Like so many American Jews, the images that played through my news and social media feeds yesterday were both sobering and disturbing. On the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Yom Kippur war–on a Shabbat, on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah–we saw the news of Hamas’ attack on Israel. As of this writing, THE GUARDIAN recaps where things currently stand:
Here is what we know so far:
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At least 250 Israelis have been killed in Hamas attacks, Israeli officials have said. More than 1,590, Israelis have been wounded, Israel’s health ministry said.
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At least 230 Palestinians have been killed and 1,610 wounded in Gaza by Israeli strikes after the Hamas attack.
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Hamas militants entered Israeli territory in the early hours of Saturday morning, appearing to take control of various communities in the south of the country. Fighting is still ongoing in some areas.
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Hamas fired thousands of rockets towards Israel, according to Israeli authorities. The Hamas military commander, Mohammed Deif, said 5,000 had been fired, but an Israeli military spokesperson said 2,500 had been fired.
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Israel declared war on Gaza after the attack, launching retaliatory airstrikes and sending the area’s already crumbling medical infrastructure into chaos.
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The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that the country is “embarking on a long and difficult war” and warned Gazans to “get out of there now”, vowing to reduce the Hamas hideouts to “rubble”. Netanyahu said the “first phase” of the counter-operation had ended, and that Israel had fought off the majority of Hamas militants inside its territory. He vowed to continue the offensive “without reservation and without respite”.
- The US president, Joe Biden, issued a staunch condemnation of the attacks by Hamas against Israel, saying in an address on Saturday: “The United States stands with Israel”. He issued a statement earlier calling the attacks “horrific” and an “appalling assault”,
- Netanyahu has offered a unity government after declaring a state of war. The move would bring Netanyahu and the opposition Yesh Atid leader, Yair Lapid, together during the national emergency.
Well, at least some country can find a way to come together. Ours apparently can’t. Just ask Kevin McCarthy.
POLITICO’s Joe Gould, Connor O’Brien, Paul McLeary, Ursula Perano and Katherine Tully-McManus (wow, I didn’t think any digital news operation had five journalists left on staff, let alone sharing one byline) report this morning that at least rhetoric seems to be, at the moment, bipartisan:
“I strongly support robust U.S. security assistance to Israel — because Israel always needs to be ready and able to fight back at any time. Israel has a right to defend itself and the United States stands with our friend and ally,” House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a statement.
As the attacks from Hamas unfolded, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to use his sway to ensure Israel has what it needs. New Senate Foreign Relations Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said he is “committed to ensuring that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and its citizens, today and every day.”
“I strongly support robust U.S. security assistance to Israel — because Israel always needs to be ready and able to fight back at any time. Israel has a right to defend itself and the United States stands with our friend and ally,” House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a statement.
As the attacks from Hamas unfolded, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to use his sway to ensure Israel has what it needs. New Senate Foreign Relations Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said he is “committed to ensuring that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and its citizens, today and every day.”
Even the leading candidates for McCarthy’s now-vacant seat , in the middle of their own Holy War, publicly mirrored Biden’s sentiments:
Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio (, t)wo of the candidates for House speaker immediately voiced support of Israel on social media.
“America stands with Israel today and every day,” Jordan said in a post. “It must defend itself against these Hamas terrorists. We will continue to pray for our great ally and its citizens.”
“Make no mistake: The United States will always stand with Israel, our greatest ally in the Middle East,” Scalise said in a post. “They must defend themselves as their citizens are slaughtered by Hamas terrorists. They have our full support and our prayers.”
But rhetoric is simple. Putting actual funding behind those words will be fraught with difficulty and pushback. And as NEWSWEEK’s Andrew Stanton reported yesterday, conservative media is already weighing in with their version of facts:
(S)everal social media posts circulated on Saturday alleging that Biden authorized an $8 billion security package following the attacks. The claim was posted by several high-profile accounts, including some apparent news websites and appeared to originate from a photograph appearing to show a White House press release declaring the $8 billion in aid. Biden has instantly approved the allocation of $8 billion in military aid to Israel. Somehow there’s always money for violence. And somehow the bombing of civilians is ignored,” wrote progressive activist Joshua Hill.
But as Stanton added:
No such press statement has been posted to the White House’s website, and Biden did not provide any details about specific aid during his press conference Saturday afternoon.
And so far, the most notorious voices that have been behind the purpotedly economically motivated move to oust McCarthy have been silent. If one is to believe the likes of the “prophetic” Lance Wallnau, who took to his virtual pulpit with an emergency podcast to attempt to explain the Biblical and global ramifications of fiscal irresponsibility, one can at least grasp what motivated the stand against the Ukraine which Stanton’s colleague Lauren Giella reported on back in February:
Florida Representative Matt Gaetz is introducing a House resolution to end U.S. military and financial aid to Ukraine co-sponsored by 10 other House Republicans.
In the “Ukraine Fatigue Resolution,” Gaetz calls for the United States to “end its military and financial aid to Ukraine and urges all combatants to reach a peace agreement.”
“President Joe Biden must have forgotten his prediction from March 2022, suggesting that arming Ukraine with military equipment will escalate the conflict to ‘World War III,'” Gaetz said in a statement to Newsweek.
Here, per Giella, is the list of the 10 Republicans who co-sponsored the Gaetz resolution:
- Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona
- Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado
- Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
- Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida
- Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky
- Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois
- Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama
- Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina
- Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana
And NEWSWEEK’s Anna Skinner provided a similar list of the Republicans who voted on Monday to back Gaetz to oust McCarthy:
(T)he seven Republicans who joined Gaetz on Tuesday afternoon to remove McCarthy were: Ken Buck, Andy Biggs, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Bob Good, Nancy Mace and Matt Rosendale.
So two common names with enough huevos to go on both records besides the notorious Gaetz. Matt Rosendale and Andy Biggs.
I’ve seen the 60 MINUTES piece on Rosendale and, honestly, he’s not worth anybody’s time and effort to try and understand. Besides, a good deal of the living beings in his district are cattle, and they don’t vote.
But I really DO want to hear from Andy Biggs.
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC’s Laura Gersony profiled Biggs in the wake of Monday’s House vote:
Since taking federal office in 2017, Biggs has made a name for himself for holding far-right policy positions on issues such as immigration and federal spending; his disputing the scientific consensus on COVID-19; and for his involvement in the efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election results. During his six years in Congress, Biggs has emerged as one of the furthest-right House members, with extreme positions on issues of immigration, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and more.
Between 2019 and 2022, Biggs chaired the hardline House Freedom Caucus, the far-right bloc known for its combative tactics and willingness to criticize House GOP leadership. During Biggs’ time as chair, the Freedom Caucus emerged as the leading defender of Trump during his impeachment proceedings. Later, caucus members became key supporters of the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Biggs is also a member of the Freedom Caucus’ newly formed splinter faction of Trump loyalists, known informally as the “MAGA Squad.”
One can only shudder at the possibilities of conversations at, say, Pizzeria Bianco, between him and, say, Kari Lake. I don’t think there’s enough alcohol in the state that would be enough to numb the potential headache being a fly on the wall for that could have provoked.
But the same sort of saber-rattling about choosing not to fund the Ukranian efforts might not fly in Biggs’ district. One that includes upscale suburbs like Mesa and Chandler. One that John McCain once represented.
According to World Population Estimates, there are reportedly 82,000 Jews currently living in the state of Arizona–just about 1% representation. There are approximately 14,000 Ukranians living there as of January 2023, per the World Population Review.
I’m willing to put money that a substantial number of Jews live in Biggs’ district. Enough to, perhaps, sway an election, no matter how many different companies might be brought in to scrutinize them.
So I’m especially curious to hear how someone like Biggs will respond to the kind of story my rabbi’s husband, journalist Rob Eshman, posted yesterday on THE FORWARD , one directly from the front line of what went down on Simchat Torah 5784:
My brother-in-law David Levy woke up at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning to the sounds of an unrelenting missile attack.
“It was nonstop, nonstop for over two hours,” he told me by phone hours later from his home on Kibbutz Mishmar HaNegev, about 20 minutes by car from the Gaza border.
David and his wife Etti ran to a neighboring bomb shelter as Iron Dome alarms sounded— making him, like so many Israelis, both desperately worried and livid.
“This is a total f-k-up,” he said, back in their house after getting an all-clear signal, at least for now. “It took hours for the army to get to some of the towns to confront Hamas. Hours. There’s still a hostage situation in Ofakim.”
That’s a town about a 15 minute drive from where David and Etti live, the place they’d gone the day before to pick up cake for Shabbat. Their friend Ofer Lipstein, who heads up the regional council there, was killed in the attack.
So, yes, it’s personal. And if you do happen to know anyone in Israel, perhaps you were as motivated to change your social media avatar yesterday as so many people in my feed did.