Genocide and Wars

Never again means never again for anyone.

No support for crimes against humanity. No weapons, no money, no diplomatic cover for apartheid, genocide, or war crimes, regardless of which country is committing them. I oppose illegal, offensive, and unjust wars. I support creating a just and lasting peace that centers those who have been harmed.

I am a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and I trained as an Artillery officer in the U.S. Army. At West Point and in Artillery school, we were taught the rules of just warfare and the basics of international and humanitarian law. Collective punishment, forced starvation, and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure are war crimes. The Army teaches this because these acts threaten our national security and violate basic human decency. If I had committed these acts as an Army Artillery officer, I would have gone to Fort Leavenworth prison for the rest of my life.

These are not complicated rules. Any government, including our own, that funds, arms, or shields the violation of these rules is complicit in the crimes that result.

Israel, Palestine, and Genocide in Gaza

Like so many Americans, I did not know much about Israel before October 7th and had a neutral or generally positive opinion of it. I was horrified by the concertgoers who were killed and the hostages taken by Hamas.

When I saw Israel carpet-bombing apartment buildings in Gaza in the weeks that followed, I immediately recognized what I was watching. I had been trained to recognize it. So I began learning the history of Israel and Palestine and what had led up to that moment.

By conservative estimates, well over 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza war since October 7, 2023, including 20,000 children.  Hundreds of journalists and healthcare and humanitarian aid workers have been killed.Israel has blocked life-saving food and other humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, leading to forced starvation and further devastation.  The  infrastructure in Gaza - including housing, hospitals, schools, and religious sites - has been systematically destroyed. Almost all Gazans (approximately 2,000,000 people) have been forced to leave their homes and flee in fear for their lives. 

Israel is committing genocide and countless crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people. This is the assessment of numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations around the world, and it is consistent with history and with the war crimes that I, like so many other young people, have watched live-streamed to my phone for years. Israel functions as a rogue terrorist state that perpetuates violence, conflict, and instability throughout the Middle East. It does so with the backing of the United States because Israel's actions serve American geopolitical objectives: keeping oil prices stable, preventing a regional superpower from emerging, and field-testing weapons and surveillance technology.

Israel's horrific crimes, carried out under the banner of "the Jewish State," are fueling real antisemitism around the world and damaging the national security of the United States. Our support for Israel’s actions help make the US a global pariah. They give the friends, families, and neighbors of the people we have helped kill every reason to want to harm us in return. That is not a safer country.

There is no such thing as a "defensive weapon," and I say that as a former soldier and officer. I am opposed to providing any weapons or any money to Israel, or to any other country, while they continue to violate international law, violate humanitarian law, and maintain a system of apartheid.

In Congress, I vow to do everything in my power to bring an end to this genocide.

• I will fight to stop the provision of weapons and financial support by the US to Israel.

• I will support efforts within the UN and international community to permanently stop this war and hold Israel responsible for its genocidal actions.

• I will support economic sanctions against Israel until it ends its occupation of Palestinians’ lands and its apartheid practices. 

• I will oppose the post-war imperialistic rebuilding plans proposed by the Trump administration without consultation with the residents of Gaza.

• I will support the provision of humanitarian aid, supplies, and funding for rebuilding efforts in Gaza.

• I will advocate for the release of Palestinian children and Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

In terms of what should happen next, I believe a one-state solution with equal rights for all and the right of return for displaced Palestinians, paired with reparations, is the best outcome. I would support a two-state solution in the event that Israel actually abides by its obligations, commitments, and humanitarian law. Unless and until the Netanyahu regime is ousted, I do not believe Israel is likely to adhere to international law and stop killing people across the Middle East. I cannot support an indefinite continuation of the status quo that has produced the atrocities we have witnessed.

Stopping Unjust Wars and Regime Change

The United States has launched, escalated, or threatened multiple illegal wars and regime-change operations in the past year alone. I oppose them all.

The war on Iran, launched without Congress's authorization and conducted during ongoing negotiations, has killed civilians, assassinated Iranian officials, and dragged the US into another open-ended conflict in the Middle East. It is illegal. It is unjust. It will cost American and Iranian lives for years to come, and it will not make the world safer.

Operations in and around Venezuela, including the extrajudicial executions of more than 100 people on boats in international waters and the capture of a sitting head of state, have also been conducted without Congress's authorization and in violation of international law. These actions have been justified through shifting goals that eventually included, in the President's own words, access to Venezuelan oil. This is American imperialism: corrupt, violent, and seemingly unaccountable to international law.

Threats to invade Cuba and Greenland are also American imperialism. Cuba is a sovereign nation that has endured decades of US sanctions and destabilization. It poses no military threat to the US. Greenland is a democratic territory of a NATO ally whose citizens have repeatedly and clearly said they do not wish to become part of the United States. Any military action against either would be illegal, immoral, and disastrous.

As a member of Congress, I will vote against authorizations for these wars, against funding that sustains them, and against any legislative cover for the administration's attempts to justify illegal action in the name of self-defense or national interest. Congress has abdicated its war powers for too long. Reclaiming them is one of the most urgent priorities for strengthening our democracy.

Creating Lasting Peace

Ending a war is not the same as creating peace. Lasting peace has to center the people who have been harmed: the survivors, the displaced, and the communities whose homes and futures have been destroyed. That means accountability for the perpetrators of war crimes, genuine reparations for victims, and the rebuilding of what has been broken, on terms shaped by the people who live there rather than by the powers that broke it.

Never again means never again for anyone. It cannot be a slogan that applies only to some victims and not others. It depends on our efforts to live up to it in every case, without exception.