Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is seen in the U.S. Capitol on September 6, 2023.
In the last two weeks, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has referred to the unconscionable violence imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel as “horrible.” She stated that Israel “has an obligation to protect civilians” and that they are required to do so under international law. She has repeatedly said that Israel needs to “stop the bombing,” and echoed Secretary Blinken’s comments that Israel “take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians.”
In response to her and other U.S. officials’ calls for a humanitarian pause, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected any change in strategy and vowed to continue the onslaught with “all of its power.” While there is scattered reporting about negotiations to release some hostages in exchange for a temporary pause, in the past few days, Israel has signaled that it intends to intensify its deadly campaign, targeting the south and articulating its intention to maintain a long-term military presence in Gaza.
The message from Israel is clear: Calls for a humanitarian pause and words of concern will change nothing. If Sen. Warren does not aggressively call for a cease-fire and condition future support for Israel on that, she will continue to be complicit in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians and violations of international law. We both worked for Sen. Warren on her campaigns and in her official office; we are disappointed in her lack of leadership in this critical moment but remain hopeful that she will listen to the chorus of experts, activists, and impacted communities urging her to do the right thing.
Sen. Warren must aggressively call for a cease-fire and refuse to offer support for Israel until a cease-fire is pursued.
No reasonable person would oppose a humanitarian pause to provide civilians food, water, medicine, and other necessities, nor would they stand in the way of opportunities for civilians to seek safety. But when both Israel and Hamas have violated and continue to violate international law, a humanitarian pause is like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. A humanitarian pause, unlike a cease-fire, does not include any commitments or concrete steps toward de-escalation. Getting aid into Gaza means nothing if the very same hospitals, schools, and refugee camps that receive it are reduced to a pile of rubble the next day. A brief pause for civilians to seek safety is meaningless if Palestinians have no way to learn about the pause, nowhere to go, and nothing left to come back to.
Israel is withholding access to basic necessities; attacking hospitals, refugee camps, journalists, and fleeing Palestinians; and, according to human rights advocates, using white phosphorus in violation of international law. Israel has repeatedly shown that at best, it does not care about Palestinian civilians, and at worst, it considers them less than human and worthy targets of violence. The task now falls to the global community to protect the over two million Palestinians who live in Gaza from Israel’s bombing campaigns and the dangers of a prolonged ground invasion. Thus far, we have failed. The U.S. government has failed. And with nothing but empty words of concern devoid of accompanying action, Sen. Warren has failed.
And Sen. Warren knows this. Because two years ago, she said it.
In April 2021, Sen. Warren spoke to J Street, a nonprofit group of self-described pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans, telling them that “living our progressive values means that we must not turn a blind eye to the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.” Today, Sen. Warren might argue that her calls for a humanitarian pause and her tweets criticizing Israel’s actions live up to this promise. But in 2021, she went further. She added that by “continuing to provide military aid without restriction, we provide no incentive for Israel to adjust course.”
To put it more bluntly: Words of concern for dying Palestinians are as valuable as thoughts and prayers for the victims of gun violence. When you condemn with your words but support with your actions, you entrench the status quo.
And make no mistake: Sen. Warren can take action to protect Palestinians.
As laid out in Franklin Foer’s book The Last Politician, in May 2021 President Biden told Prime Minister Netanyahu, “We’re out of runway here. It’s over.” And then, Foer writes, “Like that, it was. By the time the call ended, Netanyahu had reluctantly agreed to a cease-fire.” Israel relies heavily on the United States for both financial support and vocal backing on the world stage. When the U.S. government withholds that support, Israel is more likely to pursue a peaceful resolution.
The Biden administration can impose immense pressure on the government of Israel if it chooses to do so; likewise, the senior senator from Massachusetts can wield extraordinary influence on the administration if she so chooses. Since her earliest days in the Senate, Elizabeth Warren has successfully followed a simple political strategy: work inside the party to build political capital, and spend that capital by only breaking from party leadership to marshal pressure, from both her colleagues and the public on the outside, at moments of crucial importance.
It is disappointing and out of character for Sen. Warren to fail to recognize this as one of those moments. Her opposition to a cease-fire aligns her with the influential defense industry in Massachusetts, who are the top recipient of defense contracts in New England and ninth in the nation, home to behemoths like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Israel’s largest weapons supplier, Elbit Systems. From her inaction on a cease-fire, to her call for more funding for police at places of worship, to her silence regarding the Capitol Police’s violent attack on peaceful protesters outside the DNC, Sen. Warren is toeing the party line instead of honoring her legacy of standing up for what’s right.
Sen. Warren must aggressively call for a cease-fire and refuse to offer support for Israel until a cease-fire is pursued. Failure to do so would demonstrate a disappointing inconsistency with her past statements, a lack of moral clarity, and a stunning hypocrisy about the importance of action over words. In her role, Sen. Warren has the power and responsibility to save lives; the urgency of this moment demands that she uses that power accordingly.
