For those of us who work on US-Middle East policy, especially those with close friends and family in the Middle East, the last three weeks have been especially harrowing. Those of us sitting in Washington cannot know what our Israeli colleagues endured on 7 October, when over 1,400 people were murdered, and in the days since as the details of those attacks continue to emerge. Nor can we scarcely imagine what our Palestinian colleagues continue to endure now under weeks of relentless bombardment by the Israeli military, which as of this writing has killed over 8,000 people, nearly a third of them children, from a community that has already endured decades of occupation and siege.
Pressure is building for an end to this killing and for a release of hostages. On 16 October, 13 members of the House, led by the representatives Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib, announced a resolution “urging the Biden administration to call for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Israel and occupied Palestine, to send humanitarian aid and assistance to Gaza, and to save as many lives as possible”.
