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Barbara Lee’s demand for an immediate ceasefire takes center stage in Senate debate
Congresswoman Lee is the sole candidate to call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza
LOS ANGELES — Following the first debate of California’s leading candidates for U.S. Senate, progressive champion Barbara Lee captured the attention of voters with her emphatic support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Lee argues an immediate, unconditional ceasefire is the only way to end further civilian suffering and death, return the hostages, and move towards diplomatic solutions for peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians.
Congresswoman Lee made history when she cast the lone vote in 2001 against the war in Afghanistan following the devastating 9/11 attacks, warning against the risk of an escalating regional war — a sentiment she echoed on the debate stage in expanding on her ceasefire stance.
What they’re saying:
On college campuses across the country, the war in Gaza has become a flashpoint between liberal students who otherwise agree on progressive values and policies. Before the debate, students with Jewish Voice for Peace passed out fliers demanding a cease-fire outside Bovard Auditorium, the debate venue. After the event, a crowd of about 100 protesters chanted “Cease-fire now!” as audience members left.
Onstage, Ms. Lee was the only candidate to take up their call. “The only way Israel is going to be secure is through a permanent cease-fire,” she said. She drew a direct line from the Sept. 11 terror attacks — and her warnings at the time against a U.S. invasion — cautioning that the current conflict could “spiral out of control” and embroil America in another war.
The other Democratic candidates gave more measured responses, in which they called for a reduction in casualties in the conflict, but said Israel had a right to defend itself. Recent polls have shown a sharp split on the issue among California voters, along age and ideological lines.”
Although the three House Democrats in the race ― Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee ― agree on many issues, they diverged perhaps most sharply on the question of a cease-fire in the war raging in the Middle East.
Lee, a longtime progressive critic of U.S. interventions in the region, reiterated the need for an immediate cease-fire and criticized Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.
“Killing 25,000 civilians ― it’s catastrophic, and it will never lead to peace for the Israelis, nor the Palestinians,” Lee said, warning about the dangers of a broader war escalating in the Middle East.”
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) pressed her fellow Senate candidates over Middle East policy in a debate Monday, pushing Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to back a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war — which he declined to do.
Lee called the Israeli military operation in Gaza “counterproductive to Israeli security” and said the conflict could “spiral out of control.”
“I voted against the Iraq [War] authorization,” Lee said. “I said then, and I’m saying now, it could spiral out of control. … You see what’s happening. It’s escalating in the region. We have to make sure that our national security is also protected. In fact, as this war escalates, as the Arab nations pull back, then what do we have? We do not have a path to Israeli security, nor do we have a path to a Palestinian state.”
And on the Gaza war, Lee pointed out that she was the first candidate to call for a permanent ceasefire, arguing that increasing civilian casualties “will never lead to peace for Israelis nor the Palestinians.” Schiff, meanwhile, said he supports an independent Palestinian state, but that Israel had a right to defend itself, while Porter said that the conditions for a ceasefire are complex, and “you can’t say (ceasefire) and make it so.” Garvey said he stands with Israel and said after the horrific Oct. 7 Hamas attack, a two-state solution isn’t possible until the next generation.