Illiberalism
Gilead
U.S. Postal Service
Fig. 1. Caricature of Louis DeJoy by DonkeyHotey [pseud.], August 10, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
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Shannon Pettypiece, “Major mail delivery delays raise concerns about voting in the 2024 elections,” NBC News, April 6, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/major-mail-delivery-delays-raise-concerns-voting-2024-elections-rcna146479
Pennsylvania
Fig. 2. When you get outside urban centers, Pennsylvania is very much a white Christian nationalist kind of place. Photograph by author, January 5, 2023.
John Hayes, “Parasitic wasps, vibrating traps and other ways science is trying to destroy the spotted lanternfly,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 7, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/life/outdoors/2024/04/07/spotted-lanternfly-what-scientists-know/stories/202404070041
Imperialism
Israel
Fig. 3. John Bolton and Binyamin Netanyahu at a press conference. Office of U.S. National Security Advisor, August 20, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
I’ll be honest: I don’t see how this works. The nature of a parliamentary system is that the politicians in power necessarily have a majority in parliament: They can’t form a government without it—and if they lose it, a vote of no confidence can turn them out of power. Ruling coalitions break up when political differences among the ruling parties arise. But here the parties in power—especially Binyamin Netanyahu—all have a far greater interest in remaining in power than they do in giving it up, which would leave them subject to what they see as existential threats.
Now we have massive demonstrations calling for elections.[1] But I don’t see their leverage. How are they going to get a government that is terrified of elections to acquiesce to them?
Al Jazeera, “Thousands of Israelis protest against government, urging captive deal,” April 6, 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/6/thousands-of-israelis-protest-against-government-urging-captive-deal
Bethan McKernan, “Isolated at home and abroad, but Netanyahu isn’t about to go quietly,” Guardian, April 7, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/07/isolated-at-home-and-abroad-but-netanyahu-isnt-about-to-go-quietly
Palestine
Fig. 4. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[2] fair use.
William Booth and Lorenzo Tugnoli, “Inside the ruins of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital,” Washington Post, April 1, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/01/gaza-al-shifa-hospital-israel/
Times of Israel, “Israel acknowledges killing 7 aid charity workers in ‘tragic, unintentional’ airstrike,” April 2, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-promises-probe-as-slain-aid-workers-home-countries-demand-explanation/
Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden rebukes Israel over aid workers, but his Gaza policy is unchanged,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/03/biden-world-central-kitchen-tough-statement-israel-policy/
Hafiz Rashid, “‘Unacceptable’: White House Cancels Event as Biden Struggles on Gaza,” New Republic, April 3, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180409/white-house-cancels-event-gaza-outcry
Haroon Siddique, Eleni Courea, and Patrick Wintour, “Former supreme court judges say UK arming Israel breaches international law,” Guardian, April 3, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/former-supreme-court-judges-say-uk-arming-israel-breaches-international-law
Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s ‘unintentional’ strike on aid workers stirs global outrage,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/03/israel-strike-world-central-kitchen-aid-workers-global-outrage/
Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden warns Netanyahu the situation in Gaza is ‘unacceptable,’” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/04/biden-warns-netanyahu-situation-gaza-is-unacceptable/
Trinidad Deiros Bronte, “The unpunished deaths of other civilians question Israel’s willingness to clarify the attack on WCK,” El País, April 4, 2024, https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-04/the-unpunished-deaths-of-other-civilians-question-israels-willingness-to-clarify-the-attack-on-wck.html
Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Ties Support for Israel to Civilian Protection in Gaza, ” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793
Jacob Magid, “Senior Israeli official warns of growing ‘shoot first, ask later’ culture in IDF,” Times of Israel, April 4, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-israeli-official-warns-of-growing-shoot-first-ask-later-culture-in-idf/
Kate Sullivan, “Trump says Israel needs to ‘finish what they started’ and said war with Hamas is ‘taking a long time,’” CNN, April 4, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/04/politics/trump-israel-comments/index.html
Adam Taylor, “Biden’s ‘red line’ on Gaza is nowhere to be found,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/04/biden-wck-world-central-kitchen-israel-policy-change/
Dov Lieber, Rory Jones, and Margherita Stancati, “Israel Says Troops Lacked Grounds for Strike That Killed Aid Workers in Gaza,” Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-to-allow-more-aid-into-gaza-after-biden-warning-over-u-s-support-49bc42e4
Michael Tomasky, “Is Biden Really Going to Let Netanyahu Lose Him the Election?” New Republic, April 5, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180481/biden-israel-netanyahu-lose-election
Lazar Berman, “Israel’s begrudging approach to humanitarian aid could cost it the war in Gaza,” Times of Israel, April 6, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-begrudging-approach-to-humanitarian-aid-could-cost-it-the-war-in-gaza/
- [1]Al Jazeera, “Thousands of Israelis protest against government, urging captive deal,” April 6, 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/6/thousands-of-israelis-protest-against-government-urging-captive-deal; Lorenzo Tondo and Quique Kierszenbaum, “Tens of thousands of Israeli protesters call for Netanyahu’s removal,” Guardian, March 31, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/31/israeli-protesters-call-benjamin-netanyahu-removal↩
- [2]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩