Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has said he is “shaken and angered” while describing his experience in Israel after Hamas, a Palestinian extremist group, launched a deadly attack near the Gaza border over the weekend.
Spokespeople for Booker and Rep. Dan Goldman, both Democrats, had earlier confirmed that the lawmakers were in Israel as the attack unfolded. Both left the country safely shortly after the attacks began, their offices said.
Booker was scheduled to speak at a summit on the Abraham Accords on Tuesday and arrived in Israel on Friday before the event.
On Sunday, Booker posted a video describing his experience to X, formerly known as Twitter, saying that while he and his team are now safe, “like many we are shaken, angered, and heartbroken by the hundreds killed, the thousands injured, those taken hostage, and all who are directly affected by these sickening terrorist attacks.”
A left leaning coalition may have brokered the deal, but the Right successfully undermined it (settlers committed violence that prompted reprisal attacks and then attacked holy sites of worship prompting Hamas to launch attacks) and then the rightwing prime minister broke it completely.
Anyone who studies Middle East history knows that extremists on both sides undo the mainstream’s actual work and roll back their successes. Yitzhak Rabin worked on a peace plan but was assassinated by an Israeli extremist, and his supporters are now in the current Israeli cabinet. Abbas had a credible peace deal but the talks were scuttled by individuals committing similar violence. Now we know Netanyahu actually admitted he helped grow Hamas so it would destabilize the PA and allow him to stall talks while increasing settlements.
In Gaza?
The settler attacks have been historically in both, but when Israel yanked settlers out of Gaza they moved to West Bank and attacks there rose. Theres been a shocking rise in settler violence this year with settlers harsssing and assaulting unarmed Palestinians in West Bank, and multiple raids on Al Aqsa compound, which is what launched Hamas’ most recent attack.
So Israel, specifically Israel’s left wing parties come to power and, enacted a policy that completely eliminated settler attacks amongst dozens of other things, to prove that a peace deal based on the '67 borders can work; by doing so at a small scale (Gaza). Then violence from the region that had all of its settlers evicted massively rises while violence from the regions not in the peace deal generally continues to trend downwards.
And the fact that the policy to remove settlers and settlements hasn’t been enacted Palestine-wide is being used by the region that caused the failure to justify additional violence? Is that the logic?
No. That’s an oversimplified narrative and misleading.
The Kadima party, definitely not a left wing one, pulled settlers out of Gaza, but massively ramped up settlement activity in West Bank. Settler attacks didn’t stop under them. Then, the Israeli government enacted a full land and sea blockade of Gaza, trapping the people inside. The Israeli military even blocked humanitarian aid and Doc Wiesglass even bragged that he was starving Gazans in the hope that the pressure would make Gazans turn against Hamas. (Collective punishment is a war crime and Israelis complain when others do it to them but keep doing it to Palestinians).
Gazans peacefully protested this act but the military shot them for doing so. Gazans complained to the UN and the Israeli government labeled it “diplomatic terrorism” and further sanctioned them for trying. When you cut off all avenues and intentionally sideline the moderates (as Netanyahu did) then it’s no surprise that eventually violence happens, terrible as it may be.