Israel’s conflict with Hamas after the militant group‘s unexpected and deadly attack is also causing a stir in US politics at home.
The crisis is causing new problems for President Biden’s administration. It is making people pay more attention to the current chaos in Congress and could make the 2024 US elections more uncertain.
The American people usually don’t pay much attention to events happening in other countries. However, when they see terrible pictures of innocent people dying in the Middle East, especially when Americans are involved, they will definitely be interested in and concerned about this story.
The argument and accusations start.
Joe Biden‘s critics are already blaming him for the violence in Israel.
They have blamed Iran for planning the attack and claim that US actions towards Iran, such as letting them sell more oil and access frozen assets, in exchange for freeing American prisoners, showed American “weakness”.
A high-ranking government official said on Saturday that the accusation was silly. They explained that only groups not from Iran have been able to use the $6 billion, and it can only be used for helping people in need.
Former president Donald Trump said in a speech in New Hampshire that he wants to bring back all US punishments on Iran and impose a travel ban on all predominantly Muslim countries affected by terrorism.
Mr Trump highlighted his achievement of negotiating the Abraham Accords between Israel and two Gulf states as an example of progress towards peace in the Middle East.
But some experts think that by not addressing the Palestinian issue, the agreements between Israel and Saudi Arabia and the efforts by the Biden administration to improve their relations could have made the Hamas attack more likely.
One of the people running against Mr. Trump for president, Governor Ron DeSantis from Florida, said that Democratic administrations have been too lenient on Iran.
“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that this was ultimately an attack carried out by the Iranians. ” Both Biden and Obama had a positive view of Iran in their US policy.
Most Republicans criticized Mr. Biden the most, but there were also some disagreements within the party about their views on intervening in foreign affairs, which used to be a common practice among Republican presidents.
Former vice-president Mike Pence took the opportunity to criticize some of his Republican rivals for having views that he believes are focused on protecting their own country and being separate from the rest of the world.
“We must definitely speak up and criticize the leaders in the Republican Party,” he stated in a message sent out by his campaign. “Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis are individuals who promote peaceful settlements, but I think their ideas go against our party’s long-standing belief that America should take charge as the leader of the free world. ”
A House divided
On Monday morning, Kevin McCarthy, who used to be the Speaker of the House, joined other Republicans in blaming Mr. Biden’s decisions for making the attack possible.
Mr McCarthy was affected by a revolt among conservative individuals with right-wing beliefs, and his removal has stopped the chamber from making any progress until Republicans can come together and agree on a new speaker – a process that might take a few more days at least.
Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who came up with and led the effort against the then-speaker, said that he doesn’t believe his actions made it harder for the US Congress to help Israel. He pointed out that America gives Israel $3 billion in military aid each year.
Israel is not requesting anything that we cannot do. It will take us a few days to choose a new speaker. People don’t think too much about Mr. McCarthy’s political career.
It was a chance for Mr. McCarthy’s supporters to criticize a colleague they strongly dislike again.
“I observe the world and the various dangers present,” said Michael McCaul, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Sunday. “What are we showing our opponents when we can’t lead, when we’re not working well, when we don’t even have a Speaker of the House. ”
The Biden administration has stated that they don’t think it’s necessary to have a aid package for Israel approved by Congress right now. However, two important people informed US senators today that they believe new help should be given alongside ongoing support for Ukraine, all in one package.
Some Republicans are against giving more money to Ukraine. We don’t know if this disagreement will make it more likely or less likely for the aid package to pass. The post on social media by Senator Josh Hawley, who is a member of the Republican party, appeared to indicate this.
He said that Israel is in great danger and could potentially cease to exist. “Money for Ukraine should be given to Israel right away instead. ”
Currently, people who believe in democracy are supporting widely.
If the Israel crisis has shown divisions among Republicans, the same cannot be said for divisions among Democrats – at least for now.
The Democratic Party used to strongly support Israel, but that has changed as the party has moved left. They now criticize the right-wing government of Israel and its aggressive building of settlements in the occupied territories.
In January 2023, a survey by Gallup found that more Democrats felt supportive towards Palestinians (49%) than Israelis (38%) for the first time in the 22-year history of the poll.
However, the violent and on-going attack by Hamas on innocent Israeli people has made it difficult to notice these differences within the group.
Some very liberal groups have shown support for the Palestinians, but most Democrats have been vocal in their support for Israel and quick to criticize any disagreement from their own party.
Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib from Michigan and Cori Bush from Missouri, who are known for openly criticizing Israel, expressed their condolences for both Israeli and Palestinian civilians who have been killed. They also urged for the United States to stop providing financial support to Israel. Some people in the same political party criticized their comments.
Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey expressed his strong disapproval of the Israeli people having to mourn their family members who were shot in their homes. He criticized the idea of Congress removing financial support from Israel, a country that is considered a democratic ally of the United States. The congressman thinks this would only lead to harm and suffering for innocent civilians.
Ms Bush and Ms Tlaib are currently not supported by most people in their political group. Bernie Sanders, a leader of the progressive left, strongly condemned the terrible attack and expressed his disapproval in a statement on Saturday.
“There is no reason for this violence, and many innocent people from both sides will suffer greatly as a result,” he wrote on social media.
As more news focuses on the Israeli ground campaign in Gaza instead of Israeli civilian deaths, Democrats may start to feel the same way they did earlier this year.
The situation in the Middle East has changed a lot in just a few days. The current crisis in the US is likely to have unpredictable effects on domestic politics due to the existing conflicts and divisions among different groups.