By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

Why did Hamas choose this moment to commence hostilities with Israel? Among many reasons, two stand out.

The first was to put a dent into the Abraham Accords signed last year normalizing relations by a number of Arab states with Israel, the second to put pressure on the new Democratic administration in Washington to once more put the Palestinian issue on the front burner.

Israel’s new allies are aware of the possible impact of the current tensions, given the largely pro-Palestinian sentiment in their countries.

Vali Nasr, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, contended that the accords had been “based on the idea that the Palestinian issue is dead.” Hamas set out to disprove that.

Meanwhile, the Conflict is playing out where it may have the most effect: in the halls of the U.S. Congress, where Joe Biden’s administration faces growing pro-Palestinian sympathy within the ranks of the Democratic Party.

Much of the party’s left-wing, especially its non-white supporters, now view politics through an identity lens, especially since the murder of George Floyd in 2020. And they are projecting that onto the Middle East conflict.

Typical is New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman. He told his constituents there has been “enough of Black and brown bodies being brutalized and murdered.”

Of course Israelis, more than half of whom originate in Africa and Asia, are no more white than are Palestinian Arabs, nor does their conflict have much to do with skin colour.

Still, Bowman has been joined by a host of other elected officials trying to transpose their own American issues onto a national and territorial conflict. For those activists, Palestinian rights and the decades-long conflict over land in the Middle East are linked to causes like police brutality and conditions for migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Nearly two dozen Democrats took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on May 13 to give impassioned speeches reacting to the ongoing violence. It exposed the growing rift in the Democratic Party between increasingly popular progressive lawmakers and more moderate representatives with closer ties to the Biden administration.

The progressive bloc included Representatives Mark Pocan, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Betty McCollum, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Jan Schakowsky, Jesus Garcia, Andre Carson and Joaquin Castro.

 “You’d hardly know Palestinians existed at all” based on recent statements from the Biden administration regarding the Gaza violence, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who is of Palestinian descent, said.

“We’re currently blocking the UN from calling for a ceasefire,” added Ilhan Omar from Minnesota, panning the Democratic administration and blasting Israel for its airstrikes in Gaza.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York criticized Israel more broadly for its actions in the West Bank. “Do Palestinians have a right to survive?” she asked. She also tweeted, “Apartheid states aren’t democracies,” repeating a charge made by the left in recent years.

“We are anti-war, we are anti-occupation, and we are anti-apartheid,” declared Cori Bush of Missouri, adding that she stands in solidarity with Palestinians just as Palestinian activists stood with Black Americans in the unrest in Ferguson, in her home state, in 2014. “Until all our children are safe, we will continue to fight for our rights in Palestine and in Ferguson.”

Massachusetts Representative Ayana Pressley called for “equal outrage” over “state violence” be it in the U.S. or Israel, criticizing Israel for its crackdown on Palestinian protesters.

They spoke in favor of legislation that they’ve co-sponsored, which seeks to prohibit American aid to Israel from being used in certain actions in the West Bank.

Right now, Washington provides $3.8 billion to Israel annually, equivalent to 20 per cent of Israel’s defence budget and nearly three-fifths of U.S. foreign military financing globally.

A day later, nearly 150 prominent liberal advocacy organizations issued a joint statement calling for “solidarity with the Palestinian residents” and condemning “Israeli state violence” and “supremacy” in Jerusalem.

The statement was signed not just by groups focused on Middle Eastern and Jewish issues but by groups dedicated to causes like climate change, immigration, feminism and racial justice.

It’s a sign that for the party’s liberal faction, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has moved far beyond the realm of foreign policy.