The Latest from the Prospect
 â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â
Â
View this email in your browser
**OCTOBER 13, 2023**
On the Prospect website
* Jack Styler: Wisconsin's extreme gerrymandering
* Gabrielle Gurley: Ohio's abortion debate
* Ramenda Cyrus: Saving vulnerable banking customers billions
* Anya Schiffrin: Fixing disinformation online
Kuttner on TAP
****
****
****
****
****
****
****
**** Israel's Dwindling Moral High Ground
Netanyahu's Gaza attacks are rapidly squandering precious global
goodwill.
For a few days after the barbaric mass executions of hundreds of
civilians by Hamas in border kibbutzim and at a music festival, Israel
had something that has been missing in recent decades-the world's
sympathy and support. Critics who had been critical of the occupation of
the West Bank by settlers suspended their antagonism to express outrage
and solidarity.
The Eiffel Tower was lit up Israeli blue with a large Star of David. In
the U.S., President Biden expressed solidarity and support in
unambiguous terms.
Progressives who had criticized Israeli policies expressed appropriate
outrage at the far left's condoning the Hamas massacre. AOC declared,
after a pro-Palestinian rally at Times Square blamed Israel for
provoking Hamas, "The bigotry and callousness expressed in Times Square
on Sunday
were unacceptable and harmful in this devastating moment."
New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg
,
in an eloquent column calling for a "decent left," wrote, "It is not
just disgusting but self-defeating for vocal segments of the left to
disavow ... universal ideas about human rights, declaring instead that
to those who are oppressed, even the most extreme violence is
permitted."
But Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, whose arrogance and blunders left
Israel open to the Hamas massacre, is rapidly squandering a moment of
global goodwill and moral high ground. A large majority of Israelis
correctly blame Netanyahu for leaving the Gaza border defenseless by
moving most of the Israeli army to defend illegal West Bank settlers who
never should have been there in the first place.
A recent poll ,
published in
**The Jerusalem Post**, finds that an astonishing 86 percent of
respondents blame the Netanyahu government for allowing the massacre to
happen, including 79 percent of the governing coalition supporters.
With his back to the wall, Netanyahu and his war Cabinet have vowed
vengeance. "Every Hamas member is marked by death," he declared
Wednesday night, a threat he can't possibly deliver on. Israel has
already unleashed mass air strikes directed at Gaza residential
neighborhoods based on the premise that Hamas leaders hide out there,
leaving an incredible 300,000 Gazans homeless.
These attacks have already killed more Gazan civilians than the number
of Israelis killed in the initial Hamas massacre. They have also killed
U.N. relief workers and local medical teams.
Netanyahu is on the verge of launching an invasion of northern Gaza to
destroy Hamas as a fighting force. Israel's military has told all
civilians to evacuate northern Gaza, home to 1.1 million people, within
24 hours. It's a dubious military proposition that is unlikely to
produce the safe return of Israeli hostages. The U.N. has called the
evacuation "impossible" and likely to trigger "devastating humanitarian
consequences." Israeli president Isaac Herzog essentially said today
that
there was no such thing as an innocent civilian in Gaza. Global public
opinion is rapidly shifting to a condemnation of Israel's disdain for
civilian lives, which reduces Israel to the same moral level as Hamas.
Yesterday, AOC warned against Israel's strategy of cutting off water
and electricity to Gazan civilians: "This is collective punishment and a
violation of international law. We cannot starve nearly a million
children to death over the horrific actions of Hamas, whose disregard
for Israeli, Palestinian, and human life overall could not be more
clear." While most of the mainstream U.S. media have focused on the
appalling details of the Hamas attacks, NPR has been excellent at
reminding listeners that Gazan civilians are also human beings.
For now, the public statements of Biden and Secretary of State Tony
Blinken have expressed unalloyed support of Israel. One has to hope that
their private conversations with Netanyahu caution that Israel must not
reduce itself to Hamas's level of barbarism and warn that U.S. aid is
conditional on Israeli behavior, including a reversal of West Bank
settler policies.
None of this will solve the longer-term challenge of restoring a genuine
peace process. But at least it will damp down the risks of a
humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, a regional war, and the reversion of
Israel's role to pariah state.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe.Â
Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter
[link removed]
Ohio's Abortion Debate Mired in Misinformation
Reproductive rights advocates must counter erroneous claims about
abortion to pass a proposed state constitutional amendment. BY GABRIELLE
GURLEY
Wisconsin's Legislative Islands Leave Some Voters Stranded
The state faces a new high-court battle over extreme partisan
gerrymanders. BY JACK STYLER
Saving Vulnerable Banking Customers Billions
The CFPB's new guidance says that customers cannot be charged for
obtaining basic information about their accounts. BY RAMENDA CYRUS
Fixing Disinformation Online
What will it take to regulate the abuses of Big Tech without undermining
free speech? BY ANYA SCHIFFRIN
Â
[link removed]
Click to Share this Newsletter
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
Â
[link removed]
YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States
Copyright (c) 2023 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
To opt out of American Prospect membership messaging, click here
.
To manage your newsletter preferences, click here
.
To unsubscribe from all American Prospect emails, including newsletters,
click here
.
