On July 8, Israel launched an offensive against the Gaza Strip called “Operation Protective Edge” after rising tensions between the Israeli government and Hamas. This has led to the death of currently 64 Israeli soldiers with over 400 wounded, over 1,000 Hamas militants and thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths. There have been many different opinions on the subject that have been made public through social media or articles. However, one voice has been pretty quiet about the entire issue and that is the voice of the Republican Party.

While there have been responses from individuals, there hasn’t been a coordinated response on Israel by the GOP thus far. On July 29, The Hill reported that Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said, “Hamas is like Nazis.” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC.) has offered continued support of Israel but a large part of the GOP hasn’t said much of anything yet. Neither of them have criticized Obama on the issue and outside of these instances, there hasn’t been much GOP speech on Israel.

The lack of GOP response could be for a number of reasons. For one, as a reactionary organization, the Republican Party hasn’t said anything because Obama hasn’t said or done anything that they can really disagree with. When Obama called for a ceasefire, the Republicans supported it. Obama spoke against Hamas when Hamas broke the ceasefire and the Republicans agreed with him again. Obama has reportedly not stopped giving Israel aid and while he criticizes Israel on things that will anger the Palestinians (building settlements on Palestinian land) he still supports Israel over Hamas in most cases. Israel is seen as a very important strategic ally by both Democrats and Republicans in the US government so, to their minds, there isn’t much to argue about on this issue for right now.

Another potential reason is that the GOP has a lot of internal fissures and issues going on. The party recently failed to deliver on its promise of immigration reform with Chron.com reporting on August 3^rd that, “The fiasco proved anew that a small number of uncompromising conservatives have the power to hamper the efforts of GOP leaders to craft coherent positions on key issues.” Focusing on Israel and trying to battle Obama would only detract from this; it would be a waste of political energy and would only increase political risk. The GOP is making the right move by focusing on issues that Americans at home care about, like immigration reform. That will get the party more media coverage and energize the base voter.

The GOP is also focusing on its latest plan to sue Obama over his “abuse of power.” The Associated Press reported on July 30^th that, “A sharply divided House approved a Republican plan Wednesday to launch a campaign-season lawsuit against President Barack Obama, accusing him of exceeding the bounds of his constitutional authority.” This is mostly a political gesture that probably won’t amount to much, but it is an avenue the GOP can use to fire up its base and attack Obama, something they cannot do by focusing on Israel.

I’m sure that when the 2014 election starts to heat up the GOP will have a lot more to say about Obama’s handling of the Israeli invasion. But for right now, they can’t say much of anything. Not until they get their own issues together, and not until they see a large difference between their viewpoint and Obama’s on Israel.

This is the best option for the GOP right now. No need to talk when there is nothing to say, especially when there are other pressing issues for the party going on at the moment.