The only power plant in Gaza is out of fuel. Hospitals there have backup electricity, but that’s not going to last for long. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have already been made homeless by Israel’s indiscriminate bombing campaign, with the full support — diplomatic, logistical, financial, and rhetorical — of the US government. As you read these words, desperate parents in Gaza are digging through the rubble of bombed apartment blocks to find their children, hoping against hope that they’re still alive.

With a handful of honorable exceptions, support for these flagrant and escalating war crimes has been depressingly bipartisan. No one on the wing of the Right that postures as antiwar with regard to Ukraine seems to have any interest in pumping the breaks on the assault on Gaza. And most Democrats aren’t much better. When New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, was asked about her message to Palestinian Americans with family under the guns in Gaza in her state, she spouted talking points about “Israel’s right to defend itself” and the need for Palestinians to denounce Hamas without even a nod in the direction of human sympathy for those families.

In a society less twisted by militarism and bigotry toward Arabs and Muslims, Hochul’s response would have been a major scandal. In America in 2023, hardly anyone noticed. Instead, more people seem to be talking about the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).