November 3, 2023

Working classes of the world continue to recoil in horror at the Israeli government’s depraved slaughter of the Gazan people. The death toll in Gaza continues to soar — the Gazan Ministry of Health reports well over eight thousand dead, and the UN reports that well over half the Gazan population has been displaced. Earlier this week, the Israeli Army’s invasion of Gaza followed their shelling of hospitals, refugee camps, schools and previously identified evacuation routes. A Gazan gateway to Egypt for dual-nationals and the seriously injured has opened, but many Gazans worry that fleeing the onslaught will lead to permanent displacement, as has often been the case with Palestinian refugees absent a right of return. Within the state of Israel’s actual borders, the government has begun to crack down on Israeli dissidents, officials have initiated a suppression campaign in its universities, and freedom of speech and assembly have been cracked down writ-large in the Potemkin democracy.

Meanwhile, America’s working class — led by Palestinian-led groups and movements from coast to coast — continues to react with rage and horror over the Biden Administration’s failure to curtail Israel’s savagery. A White House spokesperson compared those protesting Israel’s genocide to white supremacists and neo-Nazis (though many high-profile protests for ceasefire have been organized by anti-zionist Jews in the United States). The Biden Administration also announced plans to crack down on student groups on campus, spuriously associating them with terrorism and anti-semitism. Correspondingly, support for Biden has plummeted: A recent Gallup poll showed an 11-point dip among Democrats and 4-points among Independents, resulting in a record-low approval rating of just 37% across the country. Among Arab voters, populations of whom are concentrated in swing states such as Michigan and Virginia, support for Biden has dropped to just 17%, down from 56% back in 2020.

A battle on Capitol Hill is also taking shape. House legislation would send over $14.3 billion in war-funding to Israel. As part of their NO Money for Massacres campaign, DSA has demanded that Congressional reps vote NO on any additional military aid to Israel. Over 1,000 Democratic Socialists have made over 190,000 calls to Congressional offices demanding an immediate ceasefire. So far, 18 members of Congress, which includes all DSA endorsed Congressional reps, have signed onto the US ceasefire resolution. As of Thursday evening, only one Senator (Durbin-IL) has called for a ceasefire in the US Senate, common sense eluding the chamber’s left — Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have so far failed to endorse a ceasefire.

National DSA has endorsed tomorrow’s National March on Washington: Free Palestine, starting at 2pm at Freedom Plaza. The march is aiming to bring tens of thousands of people from across the country to DC to demand an end to the siege of Gaza, the United States’ funding for Israel and a free Palestine. To get meet-up information and connect with fellow Metro DC DSA comrades for the march, visit the #Steering channel on the chapter Slack. The DSA will be meeting near the northwest corner of Freedom Plaza at 1:45pm.