Violence Here and Everywhere

This past week the devastating violence in the Middle East took a terrifying escalation as Israel expanded its war by preemptively striking Iran killing military leaders, and nuclear physicists. This preemptive attack occurred (seemingly with Trump’s blessing) mere days before scheduled talks between Iran and the United States over Iran's nuclear program, almost certainly undermining the negotiation process. Iran has since responded with multiple waves of missile attacks, seemingly overwhelming Israel’s “Iron Dome” defenses and striking well within Israeli territory. Terrifying footage from Iranian and Israeli civilians make clear that neither group has been made safer or more secure in the last week.

The strike on Iran, and the resulting retaliation is the latest round of a disturbing pattern of conflict escalation and expansion by Israel’s far right government since the country was horrifically attacked by terrorists on October 7th. What started as a supposedly limited action against Hamas leadership, has morphed into something much darker. Israel has engaged in seemingly total war against the Palestinian people, bombing hospitals, and schools, while starving the trapped Gazans by blocking nearly all humanitarian food and aid into the area.

This alone would make it one of the worst global humanitarian catastrophes in modern times, but the conflict has spread well beyond Gaza, to the West Bank, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, and now Iran. This never-ending conflict creep is a vicious escalatory cycle in which violence begets more violence, and neither side is ultimately made safer. Currently, the right-wing Netanyahu Israeli government clearly is attempting to convince Trump into joining Israel in its long-time goal of regime change in Iran, claiming the imminent creation of nuclear weapon, despite claims to the contrary by America’s own intelligence agencies. Current indications suggest Israel seems to have found a willing partner in Trump, who yesterday posted what seemed to be a threat to the city of Tehran after leaving G7 summit negotiations a day early.

It is imperative that the United States draw a line in the sand and refuse to get drawn into further support for Israel in this illegal offensive activity. This sort of violence is reckless, it is foolish, and in the end it will serve no one. Certainly not the people of any of these nations.

61% of Americans agree. They are not at all interested in further escalating conflict in the middle east, even if that comes at the expense of protecting Israel. Americans know that even if this stays as a relatively contained regional conflict the catastrophic costs in lives, in treasure and in environmental damage are simply unacceptable and unjustifiable.

Unfortunately, we have for many decades lived in a system in which our Presidents decide foreign policy largely divorced from the interest and desires of the citizenry. Despite the power to declare war being solely vested in Congress, much of this authority has slowly been delegated to, and consolidated in, the executive branch allowing the president to nearly unilaterally mete out death and devastation.

This is not how it's supposed to be, this is the power of a king, and in America we have no Kings. This past weekend was the first stirrings of true resistance to the Trump regime, with five million people attending No Kings protests in 2000 communities across the country. These protests recognize the extreme danger which Trump's authoritarian tendencies have for all of us. This past weekend millions proudly declared as Americans that there are no Kings in this country, no nobility sitting above the rest of us.

However, one day of protest, no matter how big, won’t be enough. Beyond the authoritarian proclivities of Trump, the military industrial complex and other economic forces at play exert powerful pressure, making it all too easy for this country to be dragged into ever escalating conflict and distraction. We must create an enduring coalition with the political and economic power necessary to fight against the oligarchs who would use conflict and division to divide and distract us. As impossible as it seems, we must work to stop this ever expanding conflagration from claiming more and more lives so join us each Tuesday in growing solidarity as we demand the government that represents all of us; that seeks diplomacy and peace, not violence and conquest.

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