{"id":43128,"date":"2025-08-08T13:03:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T20:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=43128"},"modified":"2025-08-08T13:03:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T20:03:26","slug":"the-week-the-world-woke-up-to-the-genocide-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/08\/the-week-the-world-woke-up-to-the-genocide-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"THE WEEK THE WORLD WOKE UP TO THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Pressure is mounting against Israel in the U.S. and around the world. Will it mean anything on the ground in Palestine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/staff\/jonahvaldez\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/jonah2-180x180.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/staff\/jonahvaldez\/\">Jonah Valdez<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>August 6 2025 (TheIntercept.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2227658323-e1754485977526.jpg?fit=5368%2C2684\" alt=\"Palestinians suffering from extreme hunger under Israel's intense attacks and blockade gather at an aid distribution center near the Zikim border crossing in Gaza to access limited food on August 03, 2025.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Palestinians suffering from extreme hunger under Israel&#8217;s intense attacks and blockade gather at an aid distribution center near the Zikim border crossing in Gaza to access limited food on August 03, 2025.&nbsp;Photo by Khames Alrefi\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AFTER 22 MONTHS<\/strong>&nbsp;of Israel\u2019s war on Palestinians in Gaza, something changed in the last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Israeli human rights groups and scholars for the first time called the bombardment and siege of the Palestinian territory a genocide. The governments of France, the United Kingdom, and Canada have all signaled they are prepared to join the vast majority of the world\u2019s nations in recognizing Palestinian statehood. A majority of Senate Democrats voted last week in favor of blocking the U.S. from selling weapons to Israel, an historic first. Even the right-wing lawmaker Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., now calls Israel\u2019s actions a genocide, the first Republican lawmaker to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A recent Gallup poll showed that just&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/692948\/u.s.-back-israel-military-action-gaza-new-low.aspx\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">32 percent<\/a>&nbsp;of Americans approve of Israel\u2019s military action in Gaza: a new low. The majority of Americans \u2014 60 percent \u2014 disapprove of the offensive, and, for the first time, a majority said they disapprove of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Such shifting attitudes were most prominent among younger Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These recent swings have yet to materialize into policies that exert actual pressure on Israel and save Palestinian lives. Israel\u2019s bombing campaign in Gaza continues unabated, with the death toll topping 60,000 last week \u2014 though the number is likely 40 percent higher, according to a Lancet&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(24)02678-3\/fulltext\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">study<\/a>. A slight loosening of Israel\u2019s aid blockade has done little to ease famine conditions. At least 175 people \u2014 92 children and 82 adults \u2014 have died of hunger in Gaza in recent weeks;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/06\/27\/israel-killed-palestinians-food-aid-gaza\/\">killings<\/a>&nbsp;continue near the<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/24\/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-israel-aid-starvation\/\">&nbsp;few available aid sites<\/a>; and airdrops have been criticized as ineffective, expensive, and dangerous, resulting in the death of one Palestinian on the ground and injuries for at least a dozen others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet there is a growing belief among organizers and advocates that a new groundswell of outrage may translate into lasting consequences for U.S. foreign policy on Israel and Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s too late obviously to impact policy in a way that would save Palestinian lives now,\u201d said Tariq Kenney-Shawa, a U.S. policy fellow at Al-Shabaka, who is Palestinian and whose family is from Gaza. \u201cBut I think that the picture the current moment paints for a future of a pro-Palestine movement in the U.S. is significant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-historic-senate-vote\">A Historic Senate Vote<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A major flashpoint of the past week in U.S politics was a vote in the Senate on a pair of resolutions, authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,to block sales of certain U.S. weapons to Israel.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/11\/20\/bernie-sanders-block-weapons-arms-israel-gaza\/\">Since November<\/a>, Sanders has introduced several similar resolutions. With a Republican-controlled Senate, Sanders\u2019s resolutions have largely been&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/02\/26\/bernie-sanders-israel-arms-gaza\/\">symbolic chances for lawmakers to signal<\/a>&nbsp;to voters and lobbies where they stand on Palestine and Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the recent resolutions aimed to bar the sale of more than $675.7 million worth of\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/senate-joint-resolution\/34\/text\" target=\"_blank\">bombs<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 including hundreds of MK 83 1,000-pound bombs and BLU-110A\/B General Purpose 1,000-pound bombs \u2014 as well as block the sale of tens of thousands of automatic\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/senate-joint-resolution\/41\/text?s=1&amp;r=4&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22sanders+sander%22%7D\" target=\"_blank\">assault rifles<\/a>.<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/24\/aipac-spending-congress-elections-israel\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/24\/aipac-spending-congress-elections-israel\/\">Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/24\/aipac-spending-congress-elections-israel\/\">How Does AIPAC Shape Washington? We Tracked Every Dollar.<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/24\/aipac-spending-congress-elections-israel\/\"><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>With tallies of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/legislative\/LIS\/roll_call_votes\/vote1191\/vote_119_1_00454.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">27-70<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.senate.gov\/legislative\/LIS\/roll_call_votes\/vote1191\/vote_119_1_00455.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">24-73<\/a>, the resolutions failed to pass the Senate. But they drew the largest showing of support for blocking weapons deals with Israel so far. Among the new Democrats who joined in the vote were ranking members Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire&nbsp;(Foreign Relations Committee), Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island (Armed Services), and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington (Appropriations). Another supporter was Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, who had voted in favor of a similar resolution in November but opposed another arms embargo attempt in April after considerable&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/1WTLo\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pushback<\/a>&nbsp;from the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/24\/aipac-spending-congress-elections-israel\/\">powerful lobby&nbsp;<\/a>American Israel Public Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his vote to prohibit assault rifle sales, Ossoff cited \u201cthe extreme mass deprivation of civilians in Gaza, including the intolerable starvation of children, that have resulted from the policies\u201d of Israel. This stood out to Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East&nbsp;Peace, especially since Ossoff is up for reelection next year amid the AIPAC pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Friedman and her organization have monitored&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/fmep.org\/resource\/fmep-legislative-round-up-august-1-2025\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statements<\/a>&nbsp;from members of Congress on issues related to Israel and Palestine since 2017. Although many lawmakers doubled down on their support for Israel last week and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/30\/new-york-times-hamas-aid-israel-gaza-famine\/\">blamed the lack of aid on Hamas<\/a>, she noticed a shift in the number of lawmakers making statements of support for Palestinians. Many, she said, were voicing their disgust at Israel\u2019s starvation policy. Whether they would back up their statements with votes on the floor to pressure Israel, however, remains in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MOST READ<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/06\/gaza-aid-security-contractor-mulford-ghf\/\"><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/06\/gaza-aid-security-contractor-mulford-ghf\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/signal-2025-08-06-155437-e1754528031536.jpeg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/06\/gaza-aid-security-contractor-mulford-ghf\/\">Team Leader at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites Belongs to Anti-\u201cJihad\u201d Motorcycle Club, Has Crusader Tattoos<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/06\/gaza-aid-security-contractor-mulford-ghf\/\">Sam Biddle, Matt Sledge<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/06\/israel-palestine-war-crimes-icc-icj\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/06\/israel-palestine-war-crimes-icc-icj\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AP25190703676501.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1\" alt=\"Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu stops to make a statement as he arrives at the U.S. Capitol to meet with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on July 9, 2025 in Washington, D.C.\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/06\/israel-palestine-war-crimes-icc-icj\/\">An Unexpected Path to Hold War Criminals Accountable<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/06\/israel-palestine-war-crimes-icc-icj\/\">Tyler McBrien<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/04\/byron-black-intellectual-disability-tennessee-death-penalty\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/04\/byron-black-intellectual-disability-tennessee-death-penalty\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_5891.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1\" alt=\"Protestors opposing the execution of Byron Black marched in Nashville, Tenn. on Aug. 3, 2025.\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/04\/byron-black-intellectual-disability-tennessee-death-penalty\/\">Tennessee Is About to Execute Byron Black \u2014 Despite His Intellectual Disability<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/04\/byron-black-intellectual-disability-tennessee-death-penalty\/\">Liliana Segura<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Friedman previously worked as a lobbyist advocating for the human rights of Palestinians, she said there was an open joke about the futility of<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/05\/14\/israel-palestine-congress-criticism-democrats\/\">&nbsp;trying to sway<\/a>&nbsp;Hill lawmakers&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2019\/01\/24\/what-you-cant-say-about-israel-with-marc-lamont-hill\/\">on the issue<\/a>. Behind closed doors, she said, members of Congress would tell her and her colleagues: \u201cI agree with you on everything you\u2019re saying, thank you so much for your doing, but don\u2019t ask me to do anything unless you can get my constituents to defend me because otherwise AIPAC will take me down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The recent Senate votes may signal a shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIs it that the members are suddenly more courageous, or do they suddenly feel like somebody\u2019s got their back more and have more room to maneuver? Maybe it\u2019s a combination,\u201d Friedman said. \u201cSomething is changing in the calculation, and that is only good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and a former foreign policy adviser for Sanders, has been in touch with congressional offices where staffers are reporting an uptick in constituents calling about Israel\u2019s starvation campaign in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Behind some of that pressure has been IfNotNow, a Jewish-led group that<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/11\/11\/palestine-israel-protests-ceasefire-antisemitic\/\">&nbsp;organizes within the American Jewish community&nbsp;<\/a>against U.S. support for Israel\u2019s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 24 hours leading up the weapons Senate vote, IfNotNow interim executive director Morriah Kaplan said her group organized several thousand people to send letters to Senate offices in support of the resolutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s possibility that Democratic lawmakers are also willing to step out against the AIPAC party line in a way that I think could fundamentally realign some of the politics around this issue,\u201d Kaplan said. \u201cAnd I hope that makes the Israeli government very nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-combating-israel-s-propaganda\">Combating Israel\u2019s Propaganda<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There is tension for pro-Palestinian organizers and advocates grateful to see what feels like a wave of new support for Palestine within the U.S. and in other Western nations, while also questioning why it took so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs someone who\u2019s been a witness for 22 months of livestreamed genocide every day, what is it that made it a tipping point?\u201d Friedman said. \u201cI would have thought that the pictures of babies and kids killed with bombs, bullets, and deprivation of medical care over the past 22 months would have done it \u2014 it wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She and others pointed to the images of starvation in Gaza \u2014&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/24\/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-israel-aid-starvation\/\">emaciated babies<\/a>, mothers holding their dying children, aid-seekers&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/02\/gaza-aid-sites-killing-israel\/\">running from gunfire<\/a>&nbsp;at aid sites laced with barbed wire \u2014 has forced a different kind of reckoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a realization that Israel is in fact intending to harm civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBefore, you could obfuscate. You could say, \u2018There were 80 civilians killed because they wanted to go after one Hamas guy,\u2019 or \u2018Hamas is using human shields and hiding in tunnels behind civilians,\u2019\u201d said Khaled Elgindy, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies who helped negotiate deals between Palestinian leadership and Israel in the past.\u00a0\u201cBut that obfuscation is no longer feasible. There\u2019s a realization that Israel is in fact intending to harm civilians. It\u2019s taken literally starved babies, babies dying of hunger to get to this point. And that is a very sobering concept if you\u2019ve spent the last two years telling yourself that Israel is doing its best to minimize civilian harm.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/30\/new-york-times-hamas-aid-israel-gaza-famine\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/30\/new-york-times-hamas-aid-israel-gaza-famine\/\">Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/30\/new-york-times-hamas-aid-israel-gaza-famine\/\">The New York Times Repeated Israeli Claims of Hamas Stealing Aid Without Evidence<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/30\/new-york-times-hamas-aid-israel-gaza-famine\/\"><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The mainstream news organizations that have repeatedly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/30\/new-york-times-hamas-aid-israel-gaza-famine\/\">run Israeli disinformation<\/a>&nbsp;around aid shortages for months leading up to the current famine in Gaza are now publishing front-page stories and television broadcasts featuring images of starving Palestinians. Such images even drew sympathetic comments&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-troubled-images-gaza-rcna221524\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">from President Donald Trump<\/a>, who has a long record of dehumanizing&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/06\/28\/presidential-debate-trump-palestinian\/\">Palestinians<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The images are circulating widely, perhaps reaching Americans who could previously overlook the war\u2019s human toll. Powerful images have a history of shifting perspectives, such as an image of the drowned Syrian boy&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2015\/sep\/02\/shocking-image-of-drowned-syrian-boy-shows-tragic-plight-of-refugees\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alan Kurdi<\/a>&nbsp;lying dead on a Mediterranean Sea beach amid the Syrian civil war, a photograph of children running from a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldpressphoto.org\/collection\/photo-contest\/1973\/the-terror-of-war-poy\/1\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. napalm strike on Tr\u1ea3ng B\u00e0ng<\/a>&nbsp;village during the<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/04\/30\/vietnam-war-anniversary-landmines-bombs\/\">&nbsp;Vietnam War<\/a>, and pictures of the dead and malnourished survivors at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/photo\/2011\/10\/world-war-ii-the-holocaust\/100170\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nazi death camps<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cImages that are coming out of Gaza right now, those are reminiscent of the Holocaust,\u201d Al-Shabaka\u2019s Kenney-Shawa said. \u201cMoments like that hold a lot of space in the American psyche.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-bigger-umbrella\">A Bigger Umbrella<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Advocates and organizers say there must be accountability for Democratic leaders, such as President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for their role in creating the conditions that have allowed the genocide to devolve to this point of mass starvation. But those who spoke with The Intercept were in favor of postponing such reckoning for a big-tent approach. Building a larger coalition, they say, will be more fruitful in getting aid to starving Palestinians, halting the war in Gaza, and ending U.S. support for Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a very desperate situation on the ground, there is a huge imbalance of power, and you need as many people as you can involved in pushing in the right direction,\u201d said Yousef Munayyer, head of the Palestine\/Israel Program at Arab Center Washington DC and former executive director of the&nbsp;U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/09\/israel-war-cost\/\">billions in taxpayer money\u00a0<\/a>earmarked for Israel to buy new weapons, the U.S. government each year sends military weapons, vehicles, and munitions from existing American military stockpiles to the Israeli military \u2014 typically with the approval of Congress. The U.S. also helps finance Israel\u2019s own domestic arms manufacturing industry. Munayyer and others hope this new groundswell might pressure legislators to end such<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/04\/14\/israel-palestine-us-aid-betty-mccollum\/\">\u00a0unchecked financing<\/a>\u00a0of Israel and put sanctions on the country\u2019s military leaders.<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/30\/elbit-israel-weapons-protest-merrimack\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/30\/elbit-israel-weapons-protest-merrimack\/\">Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/30\/elbit-israel-weapons-protest-merrimack\/\">They Got 60 Days in Jail for Protesting Israel\u2019s Largest Arms Maker \u2014 and Say That\u2019s a \u201cHuge Victory\u201d<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/30\/elbit-israel-weapons-protest-merrimack\/\"><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Other activists urged those who have newly taken up the pro-Palestine cause to call their elected representatives; protest arms<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/12\/17\/israel-weapons-spain-embargo-shipping\/\">&nbsp;transfers&nbsp;<\/a>at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/05\/10\/israel-weapons-explosives-jfk-airport\/\">ports<\/a>; and embrace the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2018\/12\/14\/bds-israel-boycott-ilhan-omar-rashida-tlaib\/\">Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions<\/a>&nbsp;movement, a Palestinian-led campaign seeking to halt financial support for corporations and institutions complicit in Israel\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/02\/05\/axel-springer-israel-settlement-profit\/\">apartheid<\/a>&nbsp;and genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Duss, of Center for International Policy, said he was familiar with several former members of the Biden administration who are using their credibility and influence to pressure elected officials around Gaza. But he was disappointed at how few are doing so and called for more action from his colleagues. \u201cSuccessful movements don\u2019t scold people for being late, they welcome converts \u2014 that\u2019s just successful politics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe may reasonably ask, what took you so long?\u201d he said. \u201cBut we need to make it attractive for people to join this movement and to take the right position, even if they\u2019re doing so belatedly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>IfNotNow\u2019s Kaplan said that she and other organizers have reported shifts in conversations with family members who previously had doubled down on supporting Israel after Hamas\u2019s October 7 attack. These people, she said, are now more willing to break from their unconditional support for the Israeli government. She hopes those conversations spark a longer-term reckoning<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/01\/19\/deconstructed-israelism-jewish-documentary-film\/\">&nbsp;within the American Jewish community<\/a>, but her group\u2019s current priority is pushing for an immediate end to the genocide in Gaza.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t afford to push people away who are joining us for the first time now,\u201d Kaplan said. \u201cThose who are just now joining us have a responsibility to do everything that they can and take the most courageous action that they can to leverage the power they have to end the genocide. Right now, we need to embrace them when they want to join us. It\u2019s our responsibility to do so if we actually want to win and if we actually want to build our power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-elections-and-beyond\">Elections and Beyond<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While Munayyer applauded the growing number of votes in the Senate as an important sign of progress, he also said it was \u201cinsufficient\u201d considering how many Democrats continue to support arming Israel. The vote, however, can serve as a record for Americans to consider in future elections, exposing a disconnect between elected officials and their constituencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou have half the Senate Democrats still voting to support weapons to Israel even though upwards of 80 percent of Democrats in polls oppose what Israel is doing in Gaza,\u201d he said. \u201cIt exposes that these senators are not even representing their constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A chasm between Democratic lawmakers and their constituents on Israel and Palestine is nothing new, said Foundation for Middle East&nbsp;Peace\u2019s Friedman. But what\u2019s novel is that progressives are no longer willing to make exceptions for Israel and are noticing the ways attacks on the pro-Palestine movement intersects with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/chilling-dissent\/\">campaigns against free speech<\/a>, racial justice, LGBTQ+ communities, and other efforts to curtail the rights of Americans, such as with the detentions of Columbia University graduate&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/03\/13\/briefing-podcast-mahmoud-khalil-free-speech\/\">Mahmoud Khalil&nbsp;<\/a>and Tufts student&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/03\/30\/tufts-rumeysa-ozturk-ice-immigration-op-ed\/\">R\u00fcmeysa \u00d6zt\u00fcrk<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this moment of outrage around Gaza may actually spell consequences for Democratic lawmakers who continue to unconditionally support Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s only been costs for holding up Palestinian lives as valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe problem with U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine is that there\u2019s only been costs for holding up Palestinian lives as valuable,\u201d Duss said. \u201cThere need to be cost imposed from the other side now, as well, and I think that\u2019s happening. That\u2019s part of what\u2019s changing the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Experts and advocates point to the New York City mayoral primary victory of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/07\/10\/mamdani-globalize-intifada-democrats\/\">Zohran Mamdani<\/a>&nbsp;as a sign of a shifting base among young voters. Mamdani is an outspoken critic of Israel, decrying its offensive in Gaza as a genocide, voicing support for the BDS movement, and pledging to arrest Netanyahu if he were to visit New York in response to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/11\/21\/icc-netanyahu-arrest-us-war-crimes\/\">war crime warrants<\/a>&nbsp;from the International Criminal Court. Mamdani outlasted attacks from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned by conflating anti-Zionism with attacks on Jews. With Mamdani\u2019s decisive victory and a new&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/mamdani-holds-wide-edge-among-jewish-voters-in-new-nyc-mayoral-race-poll\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">poll<\/a>&nbsp;showing his popularity among Jewish voters in New York, there are already&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/something-has-shifted-for-democrats-on-israel.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">signs<\/a>&nbsp;the Democratic Party is accordingly adjusting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat does show us is that come next presidential election, a smart Democratic candidate would take into account the fact that a majority of Democrats see what Israel is doing as genocide, and factor that into their thinking of how to message on Israel\u2013Palestine,\u201d Kenney-Shawa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">WE\u2019RE INDEPENDENT OF CORPORATE INTERESTS \u2014 AND POWERED BY MEMBERS. JOIN US.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/donate\/now\/?referrer_post_id=496853&amp;referrer_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2025%2F08%2F06%2Fisrael-palestine-gaza-war-politics%2F&amp;source=web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BECOME A MEMBER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With eyes ahead to the 2028 election, Munayyer likened the lead-up to that election to the 2008 Democratic primary in which then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama distinguished himself from then-New York Sen. Hillary Clinton by reminding voters he had long been a critic of the Iraq War while Clinton had voted in Congress to authorize the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Obama\u2019s opponent in the general election, Sen. John McCain, was a staunch supporter of the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The growing support for Palestine amid Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza particularly among younger voters mirrors other key political shifts after 9\/11 or the Arab Spring, Kenney-Shawa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s extremely important because, in five, 10, 15, 20 years down the line, no longer is Israel kind of this&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2022\/10\/16\/democratic-party-progressive-israel-aipac-dmfi\/\">untouchable subject<\/a>&nbsp;in U.S. politics,\u201d Kenney-Shawa said, \u201cwhere you kind of can\u2019t really talk about it or its political suicide to be supportive of Palestinians or critical of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-will-israel-respond\">How Will Israel Respond?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s unclear how Netanyahu will respond to the current pressure. He has prolonged Israel\u2019s military campaign in Gaza to maintain power by satisfying his right-wing, religious nationalist coalition, which includes leaders like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who have been calling for the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/01\/03\/state-department-mass-displacement-palestinians\/\">mass displacement<\/a>&nbsp;of Palestinians and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/10\/20\/israel-military-settlers-palestine-bedouins\/\">establishment of Jewish settlements&nbsp;<\/a>in Gaza. But Munayyer pointed out that with Israeli\u2019s Parliament on break until October, Netanyahu is presented with a window to act on ending the genocide with little immediate political blowback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Netanyahu, however, appears to be doubling down. Reports suggest that the Israeli government plans to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.euronews.com\/2025\/08\/04\/netanyahu-says-decision-made-for-full-occupation-of-gaza\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">expand<\/a>&nbsp;its operations in Gaza, pursuing a full occupation of the Strip. This spurred some 600 former Israeli security officials to write to Trump on Monday, demanding he end the war in Gaza. The officials, including former heads of Mossad and Israel\u2019s military, said \u201cthat Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,\u201d and asked Trump to \u201csteer Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government in the right direction\u201d in order to \u201cend the war, return the hostages, stop the suffering.\u201d Israel had already said it achieved its goal of dismantling Hamas\u2019s military&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/idf-assesses-hamas-defeated-military-in-all-of-gaza-is-now-a-guerrilla-terror-group\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">last September<\/a>. In the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/cisorgil\/status\/1952061259400302988\/photo\/2\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">letter<\/a>, the officials added that the return of the remaining hostages captured by Hamas on October 7 can only come through a deal and not extended fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Outside the U.S., pressure is also mounting from the other European countries that are calling on the European Union to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.eu\/article\/sweden-urges-eu-suspend-trade-ties-with-israel-over-gaza\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">halt trade<\/a>&nbsp;to Israel over its starvation campaign. The EU, Israel\u2019s main trading partner, is also considering a suspension of its research funds to Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Hague Group, a bloc of countries founded in January, met in Bogot\u00e1, Colombia, last month, to strategize how to pressure Israel into ending the genocide. At the conference, 13 countries&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thehaguegroup.org\/meetings-bogota-en\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pledged<\/a>&nbsp;to block weapons transfers to Israel, including a ban on allowing their ports to be used by vessels carrying arms meant for Israel; review public contracts to prevent funds from supporting unlawful occupation of Palestinian land; support war crimes investigations of bodies such as the ICC and the International Court of Justice; and support<a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2025\/08\/belgium-israeli-soldiers-arrest-gaza\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">&nbsp;universal jurisdiction<\/a>, which allows for the prosecution of suspected war criminals in a third-party country\u2019s judicial system, even if the crimes were committed in another jurisdiction, such as in the occupied Palestinian territories.<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/israel-palestine\/\">Read Our Complete CoverageIsrael\u2019s War on Gaza<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Advocates in the U.S., however, don\u2019t expect any such pressure from its government in the near term, despite the escalating outrage. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/11\/12\/israel-aid-block-gaza-biden\/\">routinely allowed<\/a>&nbsp;the Israeli government latitude to make adjustments to its military campaign to ease public pressure. In fact, the Trump administration last week&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/us-sanctions-palestinian-authority-and-plo-officials-denying-them-visas\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sanctioned<\/a>&nbsp;the Palestinian Authority, the government body that rules over the occupied West Bank, due to its efforts to hold Israel accountable for alleged war crimes. Members of Congress have recently pushed for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/africa.businessinsider.com\/local\/lifestyle\/south-africa-faces-potential-sanctions-as-us-lawmakers-back-critical-bill\/r9gn7xg\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">legislation<\/a>&nbsp;to do the same against South Africa&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/01\/11\/israel-genocide-hague-south-africa\/\">for its role<\/a>&nbsp;in the<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2024\/01\/26\/icj-ruling-gaza-genocide\/\">&nbsp;genocide case against Israel<\/a>&nbsp;in the U.N.\u2019s top court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout the past 22 months, there have been various moments of increased attention on Gaza, from the killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers last April, the \u201cAll Eyes on Rafah\u201d campaign as Israel began its bombardment of southern Gaza, or when Israel&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/03\/19\/israel-gaza-ceasefire-hamas\/\">broke its ceasefire agreement&nbsp;<\/a>in March. Those moments passed with officials doing little to change the conditions for Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But each moment is a part of a longer arc of change, Kaplan said. Next comes the challenge of translating such fever-pitch moments into something lasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been working on this issue for 15 years and I can\u2019t count the number of times when it felt like we\u2019re at a tipping point and that something big is going to change and then it doesn\u2019t,\u201d Kaplan said. \u201cAnd so I don\u2019t really view moments in that way \u2014 I think we just have to keep at it, and I think organizing is how we win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CONTACT THE AUTHOR:<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/staff\/jonahvaldez\/\"><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/staff\/jonahvaldez\/\">Jonah Valdez<\/a><a href=\"mailto:jonah.valdez@theintercept.com\">jonah.valdez@theintercept.com<\/a>@jonahmv.05on Signal<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jonahmv\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@jonahmv<\/a>on X<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pressure is mounting against Israel in the U.S. and around the world. Will it mean anything on the ground in Palestine? Jonah Valdez August 6 2025 (TheIntercept.com) Palestinians suffering from extreme hunger under Israel&#8217;s intense attacks and blockade gather at an aid distribution center near the Zikim border crossing in&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/08\/the-week-the-world-woke-up-to-the-genocide-in-gaza\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43129,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43128\/revisions\/43129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}