To Build Bridges, We Must Block the Bombs

Last week, The Nation has taken the unusual step of devoting its entire homepage to covering the ongoing calamity in Gaza. While the world’s attention has shifted, Israeli bombs continue to fall, funded by American taxpayers. Hunger persists, while aid only trickles in.

Last month, Israel recovered the remains of Ran Gvili, the last hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, a move I welcomed with pain, finally providing a small measure of closure to families grieving October 7. But the remains of thousands of Palestinians still lie in the smoldering rubble of Gaza, while their grieving families face the winter in makeshift tents. Where can we find a closure or security measure, or even simply a roof, for them?

Over the past two years, I have struggled to mourn the Israelis and Palestinians killed since October 7 – to recognize their equal humanity, but also the vastly unequal scale and duration of the devastation. As part of this effort, I frequently participated in weekly vigils in Union Square with Israelis for Peace, demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the return of all hostages. We heard from Palestinians and Israelis whose lives have been torn apart. People like Maoz Inon, whose parents were murdered by Hamas on October 7, and Aziz Abu Sarah, whose brother was killed by settlers in the West Bank. “Our futures are linked” – we chant – “Israel and Palestine”.

Our future is also tied here in the United States, where Congress continues to be complicit in Israel’s destruction of Gaza, providing unconditional support for Netanyahu’s unchecked aggression. American working families struggle to understand why their tax dollars are being used to finance the 2,000 pound bombs that destroyed hospitals and schools in Gaza, when there are not enough funds for affordable health care, better schools, or affordable housing here at home.

That’s why, as a candidate for New York’s 10th Congressional District, I’m announcing my support for H.R. 3565, the Block the Bombs Act, sponsored by Rep. Delia Ramirez. This bill prohibits the Department of Defense from selling Netanyahu’s government the catastrophic weapons he used to commit genocide in Gaza (and yes, after spending a lot of time with the words of Raphael Lemkin, the Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor who developed the term, I’m sure he would consider it as such).

When I am elected to Congress, I will join 60 of my colleagues to co-sponsor this bill and fight for its passage. The Block the Bombs law will protect more Palestinians from death. I think this will push Israel to live up to the Jewish and democratic values ​​that I hope it will uphold. This is a crucial step to begin rebuilding the conditions necessary for genuine peace and stability in the region.

It is also necessary to begin to restore a modicum of credibility in American foreign policy. As Mark Carney bluntly stated in Davos, Trump’s narcissistic takeover of Venezuela and threats against Greenland have caused a “rupture” in the supposedly liberal world order.

But Trump’s actions add up to a long-term hypocrisy in American foreign policy: We act in multilateral coalitions and respect the rules-based international order… except when we don’t. The two most prominent recent examples of us doing our own thing: the war in Iraq and unconditional support for Israel’s destruction of Gaza.

If we wish to rebuild an American foreign policy grounded in human rights, respecting sovereignty, and building multilateral coalitions to end the forever wars, it is important to start by ending American complicity in the Gaza genocide.

I believe the values ​​I hold as a proud Jewish New Yorker, including that every human being is created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God – give me a special obligation in this moment to speak louder for the lives of Palestinians. As I confessed last Yom Kippur, and as I felt like I was reading The Nation coverage last week, I did not always do it at the level required by these Jewish values.