An authoritative, objective and non-partisan summary of the Israel/Gaza war—from Congress!?

The Congressional Research Service (CRS), a department of the Library of Congress, has since 1914 been one of the least-known and most significant government initiatives:

Mission

To serve Congress with the highest quality of research, analysis, information and confidential consultation to support the exercise of its legislative, representational and oversight duties in its role as a coequal branch of government.

Authoritative

All services and products are authoritative. Analysts demonstrate rigorous research methodologies, free of built-in bias. They present, explain and justify any critical assumptions; investigate and recheck data anomalies; use primary resources whenever available; double-check all statements of fact; and document and vet all sources. This assures Members, as they engage in debate, that the analysis they rely on is as accurate as it is current.

Objective and Nonpartisan

We maintain an outstanding reputation for objective and nonpartisan analysis. Our experts are vigilant in evaluating issues without bias. A multi-layered review process also helps ensure that CRS products present issues and analysis in a manner that is fair, considered and reliable.

Since the Israel/Gaza war began on October 7, CRS has been compiling and issuing an updated report, Israel and Hamas October 2023 Conflict:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

For those who have been devouring information from many and often divergent sources, this is as close as we may come to the informational middle of the road. This doesn’t mean that we will set aside our values and our opinions in this charged environment. We can’t and we won’t. It is just a reminder that in the so-called fog of war, there remains the possibility of the authoritative, objective and non-partisan.

Note: I was going to include some excerpts that seemed to support some of the points I believe in. But I realize that that defeats the purpose of simply asking people on all sides of the questions to consider one more source. Please do read.

© 2023 by Bob Schwartz