After 22 months of Israel’s war on Palestinians in Gaza, something changed in the last week.

Israeli human rights groups and scholars for the first time called the bombardment and siege of the Palestinian territory a genocide. The governments of France, the United Kingdom, and Canada have all signaled they are prepared to join the vast majority of the world’s nations in recognizing Palestinian statehood. A majority of Senate Democrats voted last week in favor of blocking the U.S. from selling weapons to Israel, an historic first. Even the right-wing lawmaker Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., now calls Israel’s actions a genocide, the first Republican lawmaker to do so.

A recent Gallup poll showed that just 32 percent of Americans approve of Israel’s military action in Gaza: a new low. The majority of Americans — 60 percent — disapprove of the offensive, and, for the first time, a majority said they disapprove of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Such shifting attitudes were most prominent among younger Americans.

These recent swings have yet to materialize into policies that exert actual pressure on Israel and save Palestinian lives. Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza continues unabated, with the death toll topping 60,000 last week — though the number is likely 40 percent higher, according to a Lancet study. A slight loosening of Israel’s aid blockade has done little to ease famine conditions. At least 175 people — 92 children and 82 adults — have died of hunger in Gaza in recent weeks; killings continue near the few available aid sites; and airdrops have been criticized as ineffective, expensive, and dangerous, resulting in the death of one Palestinian on the ground and injuries for at least a dozen others.

Yet there is a growing belief among organizers and advocates that a new groundswell of outrage may translate into lasting consequences for U.S. foreign policy on Israel and Palestine.

“It’s too late obviously to impact policy in a way that would save Palestinian lives now,” said Tariq Kenney-Shawa, a U.S. policy fellow at Al-Shabaka, who is Palestinian and whose family is from Gaza. “But I think that the picture the current moment paints for a future of a pro-Palestine movement in the U.S. is significant.”

A Historic Senate Vote

A major flashpoint of the past week in U.S politics was a vote in the Senate on a pair of resolutions, authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,to block sales of certain U.S. weapons to Israel. Since November, Sanders has introduced several similar resolutions. With a Republican-controlled Senate, Sanders’s resolutions have largely been symbolic chances for lawmakers to signal to voters and lobbies where they stand on Palestine and Israel.

One of the recent resolutions aimed to bar the sale of more than $675.7 million worth of bombs — including hundreds of MK 83 1,000-pound bombs and BLU-110A/B General Purpose 1,000-pound bombs — as well as block the sale of tens of thousands of automatic assault rifles.

With tallies of 27-70 and 24-73, the resolutions failed to pass the Senate. But they drew the largest showing of support for blocking weapons deals with Israel so far. Among the new Democrats who joined in the vote were ranking members Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire (Foreign Relations Committee), Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island (Armed Services), and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington (Appropriations). Another supporter was Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, who had voted in favor of a similar resolution in November but opposed another arms embargo attempt in April after considerable pushback from the powerful lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

In his vote to prohibit assault rifle sales, Ossoff cited “the extreme mass deprivation of civilians in Gaza, including the intolerable starvation of children, that have resulted from the policies” of Israel. This stood out to Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, especially since Ossoff is up for reelection next year amid the AIPAC pressure.

Friedman and her organization have monitored statements from members of Congress on issues related to Israel and Palestine since 2017. Although many lawmakers doubled down on their support for Israel last week and blamed the lack of aid on Hamas, she noticed a shift in the number of lawmakers making statements of support for Palestinians. Many, she said, were voicing their disgust at Israel’s starvation policy. Whether they would back up their statements with votes on the floor to pressure Israel, however, remains in question.

When Friedman previously worked as a lobbyist advocating for the human rights of Palestinians, she said there was an open joke about the futility of trying to sway Hill lawmakers on the issue. Behind closed doors, she said, members of Congress would tell her and her colleagues: “I agree with you on........

© The Intercept