evidentiary

Most voters want a ceasefire, but hardly anyone in Congress supports one. This chart shows the percent in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza. Among Democratic voters, 80 percent; House Democrats, 8 percent. Republican voters, 56 percent; House Republicans, 0 percent. All voters, 66 percent; all House members, 4 percent. Data comes from House Resolution 786 and an October 20, 2023 poll from Data for Progress. More at stephensemler.substack.com

In favor of a ceasefire:

Democratic voters 80%
House Democrats 8%

Republican voters 56%
House Republicans 0%

All voters 66%
All House members 4%

Chart by @stephensemler.bsky.social

Opinion | A brief history of the Netanyahu-Hamas alliance ***

There are corrupt politicians and power grabbers who don't care who is harmed, and there are innocent civilians who just want to be safe and free, whatever that might look like.

That's what we have here.

Opinion | I Negotiated Israel’s Hardest Hostage Deal. Here’s What’s Next in Gaza. I have been in touch with leaders of both sides. Prospects remain dim.

www.nytimes.com/2023/10/21/o...

Quotes from Gershon Baskin

Hamas continues to demand an end to “Israel’s aggression against Gaza,” and Israel says it has no intention of ending this war “until the job is done.”

Right now, Hamas’s focus is achieving a comprehensive cease-fire.

Netanyahu has turned his back on Israel's hostages, and abandoned Israel in its darkest moment As Hamas claims 22 Israeli hostages have been killed in airstrikes, Netanyahu has no apparent plan to save others.

"Israel’s leaders seem to care about nothing but revenge"

"Netanyahu is continuing to ignore the well-being of his citizens, and wants to erase Gaza, where 50% of the population is children, in order to draw attention away from his disastrous and embarrassing failure"

forward.com/opinion/5652...

Here’s a second shot of the eclipse where you can see “Baily’s beads”… the sun shining through the mountains and valleys on the moon.

Look I know you have a lot on your plate right now and it’s stressing you out but I’m gonna need you to abandon it all to lie still and become unconscious for about eight hours and if you can’t relax enough to do that your brain will destroy itself and everything will be so much worse. Sweet dreams!

The Biden people have absolutely no idea how pissed off young people are. Like literally no idea.

Right now, Jews and our allies face an enormous test of bravery, but probably not the one you’re thinking: We have the opportunity to be brave enough to imagine an option other than violence. We can look at the prospect of mass murdering innocent Palestinians as a means to bring us the peace we’ve spent our entire history chasing and say No. Not in my name. Not ever.

i was nervous to publish this for so many reasons, but i did it anyway. as i write, it’s time to be brave.

i hope you’ll read it.

www.thehandbasket.co/p/we-can-cho...

Yes, well aware of that, they would probably consider anybody in the IDF reserves as not a civilian

Israeli society as a whole still needs to discuss and consider this. I haven't seen this widely reported in Israeli media yet

Netanyahu has turned his back on Israel's hostages, and abandoned Israel in its darkest moment As Hamas claims 22 Israeli hostages have been killed in airstrikes, Netanyahu has no apparent plan to save others.

Not sure if Netanyahu government would do it - they have shown very little interest in the wellbeing of hostages, and seem more interested in revenge

However the families are leading protests which can become a powerful political force

forward.com/opinion/5652...

Hamas says civilians could be quickly released if Israeli airstrikes stop A senior Hamas leader said that the group is willing to release all civilian hostages if Israel stops carrying out airstrikes. NBC News’ Richard Engel reports on his conversation Hamas leadership an...

Elad - this seems really important, just came out today: Hamas offers a hostage deal. Not sure if before/after hospital

Has this been reported in Israeli news? What's the reaction?

www.msnbc.com/chris-jansin...

Hamas says civilians could be quickly released if Israeli airstrikes stop A senior Hamas leader said that the group is willing to release all civilian hostages if Israel stops carrying out airstrikes. NBC News’ Richard Engel reports on his conversation Hamas leadership an...

Hamas is willing to release all civilian hostages if Israel stops airstrikes - MSNBC

www.msnbc.com/chris-jansin...

Hamas says civilians could be quickly released if Israeli airstrikes stop A senior Hamas leader said that the group is willing to release all civilian hostages if Israel stops carrying out airstrikes. NBC News’ Richard Engel reports on his conversation Hamas leadership an...

There's an offer for the hostages - unclear if that was before/after the hospital

www.msnbc.com/chris-jansin...

There's an offer, Israel should take it

www.msnbc.com/chris-jansin...

MSNBC says Hamas is offering a hostage deal - not an exchange. Unclear if that was before/after hospital

It was almost epiphanal that I simply don't have to live like this. I can live my life without the constant psychic intervention of Catturd2. I can go to the circus and the opera and Wrestlemania and try to accept beauty.

I and you don't owe the horrors—or the people rooting them on—jack shit.

MSNBC reporting that Hamas has offered to release foreign hostages with no preconditions. 4:53pm

“He’s my baby brother,” says his sister, Gail Ben Zvi, 30. “He was the baby of the family.” Now, the Ben Zvis are joining many of the families of Israeli hostages who are angry at the government – for their slow reaction to Hamas’s offensive, poor communication since, and military planning which could put their loved-ones at risk. On Saturday, the National Security Council chief Tzachi Hanegbi said “Israel will not hold negotiations with an enemy that we have vowed to wipe from the face of the Earth.” In a cabinet meeting on Saturday, Israel’s firebrand finance minister Bezalel Smotrich was quoted as saying: “hit Hamas brutally and not take the matter of the captives into significant consideration.” “In war you have to be brutal,” he reportedly said. “We need to deal a blow that hasn’t been seen in 50 years and take down Gaza.”

The war has nothing to do with the hostages. It is an overt abandonment of every single one of them.

inews.co.uk/news/world/b...

Something people need to understand about the American response to the war in Israel: Jews AND Muslims are going to be increasingly targeted for hate speech and hate crimes.

This will come mostly from extremist white Christians.

This is exactly why solidarity matters right now.

With most of the world behind us, and while keeping an eye on the future we want to build here. I understand the desire for action now. But we have to be strong AND smart. And Hamas is in Gaza. They can't leave. They, and we, can wait a bit. We will win. But we will do this right."

"We will secure our borders immediately. We will bury and grieve for our dead. We will sit shiva together. And we will THINK before acting. I promise you this won't happen again. But we will do this methodically, surgically, politically, economically. ...

@AmiDar on Twitter

Some people have asked, "What would you do if you were in Netanyahu's place?" After thinking about this, here's what I would have done last week: Nothing. Nothing at all. Not one bullet—at least not for a while. I would have said, ...

Opinion | Why a Gaza Invasion and ‘Once and for All’ Thinking Are Wrong for Israel The Netanyahu government and President Biden have smarter options.

Thomas Friedman comes out against a Gaza invasion.

If Friedman is against it, you better believe Jews in America are not united on this topic.

Jewish institutions and mainstream media need to stop making it seem like Jews are a monolithic group on this.

The origin of so many dark moments in human history is the belief that, “If only this group didn’t exist, all our problems would be solved.”

(To spell it out more clearly: This is the inevitable next thing that happens when a state focuses 80% of its military power on occupying another people; eventually it must devote state power to suppressing discussion of what the military really does in order to keep that people under Occupation.

Question 8: Hatred or Grief? Responding to the crisis in Israel and Gaza

There is so much to grieve right now.