Moulton’s stand on AIPAC funds an enormous misfire

On Oct. 15, Congressman Seth Moulton introduced that he’s working for Senate in Massachusetts. The following day, he introduced that he would return all AIPAC funds. He offered little rationalization for this choice — or why it comes on the heels of a hopeful ceasefire. His critique of Israel, issued the day after launching his marketing campaign, was opportunistic and fuels the flames of antisemitism.

Equally troubling, in making his announcement, Moulton lambasted the Israeli authorities whereas remaining silent on Hamas’s latest atrocities in opposition to its personal individuals. He additionally says nothing concerning the malfeasance of different governments within the area. Does Moulton help the Qatari authorities, which the U.S. State Division has described as having important human rights abuses? He has accepted a completely paid journey to Qatar and donations from a Qatari-linked lobbying agency, in response to studies.

The timing of Moulton’s announcement was deeply insensitive, because it got here on the heels of the anniversary of the Oct. 7 atrocities. Certainly, on the identical time he was denouncing the Israeli authorities, the Nova Pageant exhibit in Boston bore witness to Hamas’s atrocities — a deliberate, heinous, and grotesque assault on harmless civilians, involving unspeakable sexual violence, torture, and mutilation.

Moulton’s announcement interrupted a second of reprieve from collective anguish for folks whose kids had been held in captivity for 738 days — interspersed with grief for all whose murdered kids’s stays are nonetheless being held hostage. On the day of his announcement, Hamas was violating the peace settlement by failing to return the our bodies of deceased hostages. On that very same day, studies have been rising concerning the unimaginable horrors endured by hostages in Gaza. On that very same day, grotesque movies surfaced of public executions carried out by Hamas in opposition to the residents of Gaza. Moulton’s response to all of those abuses? Silence.

As Hamas refuses to disarm, Moulton panders, stating that “a political decision that permits Israelis and Palestinians to dwell aspect by aspect in peace is strictly the form of framework I’ve been calling for.” His announcement undermines this objective. The timing of Moulton’s hypocritical rebuke of AIPAC is nothing lower than a blatant, self-righteous, and low cost play to antisemitism.

Elyse Richelle Park, Ph.D, MPH, is a training scientific well being psychologist

Seth Goodman Park, Esq, practices humanitarian-based immigration legislation