Moien Odeh

Since the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel in 1967, all Israeli governments have made concerted efforts to significantly reduce the number of Palestinians residing in East Jerusalem. These efforts include harsh restrictions on Palestinian construction in the eastern part of the city, a rigid policy on family unification, and minimal investment in infrastructure.

On July 20, Yemen’s Houthi movement stunned the world by using a drone to penetrate Israel’s vaunted Iron Dome defense, killing a civilian in Tel Aviv. In retaliation, Israel bombed the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida in Yemen. The incident was a prime example of the development of an alarming new reality in the Middle East. Iran-led allies in the “Axis of Resistance,” many of them nonstate actors, have evolved over the last year into a formidable bloc.

For too long, progressives have spent their foreign policy energy cleaning up the messes of others. Small groups of dissenters have fought with clarity against disasters like the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the unjustifiable use of torture and extrajudicial detention after 9/11. Many of these same progressives saw the risks of ignoring justice for Palestinians and predicted the tragedy in Gaza. But progressives don’t just oppose policy blunders.