By Anne Carl and Al Anderson, Ed. MDB – our friends in Cochise Co., Anne and Al, asked me to publish this op-ed for them. Anne Carl was the Democratic Candidate for Cochise County Recorder in the 2024 election.
Those who foment discord and disorientation rarely serve the common good. A small but vocal faction which attacks Democrats with overly simplistic narratives over differing approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict exemplifies this. If the critics of Democrats want to be taken seriously, they should get out from under ideological rocks where Trump hopes they’ll stay. Focus instead on helping to win the CD7 Congressional Election on Sept. 23rd, and the midterms in 2026.
Their public speech in Pride and July 4th parades and local newspapers, e.g., that Democrats aren’t woke enough and that the war in Gaza = the Holocaust, is of course their right. But rather than advancing justice or peace, it only confuses people and strengthens Trump’s agenda. Trump sows disorder while pitting the most vulnerable against one another, achieving his seventh bankruptcy – our nation’s: morally, socially, economically, and institutionally.
With no shortage of fronts to fight on, why would any so-called progressives undermine the rest of us and our collective strength?
We need one another to win. In addition to learning from past mistakes, we must be unmistakably clear about what we stand for and who we’re fighting for. Particularly in rural areas, we must avoid issues that are hard to understand or that require whitewashing to explain because – well – when explained fairly, they risk alienating more voters than they galvanize. Voters won’t trust, understand, or want to fight alongside us if we don’t prioritize our shared values and break through the noise.
The war in Gaza is tragic and serious. No one dismisses that. On the contrary, we promote a ceasefire, work to elect leaders who prioritize a two-state solution, educate that not all Palestinians, nor even Hamas members, are militants, etc. Like wars in Ukraine, Sudan, etc., innocents are being killed, maimed, left orphaned and starved. Democrats care. Both Presidents Carter and Clinton worked hard to make credible breakthroughs. We do too.
At the same time, we will not oversimplify that conflict or its centuries of competing histories. We won’t curate evidence that overlooks context, or appeal to those with only the bandwidth to learn about one perspective or side of history. That is not what we do, and it would be counterproductive.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict resists simple moral binaries that mislead. It is not like the Holocaust, when six million Jews, along with millions of others (non-Jewish Poles, Gypsies, the disabled, LGBTQ+, etc.) were exterminated without provocation and simply for being alive.
No facts excuse every Israeli action. Nor is Netanyahu some Churchill. Far from it. He should be behind bars for so many reasons. But those who draw a Gaza-Holocaust comparison suggest that Hamas is blameless. They ignore October 7th atrocities, and before and after. They would not suggest that Jews caused the Holocaust by kidnapping and murdering Nazis, so why this? Isn’t Hamas’ ongoing use of Palestinians (and Israeli hostages) as human shields wrong? Or Hamas’ murder of brave Palestinians who speak out against Hamas?
Along with Iran, Qatar, Turkey, Hezbollah, etc., Hamas bears responsibility for starting and executing this war, while its cowardly leaders hide in neighboring countries, and teach that all Palestinians, fighters or not, are expendable, and that Israel and America must be eliminated completely.
Getting mired in this also means stalling in what most Cochise County and other rural voters cannot easily (and therefore mostly won’t) relate to. They have a lot to deal with already. Many, for reasons like this, think Democrats are “out of touch” from their realities. And no good ever came anyway from feeding the black-hole of Facebook, etc. with rhetoric that divides, wastes time and achieves nothing.
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These are good words of caution from Anne and Al. In my view, Democrats, as well as Republicans, Libertarians, and any of those opposed to the authoritarian takeover of our beloved country need to focus–yes, like a laser–on just that: the authoritarian takeover of our beloved country. We need to preserve (restore?) a government system in which disagreements over issues, such as foreign policy, can be aired in ways that do not dilute the vital resistance to fascism or embolden the fascists. Let’s stay united. We need all hands on deck or the Good Ship USA will surely sink.
Bravo, Anne and Al! Thank you for speaking the truth, the cold, hard truth. The County of Cochise, AZ. amongst so many others across the South is being destroyed by destruction of any sense of “community.” There is no community, only division. Top, too bottom. All Right Wing or all Left Wing. It’s time Americans, it’s never too late to check your hearts for answer’s. Now, in 2025 that’s as obvious choice to make, or, take your hate to the grave. Some of you will, those of us not born yesterday see things quite a bit differently than those lost in “populism, flags and banners.” Empathy is the glue that makes us work as humans, it’s the simple. Check your hearts people, you need to check yourselves big time.
An Israeli-American scholar and professor of Holocaust history and genocide just called this a genocide:
https://www.democracynow.org/
2025/7/17/omer_bartov
DGT just had an event about getting young people involved, and you will find it difficult to get us involved if you fail to recognize the genocide in Gaza for what it is.
What is ironic is that the NYT so called Genocide scholar never mentions Hamas as having any fault in the current conflict. Exactly the point this article is making. Are you OK with Hamas continuo hold hostages they kidnapped on 10/7? Have you ever called for their release?
I don’t think anyone with integrity and ethical standards seriously questions whether the Israelis are carrying out what amounts to a genocide, or at he very least, intentional ethic cleansing, under international legal definitions. The real question is what the international community, and the American government, is going to do about it. If Trump and the MAGA movement have their way (and controlling all three Federal branches of government, they likely will) they will do nothing and deny the reality on of the situation. That’s the real enemy is the point of Anne and Al’s op-ed, I believe.