{"id":107,"date":"2026-05-28T09:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T09:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=107"},"modified":"2026-05-28T09:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T09:38:11","slug":"democrats-cant-avoid-a-reckoning-with-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=107","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Can\u2019t Avoid a Reckoning With Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As Democrats continue to struggle to coalesce around a shared message for the future, last week offered some troubling examples of their refusing, once again, to learn from the mistakes of the past. After a delay, the Democratic National Committee finally released the post-2024 election autopsy report that DNC chair Ken Martin had long promised. It was easy to see why he had tried to avoid making it public. In addition to being incomplete and a mess, the report was notable for not mentioning one of the most divisive and consequential issues in the party: Gaza. Even considering the report\u2019s incoherence, it was a baffling omission, given that Gaza continues to be a real point of tension in the Democratic coalition, one that cuts to the core of what kind of party, and what kind of country, we really want to be.<\/p>\n

Read more Bowe Bergdahl and the Honorable History of War Deserters<\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that wasn\u2019t last week\u2019s only example of Democratic-aligned organizations trying to throw Gaza down the memory-hole. On May 19, the Center for American Progress, Washington\u2019s largest Democratic Party\u2013aligned think tank, held its annual \u201cIdeas Festival,\u201d featuring a panel on \u201cThe Future of US Foreign Policy.\u201d Three of the four panelists were former Biden administration officials, and two of those\u2014former secretary of state (now CAP board member) Antony Blinken and former UN ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield\u2014were top decision-makers during Biden\u2019s catastrophic handling of the Gaza war, which a growing consensus of experts has categorized as a genocide. Gaza was not even mentioned on the panel. (It\u2019s notable that Blinken appeared at the event unannounced, possibly to avoid protests that now follow him everywhere.)<\/p>\n

The previous day, Foreign Policy for America (FP4A), which describes itself as a group \u201cworking to strengthen support for principled US leadership in the world,\u201d held an event honoring Thomas-Greenfield with a lifetime achievement award. While Thomas-Greenfield had an admirable diplomatic career before joining the Biden administration, as UN ambassador she vetoed multiple UN Security Council ceasefire resolutions, measures that might have saved thousands of lives, to enable Israel to continue its assault. FP4A\u2019s choice to honor her with an award was an insult to every Palestinian killed, maimed, or still suffering in Gaza, and a middle finger to everyone who tried to get the Biden administration to change course.<\/p>\n

Another Democratic-aligned foreign policy group, National Security Action, has also recently been in the news. Cofounded in 2018 by former Obama administration officials, former Biden administration national security adviser Jake Sullivan rejoined its board of directors, as he did with FP4A\u2019s board shortly after leaving the government in 2025.<\/p>\n

I have worked with all these organizations. I spent six years at CAP as a national security policy analyst. I have been involved in numerous meetings and workshops with both National Security Action and Foreign Policy for America since their founding. I spoke at FP4A\u2019s launch event in 2017 alongside Sullivan. All these organizations have many talented, principled staff\u2014such as the recently relaunched National Security Action\u2019s new executive director, Maher Bitar\u2014and the potential to play a positive, constructive role in the future of the Democratic Party and of our democracy. Progressives need strong organizations to help build and mobilize our movement. But they cannot do that if those organizations facilitate impunity rather than accountability.<\/p>\n

Elite impunity is at the core of our political crisis. Far too often, the wealthy, the powerful, the well-connected pay no price, whatever their offense. They operate under a different set of rules than the rest of us. Anger at this impunity and disillusionment with a self-dealing establishment is what Donald Trump exploits when he rightly claims that \u201cthe system is rigged.\u201d The fact that it\u2019s rigged on behalf of the wealthy and powerful like Trump and his cronies doesn\u2019t matter; his words resonate because their true. It\u2019s no surprise that candidates who effectively channel this disillusionment are winning.<\/p>\n

Read more The (Not So) Secret (Anymore) US War in Pakistan<\/a><\/p>\n

Joe Biden declared in a 2022 speech that Americans were locked in a \u201cbattle for the soul of the nation.\u201d Allowing those officials who assisted him in perpetrating the Gaza genocide to simply move past it and resume careers of respect and remuneration, and possibly eventually return to positions of government power, would be another loss in that ongoing battle. Democrats cannot hope to offer the American people a compelling alternative vision of governance while turning a blind eye to the previous Democratic administration\u2019s abuses. Accountability for Gaza is both good policy and good politics. Democratic voters are motivated and energized to engage when they feel leaders are acting with honesty, transparency, and moral clarity.<\/p>\n

Recently, two leading Democratic senators, Hawaii\u2019s Brian Schatz and Maryland\u2019s Chris Van Hollen, noted the need for a Democratic foreign policy housecleaning. \u201cI\u2019m not into blacklisting anyone from future work in their area of expertise but I do think it\u2019s fair to want a whole new crop of foreign policy staffers in the next democratic administration,\u201d Schatz tweeted on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Van Hollen was even more direct: \u201cPrimary voters won\u2019t trust any Democratic presidential candidate who does not have a record of moral and strategic clarity on these issues, especially if, as a legislator, he or she voted to send Mr. Netanyahu bombs even as his government imposed a total blockade on Gaza,\u201d he wrote in a New York Times<\/em> op-ed calling for a course correction on Israel-Palestine. \u201cNor will they support a candidate who plans to re-enlist the senior Democratic decision makers who whitewashed the truth during the Biden administration and refuse to acknowledge their complicity.\u201d<\/p>\n

A predictable argument against seeking accountability for former officials is that it divides Democrats and distracts from the threat of Trump and Trumpism now. Echoing Barack Obama in 2009, when he decided not to seek accountability for the Bush administration\u2019s crimes, they believe we should \u201clook forward as opposed to looking backward.\u201d (If you want to know why Donald Trump acts seemingly without fear of consequences, just look at the guest list for Dick Cheney\u2019s funeral.)<\/p>\n

But this is not simply \u201clooking backward.\u201d The Gaza genocide is not over. It is ongoing. Accountability is necessary to not just prevent future atrocities but also raise the alarm and hopefully stop one still being committed. Democrats cannot hope to credibly punish the Trump administration\u2019s constantly mounting acts of corruption and criminality while absolving our own side for its own abuses and lies. If we are serious about restoring and strengthening our democracy, unrigging the system and the elite impunity it sustains is essential. This isn\u2019t just about the past. It\u2019s about the party and the country we want to build for the future. We need organizations that are genuinely committed to that struggle.<\/p>\n

Read more Jim Crow Just Suffered a Temporary Setback\u2014in Alabama<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nation Magazine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nDemocrats Can\u2019t Avoid a Reckoning With Gaza - Atlas Living Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=107\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Democrats Can\u2019t Avoid a Reckoning With Gaza - Atlas Living Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Nation Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=107\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Atlas Living Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-28T09:38:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=107#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=107\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f6233854b1f92a6d21147fe5d5e58abc\"},\"headline\":\"Democrats Can\u2019t Avoid a Reckoning With Gaza\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T09:38:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=107\"},\"wordCount\":1166,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=107#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ba119c27a3b2eb32d8bfc443673486e4.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=107#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=107\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/atlaslivingmedia.com\\\/?p=107\",\"name\":\"Democrats Can\u2019t Avoid a Reckoning With Gaza - 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