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   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 15-Mar-2024 12:35:06 JST Paul Cantrell

   “[Netanyahu] lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel”…He is a “major obstacle to peace”…“bowed to the demands of extremists”…“has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”

   This is the top-ranking Jewish Democrat saying these words.

   That sound? That’s pressure working. Keep it up.

   https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/chuck-schumer-israel-speech

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 15-Mar-2024 12:42:22 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     I can hear the armada of cynical replies now: “just words,” “nothing will happen,” “doesn’t count because,” “what about,” “but other bad thing,” “they’re are all the same,” etc etc.

     My good folks, when has fighting for justice ever been easy, or involved a clean victory?

     A better world doesn’t come from the nihilism of scoffing at everything that isn’t your hypothetical utopia. It comes from showing up and doing the work, over and over, in this messy world.

     This is a tug of war. Keep pulling.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 15-Mar-2024 12:45:22 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     I sense despair on the left about whether there’s anything we can do. What leverage do we have? The answer, apparently, is greater than zero.

     If the genocide in Gaza ends — and I hope it does — then the path to it ending involves politicians like Schumer saying words, walking it back, testing the waters again, walking it back again, over and over, slowly eroding the rock that’s made this whole situation possible in the first place.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 16-Mar-2024 10:35:45 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Oh my
     https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/15/schumer-netanyahu-speech-biden-reaction

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 16-Mar-2024 10:45:52 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     To elaborate on that “oh my:”

     I am not an expert in diplomacy, but…it seems to me that this is diplomatically significant. For Schumer to give that speech was eyebrow-raising enough. For Biden to call it a “good speech” like this…well, he knows Netanyahu is going to hear that.

     Again: keep the pressure up.

   • Embed this notice
     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 16-Mar-2024 23:26:25 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     👀 Another Democrat in the US Senate pressuring Biden, specifically naming Netanyahu as the problem:

     “push harder and to use all the levers of US policy [!!] to ensure people [in Gaza] don’t die of starvation”

     Argues Israel is in violation of the Foreign Assistance Act

     “Prime Minister Netanyahu has been an obstacle to the president’s efforts to at least create some light at the end of this very dark tunnel”

     https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/16/biden-senator-chris-van-hollen-israel-gaza-aid