Rep. Becca Balint Becomes the First Jewish Congressperson to Back a Ceasefire

A brown haired woman stands in front of a marble monument with her her hand up and mouth open.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) speaks with reporters outside the U.S. Capitol Oct. 26, 2023.Francis Chung/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

On Thursday, Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) became the first Jewish congressperson to join the congressional call for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. A first-term representative, Balint made history last year as the first woman and LGBTQ person to represent Vermont in Congress.

Her call for a ceasefire comes one week after activists from the Vermont chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace protested outside one of Balint’s campaign events and days after a meeting between Balint and rabbis from Rabbis for Ceasefire, another pro-peace Jewish group.

Balint announced her position in an op-ed for VTDigger, a nonprofit newsroom based in the state she represents. She wrote: “I am grieving deeply — for the Israelis killed in the brutal attack and all those taken hostage; for the Palestinians killed and suffering in the chaos of violence; and for the children dead, injured, and orphaned, who will carry this trauma for the rest of their lives.” 

Balint said a ceasefire would represent the “first step” in long term peace. Her statement also called for returning hostages and ensuring that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have “true self governance and economic security.” 

Balint made it clear that opinion comes from her Jewish background. “I’m one generation removed from the horrific trauma of the Holocaust, which impacted my family and reshaped the world,” she explained. “This same history also drives so many of us to fight for the protection of Palestinian lives.” 

Despite it garnering support from 66 percent of Americans, only 32 congresspeople have come out in support of a ceasefire.  

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate