A reflection on the terrorist attack on Israel through the lens of America.

October 9, 2023

          About 30 seconds after I pressed “send” on Friday’s newsletter, I received an alert regarding a surprise attack on Israel by Hamas. By the next morning, it was clear that the strike was the largest terrorist attack on Israel in its modern history. For a small country, approximately 700 deaths are the equivalent of 25,000 in the US. That horrific reality was compounded by several factors, including Hamas’s gruesome use of social media to display dead bodies and civilian hostages, that the attack was launched on a Jewish holiday, and that there were “celebrations” around the world in response to the killing and capture of Israeli civilians.

          For Jews in America, the attack comes at a time of increasing antisemitism in the US. Right-wing extremists spew a toxic mix of white supremacy, neo-Nazism, and antisemitism fueled by grievance over losing white dominance. Last week, a mayoral candidate in a small town 20 miles south of Nashville showed up to a debate flanked by the “Tennessee Active Club”—a group that includes white supremacists and neo-Nazis who glorify Hitler, deny the Holocaust, and use the slogan, “Remember, there is no political solution.”

          The mayoral candidate (Gabrielle Hanson) denies she supports neo-Nazis, but after being called out by the local newspaper for using neo-Nazi “enforcers” at the debate, she sent a campaign promotion featuring some of the same neo-Nazis who provided “protection” for her at the debate. The message was clear to those in the small Tennessee town: Gabrielle Hanson hangs out with neo-Nazis and wants your vote. It starts with a wink and nod among brothers in hate and ends in genocide. It must stop now, and we must be the ones to stop it.

          The increasing antisemitism in the US places a special burden on all Americans to recognize that the attack directed at Jewish civilians has deep resonance with millennia of efforts to stigmatize and blame Jewish people for imagined grievances and vile conspiracy theories. Whatever you think about the maddeningly complicated politics in the Middle East, there is no excuse for targeting, torturing, and using civilians as hostages.

          Jewish Americans are rightly anxious, frightened, and wary that it could happen again because antisemitism has gone mainstream in the Republican Party. Republicans in Florida, Texas, Missouri, and other states are banning “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “Maus,” and other books about the Holocaust because they do not want school children to know or remember about a genocide that happened during their grandparents’ lifetimes.

          We need to tell all Jewish Americans that we are by their side and will stand between them and the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and messengers of hate recruited and infected by the virus of MAGA extremism. We need to speak out against antisemitism to protect our friends, neighbors, and strangers who are fearful about what happens next.

Coda.

          A few minutes after I wrote the above introduction, a reader sent me the following email from an Israeli American who sent an email to her friends to explain how Jews across the world feel. I have excerpted (and lightly edited) two paragraphs from a much longer email:

Your Jewish friends are hurting. We are grateful to the ones who can pluck up the courage to get in touch and to check on our loved ones. We are moved to tears, after years of antisemitism at what we thought was already a fever pitch in the US, and while bracing for the wave that is already beginning, that some of you will even go as far as to publicly post that the murder of Jewish civilians is not okay. We are so inured to people being not just okay with but supportive of the death of Jews, that just a simple social media post that says "Maybe treat Jews like they're human for five minutes before explaining why this is actually their fault” seems radical.

Because even just that is so, so rare. Instead, we get a million explainers about why this is justified, why Israelis deserve this, why we only have ourselves to blame. With not even one moment, one breath spared for the intense, irrepressible pain we are in as we try to track down our loved ones, hold space for our community members who are suffering, and brace with fear at what the suffering that is coming next, on both sides of the border.

What the terrorist attack on Israel means in the US.

          There is so much to say about the attack on Israel I will attempt to be brief to cover more ground.

1.    The attack took place during a time of deep political division in Israel.

The current government coalition has been attempting to undermine the judiciary to maintain political power—a tactic that has deeply divided the Israeli people. See Lawrence Freedman on Substack, Hamas attacks Israel | Why Now and What Next? Per Freedman,

[T]he coalition’s policies on judicial reform left Israeli society deeply divided, something of which Hamas will have been well aware . . . .

When a nation is deeply divided by political strife, its enemies seek advantage. That is why the MAGA culture war benefits America’s adversaries, especially Russia and China.

2.    Republicans have hollowed out the American diplomatic corps.

Republicans have resisted the routine confirmation of Joe Biden’s diplomatic appointments. The following US diplomatic posts in the Middle East are vacant:

- Israel

- Egypt

- Lebanon

- Oman

- Kuwait

- No confirmed top USAID official for the Middle East for nearly three years

3.    Senator Tommy Tuberville is hampering US military preparedness.

Meanwhile, Senator Tommy Tuberville has prevented the appointment of 300 senior officers in the US military.

4.    The absence of a governing majority in the House has hampered the US’s ability to respond.

There is much media attention to the fact that the absence of a Speaker is limiting the ability of the House to support a US response to the attack. While that is true as far as it goes, the absence of a Speaker is the symptom, not the cause. The GOP caucus is incapable of governing.

Republicans must be able to join Democrats to advance America’s interests without incurring primary challenges from neo-Nazis, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Moms for Liberty, or other extremist candidates funded by GOP dark money.

5.    Disinformation is rampant.

Disinformation about the terrorist attack and response is rampant. Elon Musk recommended two sites for war coverage on Twitter that are known for peddling false stories to gain subscribers. Worse, one site Musk recommended for war coverage includes antisemitic content. See Washington Post, As false war information spreads on X, Musk promotes unvetted accounts.

Separately, Republican presidential candidates have been spreading the false claim that the Biden administration’s release of a hold on $6 billion in impounded Iranian funds was used to finance Hamas’s attack. That claim is false. See The Hill, $6B in frozen Iranian funds remain unspent in wake of Hamas attack, Blinken says. The $6 billion remains in a monitored bank account cannot be released except for humanitarian aid.

Those facts did not prevent Nikki Haley from claiming that the Biden administration is at fault for the Hamas attack because it allowed the Iranian government “to move money around” in anticipation of the release of the impounded funds. She should be ashamed of herself for lying—assuming she has the capacity for shame.

6.    Trump's battles with the US intelligence community have undermined trust in those agencies.

Trump has been at war with the intelligence community ever since it concluded that Russia intervened in 2016 (and later, 2020) elections to help Trump. Per his playbook, Trump attacked the messenger. Then, when he was caught divulging secrets to top Russian diplomats and retaining defense secrets, he once again blamed the intelligence community. See, e.g., NYTimes, Unwanted Truths: Inside Trump’s Battles With U.S. Intelligence Agencies. The article reveals that the US intelligence community began to shade its conclusions to avoid upsetting Trump.

          It is too early to assign blame for the fact that Israel was caught off guard by the attack. But, at this early point, it is difficult to understand the failures of both the Israeli and US intelligence agencies. I am not saying that Trump's attacks on the US intelligence community are a proximate cause of the lack of preparedness. But Trump has caused congressional Republicans to view the intelligence community as an adversary. It is not; it is essential to America’s defense in a dangerous world—as the surprise attack on Israel demonstrates.

Concluding Thoughts.

          Writing about politics in the Mideast is difficult. The above comments are mine alone, but I thank readers (and friends) Dennis Aftergut and Susan Morgan for helping me to shape my thoughts about tonight’s newsletter. My unerring Managing Editor provided more than her usual amount of guidance for this newsletter. And a half-dozen readers sent links to helpful articles. Thank you.

          The status of Gaza and the West Bank are difficult issues about which Israel’s major political parties and citizens disagree. We can’t expect to resolve those issues for Israel and the Palestinians, though we can stand ready to guarantee the terms of any peace and governance framework.

          Sadly, the point of the terror attack on Israel was to disrupt efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia (among others) as a precursor to a peace framework. Hamas’s goal is to prevent peace and stability in the Mideast—a development that would make its structural opposition to Israel’s legitimacy irrelevant and unnecessary.

          The US has a delicate and important role to play—which is why having Joe Biden as President at this moment is important and fortunate. The US is moving a carrier strike group into the Eastern Mediterranean. The carrier strike group will provide air defense to discourage involvement by Iran or Syria. Major military moves—and the possibility of command decisions to engage in combat—are not the type of judgments that should be in the hands of an impulsive, immature, petulant, distracted, and ignorant leader like Trump.

          Republicans are suddenly in a panic about the absence of a speaker of the House and are considering re-electing Kevin McCarthy—because they know that Jim Jordan is not a serious candidate for the job. So, too, with the choice for President of the United States. A vote for Trump may satisfy the emotional need of some voters for revenge and retribution, but it is not a vote for stability and peace. The world is a complicated and dangerous place. Last Friday evening, the entire outlook for peace in the Middle East changed dramatically in a matter of minutes. We need Joe Biden’s experience and wisdom to guide us through this difficult time.

          Talk to you tomorrow.