Chris Van Hollen

Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s May 26 opinion essay in The New York Times reads less like a serious effort to advance peace in the Middle East and more like a political résumé submission to become the leading voice of the Bernie Sanders/democratic socialist wing of the Democratic Party — perhaps even an opening bid to become the preferred presidential hopeful of the party’s extreme-left activists or, at minimum, its next Senate minority or majority leader. Unfortunately, in pursuit of that audience, Sen. Van Hollen offers a deeply skewed and morally imbalanced portrayal of Israel and the broader Middle East.

His hostility toward Israel is hardly new. It dates back to his congressional tenure in the 2000s and has evolved into an increasingly reflexive willingness to single out the world’s only Jewish state for condemnation while largely minimizing or excusing the conduct of the terrorist organizations and authoritarian regimes dedicated to its destruction.

Van Hollen condemns what he calls the “brutality” of the Netanyahu government while scarcely acknowledging the brutality of Hamas — democratically elected in Gaza in 2006 — whose charter, conduct and public statements openly embrace terrorism and the eradication of Israel. Hamas systematically embeds its military operations inside schools, mosques, hospitals, apartment buildings and civilian neighborhoods precisely because civilian suffering serves its propaganda objectives. Israel faces the nearly impossible task of fighting an enemy that deliberately hides behind civilians while attempting to minimize harm to those civilians. Hamas, by contrast, seeks to maximize civilian casualties and suffering because it understands that graphic images and rising death tolls will predictably fuel condemnation from portions of the international media and extreme politicians such as Van Hollen.

The senator further hides behind inflammatory rhetoric advanced by anti-Israel advocacy organizations that recklessly invoke terms such as “apartheid” and “genocide.” These accusations are designed more to inflame emotions and delegitimize Israel than to describe reality. Israel is not an apartheid state. Arab citizens of Israel vote, serve in parliament, sit on the Supreme Court, practice professions at the highest levels and enjoy civil and political rights nonexistent in most neighboring countries. Nor is Israel committing genocide. Civilian deaths in war are tragic, but genocide is the deliberate extermination of a people. Israel is defending itself against terrorist organizations that openly vow to repeat the atrocities of Oct. 7 “again and again.”

Van Hollen also attempts to separate anti-Israel sentiment from antisemitism. That distinction rings hollow when he and many of his democratic socialist allies obsessively single out the only majority Jewish nation on earth for condemnation while remaining comparatively muted regarding the countless genuine atrocities committed by brutal regimes across the globe. The disproportionate fixation on Israel raises legitimate questions about whether the Jewish state is being subjected to standards applied to no other nation … and if the true reason for that unique standard is a disdain for Jews.

His repeated use of the term “occupation” is equally misleading. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, dismantling settlements and forcibly removing its own citizens without receiving peace in return. Since that withdrawal, Israel has endured relentless rocket attacks, terrorism, suicide bombings, kidnappings and ultimately the barbaric massacre of Oct. 7. The only reason Israel was ever present in Gaza and the West Bank to begin with was that those territories were captured after neighboring Arab nations repeatedly launched wars of aggression against Israel using those very territories as military staging grounds. Van Hollen also predictably highlights violence committed by a very few Israeli settlers in the West Bank — conduct that should be condemned and prosecuted under the rule of law. But once again, his narrative is strikingly one-sided. He fails to acknowledge the long history of terrorist attacks, shootings, stabbings, suicide bombings and murders committed by Palestinians against Israeli civilians living in or traveling through the West Bank. A serious and honest discussion of the region cannot selectively condemn one form of behavior while minimizing or ignoring the other.

Van Hollen also owes Americans answers about the Palestinian state he advocates creating. Will a new Palestinian nation suddenly be populated with a freedom-loving, democratic-values-embracing people? Will they welcome a free press and freedom of religion? Will they welcome with open arms equal rights for women and celebrate their minority communities to include their LGBTQ residents? And will they lay down their arms and gleefully embrace their Jewish neighbors across the border in Israel? Or, Mr. Van Hollen, will this new nation simply continue to be another authoritarian regime, in the image of Iran, dominated by religious extremists who suppress dissent, persecute minorities, imprison and execute the LGBTQ community, indoctrinate future generations into hatred and declare war on all of those who refuse to worship as they demand?

Van Hollen’s rhetoric and his efforts to politically ostracize Israel serve only the interests of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and every extremist movement committed to Israel’s destruction. Israel occupies less than 1% of the land mass of the Middle East, yet it remains the singular obsession of much of the global radical left and radical right, while the actual tyrannies and mass atrocities throughout the region and across the planet often receive comparatively little outrage.

Ultimately, Van Hollen’s moral blindness is breathtaking. His willingness to delegitimize and seek to weaken the only true democracy in the Middle East in order to elevate his standing among the Democratic Party’s most extreme anti-Israel activists is not courageous. It is irresponsible, dangerous, inexcusable and will undoubtedly continue to fuel the flames of Jew-hate.