for Israel’s right to exist.

Even Jonathan Greenblatt, the Anti-Defamation League’s CEO who is congenitally loath to associate himself with a cause or position that might be confused with a conservative point of view, savaged Tlaib and her abettors. It is “disgraceful that Senator Sanders allowed this event by Rep. Rashida to be held in our nation’s Capitol,” Greenblatt said. He added that a conversation around “a path to peace” in the Middle East could not be had with people who “espouse anti-Semitism,” and he called on the U.S. Senate to condemn the event.

Greenblatt shouldn’t hold his breath. But the press should pull on the thread he has exposed. Will Democrats in Congress and the White House continue to have it both ways—professing their unwavering support for Israel’s right to self-defense while shrugging their shoulders over the commandeering of their property to broadcast [attacks] against Israel’s very existence? They will so long as political media is inclined to look the other way. Sadly, it’s likely that reporters will continue to avert their eyes rather than confront Senate Democrats with yet another grotesque embarrassment that Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib have engineered for their party.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.