Jess Craven was kind enough to invite me to join her on a Substack Live today and I’m grateful to all of you who were among the 500 viewers who joined us!
I just started reading On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear, which I mention for two reasons: 1) The book’s co-author Ami Fields-Meyer will join The Debrief this Friday at 11am Eastern — more details below on this exciting addition to our schedule for the week; and 2) Jess Craven provides a great real-life example of what it can look like to stand up against authoritarianism and mobilize others to do the same. I highly recommend subscribing to her Chop Wood, Carry Water newsletter for daily actions you can take to fight for democracy.
The topics Jess and I spoke about included:
The recent attack on Congressional candidate Scott Wiener at a San Francisco trans rights march over his positions on Gaza: We discussed why it was terrible, I shared how I think about whether it was antisemitic, and we considered the practice of asking candidates mandatory yes-no questions on Israel’s commission of genocide in Gaza. Jess made an important point about “calling people in” as they evolve on an issue.
Should a pro-democracy newsletter include actions on US policy toward Israel-Palestine? Jess spoke about how she has grappled with this question for Chop Wood, Carry Water and I shared why I think it certainly can (and probably should).
AIPAC: I shared why I don’t think it’s smart for a bill to take aim solely at AIPAC — while also explaining why I have been extremely critical of the organization for a long time. We spoke about criticizing AIPAC without being antisemitic; AIPAC, the Israeli government and the Foreign Agents Registration Act; and how to think about Mamdani, AIPAC, and Gramscian monsters. (BTW, I mentioned it was not easy to find the full video of Mamdani’s speech. Since I love you all, I’ll share it with you, here!)
Current legislation on US policy toward Israel-Palestine: We spoke about the pending measure in the National Defense Authorization Act to mandate unprecedented US-Israel defense integration (for much more on that, tune in to my upcoming conversation with Rep. Ro Khanna this Thurs at 11:30am Eastern (link) and check out my recent podcast with Josh Paul of A New Policy). We also talked about significant new US-Israel intelligence cooperation legislation and pending appropriation of another $3.3 billion in security assistance for Israel.
Note: Be like congressional staffers, policy analysts, and diplomats and subscribe to Lara Friedman’s weekly legislative round-up if you want comprehensive updates and analysis of Congressional action vis-a-vis the Middle East!
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts! I hope you’ll share your reactions to Jess and my conversation.
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Thank you.
Tomorrow (Wed, July 1) at 12pm Eastern
I’m looking forward to joining Lawrence Winnerman and Cliff Schecter of Blue Amp Media for this timely conversation! Check out the description and graphic below. The link is here (or look for a notification in your email or the Substack app when we go live).
Thursday, July 2, 11:30am Eastern
Ro Khanna — Congressman from CA-17, progressive champion, and likely 2028 presidential candidate — will be making his debut on The Debrief!
Khanna has long been a progressive leader pushing to change US policy on Israel-Palestine. Since Israel’s onslaught against Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 attack, Khanna has moved further to the left and spearheaded a number of significant efforts.
He is currently pushing to strip a provision mandating US-Israeli military integration from the National Defense Authorization Act, cosponsors the Block the Bombs Act, supports the UN commission’s finding that Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza, is leading a resolution calling for accountability regarding Israeli settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank, led a letter pushing for US recognition of Palestinian statehood, and became the first lawmaker to sign Track AIPAC’s PEACE Pledge. He also led the charge to pass a bipartisan War Powers Resolution to prohibit the US military from conducting unauthorized hostilities in Iran.
I’m delighted to speak with Rep. Khanna about these policy initiatives, his vision for US policy on Israel-Palestine, how that vision fits into his broader progressive agenda, and how he sees the issue playing out in the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election.
You won’t want to miss this conversation!
JUST ADDED! Friday, July 3, at 11am Eastern
Just in time for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I’ll speak with Ami Fields-Meyer about his new book, On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear. It couldn’t be more timely. Ami is fresh off his interview with Rachel Maddow and I’m delighted to welcome him to The Debrief!
That’s it for now — but there’s so much more coming up this week.
If you appreciate this work, and want to show your support as The Debrief wraps up its first year, please take the leap and become a paid subscriber now.
Warm regards, and see you soon!
Debra
