Middleboro Review 2: POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Auchincloss: Israel ‘can’t de-escalate’

Monday, October 16, 2023

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Auchincloss: Israel ‘can’t de-escalate’

AUCHINCLOSS ON ISRAEL — Israel’s expected ground invasion of Gaza to root out Hamas’ current leadership is “appropriate given the threat and the nature" of the militant group's attacks, Rep. Jake Auchincloss told Playbook on Sunday.

The Jewish military veteran’s remarks come as Israel masses troops on the border with Gaza and urges 1 million people to evacuate its northern region. The humanitarian crisis in the enclave is worsening and divisions over Israel's response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack are deepening here at home. Authorities say least 1,300 Israelis and 2,700 people in Gaza have been killed.

Auchincloss’ more progressive colleagues , including Reps. Jim McGovern and Ayanna Pressley, sent a letter to President Joe Biden late last week urging him to lean on Israel to establish a humanitarian corridor out of Gaza and to reestablish delivery of food, water and electricity to the blockaded strip where civilians, including people from Massachusetts , are stranded. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who offered full-throated support to Israel at a local rally last week, is now joining calls for the country to “minimize civilian harm.”

“Israel can’t de-escalate right now. There are hostages who are still being held by terrorists. Israel needs to destroy the capabilities and the structure of an entity that has as its mission statement to destroy the Israeli state and kill Jews,” Auchincloss, who represents a heavily Jewish district, said.

“But that is not antithetical to humanitarian considerations,” he continued. Israel “can execute an aggressive military operation while having due concern for civilians under the law of armed conflict.”

Here’s more from Playbook’s conversation with Auchincloss , edited for clarity and condensed for length:

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) | AP

Students at your alma mater continue to criticize Israel and held a pro-Palestine rally condemning what they called “genocide” in Gaza. What is your response to that?

I spoke with the Harvard president earlier this week and I asked her to state clearly that Harvard has an antisemitism problem and then to take the initiative to address it. And I offered my support, if and when she did that, in helping to be part of the solution.

An Attleboro synagogue received an emailed bomb threat this weekend. What is your message to residents in your district and Massachusetts?

Moments like this bring out the worst in people, as we saw with these student groups at Harvard and with the antisemitic graffiti and some of the depraved statements we've seen from people who should know better. But it also brings out the best in people. And I prefer to emphasize and double down on the best that I've seen from people, which is to recognize the pain and suffering of people half a world away and to rally ourselves to their support.

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS . Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll will deliver an update on the emergency shelter system at 11 a.m. at the State House, days after federal Homeland Security officials visited to assess the migrant situation.

House Speaker Ron Mariano didn’t sound too confident in a weekend interview that federal aid is on the way. "I know the cavalry isn’t on the other side of the hill,” Mariano, who met with the DHS team, told WCVB’s “On the Record." He then appeared to blame the federal inaction on a leaderless U.S. House.

“Maybe I'll go down and be the speaker in Washington, too," Mariano said. "But right now there’s a rudderless ship that controls the spigot for the help that we need. We need congregate housing facilities. We need money."

TODAY — Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and several delegation members speak at the opening of a new research center at Northeastern University at 10 a.m. Healey meets with the governor of Japan's Fukuoka Prefecture, Seitaro Hattori, at noon at the State House. Driscoll kicks off STEM Week at 9 a.m. at Boston University and speaks at The Plymouth Foundation’s Blue Future conference at 12:45 p.m. in Plymouth.

Auchincloss and House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark tour a geothermal construction site at 9:30 a.m. in Framingham; Clark then visits a behavioral health center. Rep. Lori Trahan highlights federal funding at 10 a.m. in Hudson. Rep. Richard Neal highlights federal funding at 1 p.m. in Holyoke.

Tips? Scoops? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com .

GO INSIDE THE CAPITOL DOME: From the outset, POLITICO has been your eyes and ears on Capitol Hill, providing the most thorough Congress coverage — from political characters and emerging leaders to leadership squabbles and policy nuggets during committee markups and hearings. We're stepping up our game to ensure you’re fully informed on every key detail inside the Capitol Dome, all day, every day. Start your day with Playbook AM, refuel at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report and enrich your evening discussions with Huddle. Plus, stay updated with real-time buzz all day through our brand new Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here.

MIGRANTS IN MASSACHUSETTS

PROTESTING HEALEY — A local neo-Nazi group that’s been demonstrating outside locations housing migrant families protested outside of Gov. Maura Healey ’s Arlington home on Saturday night. The masked protesters, who were identified as members of NSC-131 , chanted “New England is ours, the rest must go,” according to WBZ . Healey’s office declined comment.

VIOLATIONS — A Days Inn housing migrants and homeless families in Methuen racked up 347 health violations during a September inspection, the Eagle-Tribune’s Monica Sager reports.

— "As state rents 3,000 hotel and motel rooms for family shelter units, some longtime occupants end up displaced," by Gabrielle Emanuel, WBUR.

WATCH — CBS News’ “60 Minutes” dives into the Martha’s Vineyard migrant flights.

DATELINE BEACON HILL

MARIANO VS. POLICE CHIEFS — House Speaker Ron Mariano is slamming the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association for saying the gun legislation he expects will clear his chamber this week won’t reduce crime.

“I do believe that it will make the streets safer. As a law enforcement officer goes into a domestic violence situation, why wouldn’t he want to know how many guns are registered in a household?” Mariano said in his WCVB “On the Record” interview . “To have the chiefs blatantly pan this bill and say there is nothing in the bill that they could live with other than ghost guns is troubling to me.”

The police chiefs’ group criticized the bill at a hearing last week and said that while there’s “merit” in attempting to crack down on ghost guns, “that can be handled in a standalone bill.”

— Related: “ATF inspectors are well aware Littleton gun dealers use loophole to sell off-limits guns as parts, records show,” by Sarah L. Ryley, Boston Globe.

— “‘We could start to move the needle’: Iowa offers model for fixing Mass. child-care crisis,” by Samantha J. Gross, Boston Globe: “Iowa’s initiative [is] an incentive program that offers grants to private businesses willing to build their own child-care centers or purchase seats at existing facilities.”

MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley greets supporters after signing papers to get on the Republican presidential primary ballot at the New Hampshire Statehouse on Oct. 13, 2023, in Concord, N.H. | Michael Dwyer/AP

GRANITE STATE OF MIND — In no early nominating state is the race for second place in the GOP presidential primary as fluid as it is in New Hampshire, where most of the field descended over the weekend to woo voters at town halls and Republican activists at a cattle call sponsored by the state GOP.

But the stakes were highest for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis , who returned to New Hampshire for the first time in seven weeks amid a polling slide, and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley , whose debate performances have earned her increasing interest from Granite Staters, POLITICO’s Sally Goldenberg and I report .

Talk of Israel dominated the weekend. The Republican field united in condemning frontrunner and former President Donald Trump for criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and calling Hezbollah “very smart.”

But the lower-polling contenders are turning on each other over their views of the Israel-Hamas conflict: Vivek Ramaswamy said Haley should be “disqualified from being president” for her “hawkish neoconservative vision” after the former U.N. ambassador said “there’s no place” for the first-time candidate to speak on foreign policy. Haley and DeSantis clashed over whether the U.S. should help civilians in Gaza.

DESANTISLAND — DeSantis will be in Massachusetts next Monday for two fundraisers and an event with the MassGOP, party Chair Amy Carnevale first told Playbook. He also spoke at a Massachusetts Family Institute fundraiser on Friday.

A DIFFERENT BORDER PROBLEM — “Republicans Call For A Canadian Border Crackdown On The New Hampshire Campaign Trail,” by Stephanie Murray, The Messenger.

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FROM THE HUB

— “Mass and Cass danger pushing homeless encampments throughout Boston,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “Encampments have been seen downtown near South Station, behind the Steriti Memorial Rink in the North End, between Lambert’s Market and the Murphy School, and near a bowling alley off of Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester, a City Hall source told the Herald.”

WHAT'S ON CAMPBELL'S DOCKET

— “Andrea Campbell joins other AGs to urge SCOTUS to overturn abortion pill ruling,” by John L. Micek, MassLive: “Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell has joined a multi-state coalition of state attorneys general calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling rolling back access to mifepristone."

DAY IN COURT

— “Former congressional candidate convicted of spending campaign funds on business debts,” by the Associated Press: “Abhijit ‘Beej’ Das was accused of soliciting at least $125,000 in illegal campaign contributions from friends and family. He was convicted Friday."

— “Legal challenges by fishing groups to Vineyard Wind rejected,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

TRAHAN ON ISRAEL — Rep. Lori Trahan told WBZ’s “Keller @ Large” that "everybody wants to see peace — peace for Israel, peace for Palestinians" but that "the reality is right now we are standing unequivocally with our Israeli allies.”

— “Local Jews and Muslims hold religious services, protests amid Israel-Gaza violence,” by Matt Baskin and Tori Bedford, GBH News: “On Friday, members of the progressive Jewish group IfNotNow Boston went to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's office, urging her to make a statement calling for de-escalation.”

— “How Elizabeth Warren is making Hamas crypto’s latest Washington woe,” by Jasper Goodman, POLITICO.

— “Harvard president defends free speech on campus after students’ anti-Israel statement: ‘We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views’,” by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald.

— “Ambassador Meron Reuben, Israel’s Consul General to New England, warns that terrorism will reach beyond Israel's borders,” by Jane Kaufman, Berkshire Eagle.

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “In Cambridge, a battle over affordable housing revives longstanding political tensions,” by Andrew Brinker, Boston Globe: “Three years ago, progressives on the Cambridge City Council … [pushed] through a landmark housing law that relaxes key zoning rules to smooth the way for affordable housing developments. … Now they want to enable even taller and denser affordable buildings — 15 stories in major squares and 12 in key corridors of the city — with a proposal that has ignited long-simmering tensions over housing and emerged as a test of the city’s left-leaning ideals ahead of next month’s City Council elections.”

— “Behind closed doors: Amherst Regional School Committee mum on investigation into allegations of transphobic actions at middle school,” by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette.

— “Montigny: Inspector General to investigate Star Store finances,” by Colin Hogan, New Bedford Light.

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

WEDDING BELLS — Jess Bidgood , senior national political reporter for the Boston Globe, and Kyle Chayka , staff writer for The New Yorker, were married on Sept. 9 at Lake Mauweehoo in Sherman, Conn. The gorgeous gathering included an oyster bar, lemon curd and elderflower cake by the bride's mother, and barrel-aged negronis by the bride's father. The couple first met in college at Tufts and eventually moved to D.C. together in 2018, where they live with their dog, Rhubarb. Pic ... Another pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to state Rep. David Linsky, Steve Roche, Daily Hampshire Gazette alum Mike Connors, Andrew Zimbalist and Ron Jordan . Happy belated to former state Rep. and GOP LG candidate Leah Cole Allen , who celebrated Sunday.

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