Democrats call for Trump administration to intervene in Gaza amid accelerating humanitarian crisis
But as the Israeli offensive has dragged on, more Democrats have increasingly condemned Netanyahu's government — particularly over the last several days, as global outrage mounted over the humanitarian crisis facing Gazans.
Reps. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), two Democrats who have remained staunch supporters of Israel, joined the outcry of concern for those in Gaza — while still keeping the onus on Hamas.
'The humanitarian situation in Gaza is a full-blown crisis, with innocent women and children who are starving,' Scholten wrote in a press release Saturday, adding that 'we must remain clear-eyed about one thing: Hamas started this war and can end it today. But they choose not to.'
Goldman gave a similar response, expressing concern for the amount of starving Palestinians, while keeping the blame on Hamas: 'And let's be clear: Hamas could end it today if they wanted to. Israel has agreed to a ceasefire proposal, Hamas has rejected it. Release the hostages and end this travesty.'
Still, some Democrats haven't viewed this moment in Gaza as the time to break from Israel's leadership.
Rep. Josh Gottenheimer (D-N.J.), who has positioned himself as one of the most pro-Israel Democrats in Congress, hit back hard on a decision from French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced that his country will become the first G7 country to recognize the state of Palestine.
'France's decision is deeply misguided,' the New Jersey congressman wrote on X on Saturday. 'It rewards Hamas for the atrocities of October 7 and is counterproductive to real, lasting peace.'
The overwhelming uproar from Democrats comes just two days after special envoy Steve Witkoff announced that the U.S. was pulling out of ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel, claiming that 'Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith.'
The Trump administration has sought to bring the war in Gaza to a close after a fragile ceasefire deal struck in the transition between the Biden and Trump administrations collapsed in March.
At times, the president has appeared optimistic that the parties would agree to a peace deal, despite Netanyahu's stubborn refusal to consider permanently stopping the war and Hamas' ever-shifting negotiation tactics.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has rapidly escalated as relief organizations say Israel has withheld aid from Palestinians in the war-torn strip, despite global outcry. World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesus on Thursday warned that the over 2 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza face mass starvation, in addition to threats posed by continual bombing.
Ghebreyesus, along with other global leaders, has warned for months of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip, cautioning that it was on course to reach mass-starvation levels.
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Chicago Tribune
16 minutes ago
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Hard-line Israelis like Netanyahu believe the Palestinians don't want peace, citing the second Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s, and more recently the Hamas takeover of Gaza two years after Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005. The Hamas takeover led to five wars, including the current and ongoing 21-month conflict. At the same time, Israel also opposes a one-state solution in which Jews could lose their majority. Netanyahu's preference seems to be the status quo, where Israel maintains overall control and Israelis have fuller rights than Palestinians, Israel deepens its control by expanding settlements, and the Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in pockets of the West Bank. Netanyahu condemned Macron's announcement of Palestinian recognition, saying it 'rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.' 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Chicago Tribune
16 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
As President Donald Trump shows off his golf courses for Britain's leader, crisis in Gaza looms
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The president added, 'It makes you feel a little bad when you do that' without what he considered proper acknowledgement. Starmer is under pressure from his Labour Party lawmakers to follow France in recognizing a Palestinian state, a move both Israel and the U.S. have condemned. The British leader says the U.K. supports statehood for the Palestinians but that it must be 'part of a wider plan' for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Israeli strikes kill at least 36 people in Gaza, officials say, as some aid restrictions are easedAlso on Monday's agenda, according to Starmer's office, are efforts to promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine — particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in the next 50 days. Trump in the past sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for also failing to express enough public gratitude toward U.S. support for his country, taking a similar tack he's now adopting when it comes to aid for Gaza. The president, though, has shifted away from that tone and more sharply criticized Putin and Russia in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Trump will be at the site of his new course near Aberdeen for an official ribbon-cutting. It opens to the public on Aug. 13 and tee times are already for sale — with the course betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales. What to expect, and what not to, at the UN meeting on an Israel-Palestinian two-state solutionProtesters have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump's existing Aberdeen golf course, after demonstrators took to the streets across Scotland on Saturday to decry the president's visit while he was golfing. Starmer and Trump are likely to find more common ground on trade issues. While China initially responded to Trump's tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on U.S. goods, it has since begun negotiating to ease trade tensions. Starmer and his country have taken a far softer approach. He's gone out of his way to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House, and teaming up to announce a joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in May. Starmer and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit in Canada that freed the U.K.'s aerospace sector from U.S. tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25% to 10% while increasing the amount of U.S. beef it pledged to import. Discussions with Starmer follow a Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They announced a trade framework that will put 15% tariffs on most goods from both countries, though many major details remain pending. The president has for months railed against yawning U.S. trade deficits around the globe and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in a hurry. But the U.S. ran an $11.4 billion trade surplus with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the U.K. than it imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could grow. There are still lingering U.S.-Britain trade issues that need fine-tuning. The deal framework from May said British steel would enter the U.S. duty-free, but it continues to face a 25% levy. U.K. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Monday that 'negotiations have been going on on a daily basis' and 'there's a few issues to push a little bit further today,' though he downplayed expectations of a resolution. The leader of Scotland, meanwhile, said he will urge Trump to lift the current 10% tariff on Scotch whisky. First Minister John Swinney said the spirit's 'uniqueness' justified an exemption. Even as some trade details linger and both leaders grapple with increasingly difficult choices in Gaza and Ukraine, however, Starmer's staying on Trump's good side appears to be working — at least so far. 'The U.K. is very well-protected. You know why? Because I like them — that's their ultimate protection,' Trump said during the G7.
