Last week, the United Nations warned of all-out war as the conflict between Israel and Palestine intensified. It’s all playing out in real time, as videos and photos shared across social media are bring people all over the world into the conflict.
Here in Massachusetts, local politicians are weighing in, including Sen. Ed Markey, who is facing backlash from young campaign volunteers and donors from his 2020 campaign who criticized his use of the “all sides” message. To discuss what it all means, The Scrum podcast co-hosts Peter Kadzis, GBH news politics editor, and Adam Reilly, GBH news politics reporter, joined Joe Mathieu today on Morning Edition.
“The thing most Americans don't realize is the roots of this are in a local political dispute,” Kadzis said about the conflict, explaining that in April, the Palestinian Authority had postponed parliamentary elections. “This whole dispute, which we are hearing is about land grabs, has its roots in the dispute between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. And Hamas has raised the stakes by its rocket attacks on Israel.”
In a series of tweets, Markey said that “all sides must protect innocent civilians” and that “Israel has the right to defend itself from indiscriminate rocket attacks and no one should fear being forcefully evicted from their homes.” Reilly said that, at the root of Markey’s backlash, is the critique of framing the issue as two sides with equal power.
Reilly said the criticism echoes back to Markey’s re-election campaign in 2020, in which he tapped into energized young people who rallied around him as a progressive leader. Reilly pointed to the popular ‘Green New Dealmaker’ ad in which Markey invoked John F. Kennedy’s call to invite younger people into the political process.
“The theme of that ad was: There is a movement, led by young people, sweeping the country. Ed Markey is a representative of that movement,” Reilly said. “And those young people have a right to demand change from the political establishment that represents them — that was an argument that worked for Markey in the primary. Now, the people who are criticizing him are basically saying, 'Hey, you made us this promise. We want you to lead in a way that you told us you were going to.'"
WATCH: Adam Reilly on Senator Markey's young supporters
Kadzis said that Markey is taking cues from the White House with his cautiousness. “What Markey is doing is following the White House lead. President Biden is treading very carefully,” said Kadzis, who also said the debate is an indication of the growing power of progressives in the political landscape locally.
“It’s also a reminder to all of us who follow politics that there is a huge swath of the Massachusetts Democratic Party that is very that that is decidedly to the left, much more so than the rest of the nation,” Kadzis said.
