Overnight, the United States’ historically strong relationship with Israel has been shocked back into place.

Just three weeks after President Joe Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations – notably, not at the White House – the two leaders are back in sync. The brutal weekend attack on Israel by the militant Islamist group Hamas has plunged the nation and the neighboring Gaza Strip into war, with the U.S. now back to a “whatever-it-takes” posture in defending the Jewish state.

The Gaza-based Hamas’ surprise attack, dubbed Israel’s 9/11 for the unprecedented toll and intelligence failure, has also shined a light on the internal leadership struggles facing the U.S. Congress is in disarray with another funding deadline looming and the House unable to function, with Wednesday’s speakership vote postponed. But at this moment of crisis, a sense of unity has emerged, with strong majorities of both parties condemning Hamas’ actions and backing Israel.

President Biden’s remarks Tuesday, calling the assault “pure, unadulterated evil,” struck observers for their unequivocal nature. There was no call for compromise, no hint of both-sides-ism. The president said he told Prime Minister Netanyahu that if the U.S. had experienced such an attack, “our response would be swift, decisive, and overwhelming.” He also emphasized the need to behave “according to the rule of law.”

Israel’s announcement Wednesday of an emergency wartime Cabinet, including the right-wing Mr. Netanyahu as prime minister and a more centrist opposition politician, retired Gen. Benny Gantz, demonstrated its own national unity.

From the American perspective, the war has reinforced the primacy of the role of the U.S. in supporting and protecting Israel since its founding in 1948, as well as the wider, decadeslong U.S. role in fostering regional peace initiatives.

“The president of the United States is indispensable,” says David Makovsky, director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

And during this time of crisis, Mr. Makovsky adds, “It’s important that the region sees that America stands with Israel, as it seeks to restore a sense of deterrence that it believes has been lost amid this imagery of American-Israel division and a sense that America was retrenching away from the Middle East.”

Complications over funding 

U.S.-Israeli relations had suffered in recent times over Mr. Netanyahu’s plan for a judicial overhaul that critics warned could undermine Israeli democracy. Still, the U.S. continued to work at fostering normalization of Israeli relations with Saudi Arabia, a follow-on to the Trump-era Abraham Accords, which established formal ties between Israel and several Mideast and North African countries.

Now such efforts with Saudi Arabia appear to be on hold as Israel’s war with Hamas intensifies. Other regional issues have also risen to the fore, namely Iran’s reported role in green-lighting and funding the Hamas attack on Israel – and most important, whether the $6 billion in Iranian assets recently unfrozen by the U.S. as a part of a prisoner swap were instrumental in funding the Hamas attack.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden makes remarks after speaking by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from the White House in Washington, Oct. 10, 2023.

Biden administration officials say that Iran has not yet spent any of the unfrozen funds. On Wednesday, at a press conference in Morocco, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen kept open the possibility of the U.S. refreezing those funds. But critics argue that the fungibility of money means that Iran now has more financial firepower.

Analysts see the issue of Iranian funds – prominent in conservative media – as a way to stoke partisan fires even amid overall unity on Israel. 

“Republicans have identified this as an aspect of this issue where they feel they can score points against the president,” says Jordan Tama, a provost associate professor of international relations at American University and author of the book “Bipartisanship and US Foreign Policy.” “But then on the substance of the U.S. policy response to the crisis, there is actually a lot of bipartisanship.”

The Israel-Gaza war has also exposed fissures on the left, with some members of the Democrats’ left-wing faction known as “the Squad” declining to back the Biden administration’s call for support for Israel. But in the early going, the vast majority of Democrats have been wholly supportive of Israel.

The longer-term outlook for pro-Israel unity in the U.S. is likely to be more complicated, as Israel launches its counteroffensive in Gaza. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive independent from Vermont, warned Wednesday that Israel’s cutting off food, electricity, fuel, and water to Gaza is a “serious violation of international law.”

“The problem of Gaza, the problem of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is an extremely complicated and difficult conflict, and it’s not given to simple solutions,” says Ned Lazarus, a visiting professor at George Washington University and expert on conflict resolution. “If it could be decided militarily in some kind of a simple way, I think that would have happened. But I don’t think it can.”

Another complicating element of the Israel-Gaza war is funding. The Biden administration has already sent additional military equipment to Israel but also wants Congress to approve supplemental funds. One tactic under consideration by the White House and some lawmakers is to put additional funding for Israel alongside new funding for U.S. border security, Taiwan, and Ukraine – with the last item a source of growing partisan tension.

Capitol Hill turmoil a boost to adversaries?

Then there’s Capitol Hill, where last week’s ouster of GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy has left the House off-balance at a critical time for allies of both Israel and Ukraine. Though Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana was nominated by Republicans on Wednesday to be the next speaker, he has yet to be elected by the full House. There’s an urgent sense among Republicans that they need to settle the leadership question, and quickly.

“The attack on Israel has precipitated a global interest in America leading, and not leading from behind, leading from the front – strong, strong leadership, standing up for our allies, standing up for America’s interests,” says GOP Rep. Brian Babin of Texas, outside a meeting about whom to elect to replace Mr. McCarthy.

“It makes it more important that we get a speaker quickly,” he adds. “When America doesn’t lead, the world doesn’t do well.”

A bipartisan House resolution supporting Israel has nearly 400 co-sponsors but has yet to come to the floor. Until a new speaker is elected, most say the House cannot conduct business – though this is an unprecedented time, and Mr. McCarthy’s temporary replacement has said he’ll do what’s necessary to support Israel.

Lawmakers have said there is enough funding in the pipeline already to supply Israel’s immediate needs, including more Iron Dome interceptors that provide an aerial shield against Hamas missiles from Gaza. Tens of billions of dollars’ worth of Ukraine aid got postponed amid the frenetic efforts to avoid a government shutdown Oct. 1, and the removal of Speaker McCarthy days later has eaten up valuable time. Both allies will be looking for fresh aid in the weeks to come, particularly if the Israel-Gaza conflict grows into a broader regional conflict.

Leah Millis/Reuters

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee who voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 11, 2023. He dismissed the idea that internal House turmoil harms Israel.

More broadly, some are concerned that a perception of U.S. government dysfunction has emboldened adversaries. Those include China, Russia, and now Iran, which reportedly gave Hamas the green light for its Oct. 7 attack five days earlier – though some reports from U.S. intelligence sources indicate Iranian leaders may have also been surprised by the attack. Oct. 2 was the same day that Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz moved to oust Mr. McCarthy. 

But Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett, one of the eight Republicans who voted to remove Mr. McCarthy, dismissed the idea that Israel would be in any way hampered by internal House conflicts.

“What is Congress going to do, write Hamas a strong letter?” he asked, adding that the president is already doing what needs to be done, including sending the USS Gerald Ford to the eastern Mediterranean near Israel. “When they see that aircraft carrier, the largest aircraft carrier in the world, off the coast, I think that sends a pretty clear message of where America is.”

More than anything Congress can do, having Mr. Biden as president may be the strongest signal of all of U.S. support for Israel. His remarks Tuesday from the White House were noteworthy for their passion.

“Look, it’s visceral for him,” Mr. Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy says. “There’s no Israeli leader who can say, ‘As I told Golda Meir 50 years ago,’” he adds, a reference to the president’s oft-told story of meeting the iconic Israeli prime minister when Mr. Biden was a newly minted U.S. senator.

“He self-identifies as a Zionist,” Mr. Makovsky says. “He says if there was no Israel, we’d have to invent one. He believes that after the Holocaust, the world owes the Jewish people a state. He’s had a lot of Jewish American support since the beginning of his career. It’s the real deal with him.”

Staff writer Sophie Hills contributed to this report.

Michel Euler/AP

The Eiffel Tower is illuminated with the colors of Israel Monday, after a demonstration in support of Israel following a Hamas attack that killed over 1,200 people.

It is being called Israel’s 9/11.

That may understate the impact of the Hamas ground invasion that last weekend swept, unimpeded, across the country’s southern border with Gaza, sowing terror. But one parallel with America’s ordeal is already clear.

The political aftershocks of the attack will reverberate far beyond the sliver of Mediterranean land where it began.

Already, Mideast heavyweights Iran and Saudi Arabia are limbering up for a new round of their strategic tug of war. Suddenly, the United States finds itself more directly engaged in the region than it has been for a decade.

And its engagement there could affect engagement elsewhere: in Ukraine, for example, which, until last Saturday morning, was top of America’s and its allies’ foreign policy agenda.

How all this plays out will depend on how, and how quickly, the immediate response to the attack by Hamas from Gaza ends. And that will depend not only on Israel’s government and military commanders, but also, first and foremost, on Iran.

For Tehran has not only been funding and equipping Hamas.

Across Israel’s northern border, in Lebanon, the Iranians have forged the Shiite Hezbollah movement into what is essentially a surrogate army, obeying Tehran’s orders.

Hezbollah dwarfs Hamas’ capabilities. It has some 150,000 missiles, far more advanced and accurate than Hamas weapons. They are capable of hitting towns and cities across Israel, as well as key infrastructure such as its international airport.

If Hezbollah enters the fray, a decision that would have to be made in Tehran, the war in Gaza would threaten to become a regional conflagration. Israel would inevitably attack Lebanon. The U.S. itself might well be drawn in militarily.

So far, Hezbollah’s missiles have remained unused, despite skirmishes across the Lebanon border.

Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

U.N. peacekeepers stand near a picture depicting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in southern Lebanon.

But Washington is worried. That is why President Joe Biden has dispatched a naval carrier group to the eastern Mediterranean, and why, in a White House statement Tuesday, he had a terse message for anyone thinking of joining Hamas’ fight: “Don’t.”

His message to Israel has been, in effect, “Do.” Mr. Biden said that in Israel’s shoes, America would launch a retaliation to Hamas’ “evil” assault that would be “swift, decisive, and overwhelming.”

But, like America’s response to 9/11, that could reverberate in ways that are unpredictable and difficult to contain.

In America’s case, they included costly, painful, and ultimately unsuccessful wars in Afghanistan and Iraq stretching over decades.

For Israel, breaking Hamas’ iron hold on Gaza would mean overcoming an array of obstacles.

The Israeli army is hugely more powerful than Hamas. But what about the dozens of Israeli civilians being held hostage in Gaza? And if Israel mounts a major ground assault, how will its soldiers deal with the house-by-house fighting, ambushes, and improvised explosive devices that await them?

The political challenges could prove equally formidable.

Mr. Biden coupled his backing for Israel with a reminder of the “laws of war,” signaling the importance of doing everything possible to avoid civilian casualties. But any full-scale attack on Gaza will inevitably take the lives of many hundreds of noncombatants.

The horror of Hamas’ weekend rampage means that Israel, for now, enjoys the broad sympathy of much of the outside world. But a protracted attack on Gaza – with mounting casualties and hardship for its civilians – could sorely strain that support.

There is another open political question, also echoing America’s experience after 9/11. If Israel does remove Hamas as a military and political force in Gaza, what would take its place? Israel pulled its soldiers and settlers out of the Gaza Strip more than a decade and a half ago. The nominal Palestinian leader in the West Bank, the aging and increasingly unpopular Mahmoud Abbas, could not fill the void.

The White House/Reuters

President Joe Biden chairs a White House security meeting to discuss the situation in Israel Tuesday.

All this may help explain why Israel has not yet sent its massed troops into Gaza.

But if it does launch an invasion, the political aftershocks are likely to reverberate for far longer than the fighting.

And they will impact the balance of power in the Middle East.

Washington had been hoping to broker a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, offering formal security guarantees to the Saudis. The twin goals have been to balance growing Iranian power, and China’s expanding influence, in the region.

That deal is off for the foreseeable future. Saudi Arabia will be highly reluctant, amid Arab sympathy for the Hamas attack, to make peace with its historic enemy.

But if and when Riyadh comes back to the table, it seems likely that the Saudis will insist on something that until last weekend appeared extremely unlikely – a serious new effort to resolve Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians.

For now, the sheer horror felt by Israelis in the face of Hamas’ slaughter of civilians has left the idea of a two-state peace agreement more distant than ever.

But for Israel’s key overseas allies, the attack has underscored the impossibility of achieving long-term stability in the Middle East without a political resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

The question then will be for Israelis to answer. With their sense of security so painfully and cruelly shattered, will they too, over time, conclude that they share a mutual interest in seeking accommodation with other Palestinian leaders ready to choose peaceful coexistence?

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Rep. Matt Gaetz arrives to join House Republicans meeting in an attempt to agree on a nominee for the next speaker of the House, in the Longworth House office building in Washington, Oct. 11, 2023.

As Republicans try to move past the speakership drama that’s been immobilizing the House of Representatives, they are grappling with deep internal divisions, as well as rules that make it hard to govern in an age of narrow majorities.

They are also still grappling with what to do about one member in particular: Matt Gaetz.

The Florida congressman with the gelled hair and penchant for popping up on television was responsible for introducing the motion to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week. Only seven other Republicans wound up joining him, but it was enough, in concert with the votes of all 208 Democrats, to bring Mr. McCarthy down.

Mr. Gaetz claimed he was driven by broken promises that Mr. McCarthy had made on spending and other matters. The former speaker, for his part, accused Mr. Gaetz of being unhappy about a pending House ethics investigation.

Even as House Republicans took an initial step toward selecting a McCarthy replacement on Wednesday, nominating Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise for House speaker, many GOP lawmakers remained incensed at Mr. Gaetz.

“It makes us look weak and ineffective when we have a member of the conference who is trying to foster this chaos,” says New York Rep. Mike Lawler, one of several members who have voiced support for expelling Mr. Gaetz from the GOP conference. Such a move would require the backing of two-thirds of House Republicans, while expelling him from Congress would require two-thirds of the full House.

To Mr. Lawler and others, allowing Mr. Gaetz to go unpunished for what they view as an act of brazen disloyalty sets a dangerous precedent.

Yet the reality is, with just a four-seat majority, Republicans probably can’t afford to lose the telegenic Floridian’s vote – or the votes of any other hard-liners. As of press time, Mr. Scalise was still struggling to secure the necessary votes within his own party to win the speakership, though Mr. Gaetz himself indicated he would support him or an alternative nominee, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. 

John Raoux/AP/File

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Feb. 26, 2022, in Orlando, Florida.

In many ways, Mr. Gaetz represents a breed of controversy-courting lawmakers with whom both parties are increasingly having to contend. Drawing political power not from seniority or legislative chops but from celebrity status among the base, Mr. Gaetz has embraced the attacks launched against him by fellow Republicans, even incorporating them into his fundraising appeals. He says the speakership drama has only served to boost his popularity with GOP voters back home, a point echoed in interviews with party stalwarts in Florida’s 1st Congressional District.

“He probably damaged his political career among his colleagues in Washington, but his constituents here will vote for him again and again,” says Mary Howard, vice president of Walton Republican Women Federated in the district’s Walton County. “Gaetz didn’t cause the chaos of the Republican Party. The fiscal recklessness caused the chaos.” 

Building a personal brand

First elected to Congress in 2016, the same year that former President Donald Trump won the White House, Mr. Gaetz rose to prominence as one of Mr. Trump’s most ardent supporters – and imitators. 

Despite being the son of a former president of the Florida Senate and previously serving in the Florida House, Mr. Gaetz casts himself as a political outsider intent on disrupting Washington, even if that means upsetting – or firing – longtime leaders of his own party.

When asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last Sunday if he was concerned about possibly losing his job over recent events, Mr. Gaetz responded confidently that he was elected with support from about 70% of his district’s voters and that “anyone trying to kick me out of Congress because they didn’t like me would have a bone to pick with them.”  

Sharon Regan, a lawyer from Gulf Breeze, Florida, and chair of the Santa Rosa County GOP, says she was “proud as can be” watching Mr. Gaetz in Congress last week, and that Republicans would be “out of their minds” to remove him from their conference.

“He is their greatest, most courageous hero. He is the voice of the next generation,” she says. “Those people don’t get it.”

Ms. Regan suspects that most local Republican voters have a similarly positive view of their congressman, noting that Santa Rosa County is a “very red” area. Maybe 10%, she allows, would “call him a showboat.” 

This is, in fact, a common charge from critics. Like Mr. Trump, Mr. Gaetz is a fixture on cable TV, with various past profiles chronicling his use of pancake makeup and obsessive tracking of his TV appearances.

“Mr. Gaetz is all about himself, focusing on cable-TV appearances, social-media posts, and urgent email appeals for campaign funds in one of the safest Republican districts,” wrote Karl Rove, deputy chief of staff for former President George W. Bush, in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed titled “Give Matt Gaetz the Silent Treatment.” 

To which Mr. Gaetz has all but responded: guilty as charged.

“Speaker of the House Paul Ryan once knocked me for going on TV too much, without considering that maybe his own failures as a leader stemmed from spending too much time in think tanks instead of in the green rooms where guests wait to appear on TV, and are thereby connected to the dinnertime of real Americans,” Mr. Gaetz writes in the first chapter of his 2020 book, “Firebrand.” 

Nathan Howard/AP/File

Rep. Matt Gaetz speaks before former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport in Texas, March 25, 2023.

“It’s impossible to get canceled if you’re on every channel,” he continues. “Why raise money to advertise on the news channels when I can make the news? And if you aren’t making news, you aren’t governing.” 

Asked if she sees any similarities between Mr. Gaetz and Mr. Trump, Ms. Howard with Walton Republican Women Federated doesn’t hesitate. 

“They both make for good TV,” she says. “That’s powerful – and that’s dangerous, because they can get their message out.”

Ambitions to be governor?

Lately, the hoopla on Capitol Hill has given new fuel to rumors that Mr. Gaetz plans to run for Florida governor in 2026.

The congressman himself has not confirmed this. But when asked about his gubernatorial ambitions on a Rumble livestream with Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle, he said he would “enjoy that job so much,” adding that he would “never leave it” like current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with his presidential campaign. 

“We are seeing trend lines in Florida that make it safer and safer in the Republican column, so if you are a candidate for future office, the reality is that voters are very concerned about spending,” says Matt Terrill, a former consultant for the Republican Party of Florida and former chief of staff to Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign. “Much of Gaetz’s rhetoric is something GOP voters will rally behind.”

With a 19-point Republican edge in Cook Political Report rankings, the 1st Congressional District is the reddest in Florida. Since being elected in 2016, Mr. Gaetz has won reelection every two years by more than 30 points. This, despite the fact that between 2020 and 2022, he was under federal investigation for sex trafficking, accused of paying an underage girl to travel with him across state lines. 

Ultimately, the Justice Department declined to bring charges. But an investigation into the matter by the House Ethics Committee is ongoing, and some speculate that Mr. Gaetz’s recent rebellion may serve to refocus attention on that probe.   

If Mr. Gaetz does run for governor in a few years, that controversy will likely come up again, along with other aspects of Mr. Gaetz’s personal life – like the fact that Mr. Gaetz has claimed to have a teenage Cuban “son” named Nestor. 

Mr. Gaetz’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment. 

Of course, not all the Republicans in his district have as rosy a view as Ms. Howard’s or Ms. Regan’s.

“He knows how to play to a crowd – what to say and how to say it, to convince people he is on their side,” says Cris Dosev, a veteran and real estate developer who ran against Mr. Gaetz in the Republican primary in 2016 and 2018. “And he’s very effective at it. I have to give him credit for that.” 

Mr. Trump can get away with being a provocateur, says Mr. Dosev, who voted for the former president twice and plans to support him again in 2024, because he also gets things done, such as placing three conservative justices on the Supreme Court. By contrast, he sees Mr. Gaetz as more of an “actor.” 

“There are people in our district who think he is a hero for doing this, for holding McCarthy to account. To me, he’s a chaos agent,” says Mr. Dosev. “He’s learned there is a 15-minute cycle in the news, and after that people move on. I think he’s hoping for that.”

This time last year, 15-year-old Michael was riding bikes daily through the coastal city of Guayaquil where he’d grown up his whole life, hanging out with his friends after school, and “just being a kid.”

But then his school shuttered overnight last spring after a local gang, increasingly mixed up with international drug trafficking, threatened to kill the entire student body, angry that rivals might be sitting in homerooms. Today Michael finds himself adjusting to adolescence in a small fishing town five hours north, where his family fled in search of safety. 

“I feel better here,” Michael says of the dirt-road village made up of just several hundred residents, which has so far evaded the wave of bloodshed sweeping much of the coast. But, he says, he worries that violence might come here too.

It wasn’t long ago that Ecuador was considered one of the safest countries in Latin America. Today, it’s becoming one of the most dangerous, particularly for adolescents. Homicides of Ecuadorians between the ages of 15 and 19 years old went up by 500% over the past five years.

As voters head to the polls this weekend in the Andean nation to elect a new president, security is top of the agenda. Many see a country at a crossroads, with the next administration’s strategy on violence holding long-term implications.

Karen Toro/Reuters

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Luisa González, wearing a bulletproof vest, speaks to the media after a televised debate with Ecuadorian presidential candidate Daniel Noboa in Quito ahead of an October runoff.

But Ecuadorians are looking beyond politics, too, to counter the root causes of violence. Mobilizing in the face of economic hardship and plummeting high school graduation rates, they are homing in on local initiatives to keep youth employed and off the street, adjusting their daily routines, and looking toward the international community for support.

“The state feels very far away for these youth,” says Andrés Williams, a professor who studies youth and violence at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Ecuador, “while drug traffickers seem very close.”

Youth respond

The Oct. 15 runoff pits leftist Luisa González, a protégé of former populist President Rafael Correa, against center-right candidate Daniel Noboa. Both are promising a mano dura (meaning “iron fist”), hard-line approach to security, with Mr. Noboa proposing floating prisons at sea for the most violent offenders and Ms. González pledging $500 million for policing.

Teenager Martina Hernández sits on the sofa in her family’s living room on a recent Sunday evening in Quito, watching the final presidential debate with her parents. She’s focused more on her cellphone than on the events unfolding on TV. But she acknowledges the conflict at the heart of this debate. “I hear about assaults, robberies, kidnappings all the time. Some of my friends have been robbed,” she says, still staring at her phone.

What Martina would like to see is someone more like Nayib Bukele, the young leader of El Salvador who has dramatically improved homicide while cracking down on civil liberties and human rights. “He seems to know how to manage security,” she says. 

Voting is required for Ecuadorians between the ages of 18 and 65, but it’s optional starting at age 16. And the first round of elections saw a historic number of 16- and 17-year-olds casting ballots, says Mr. Williams. “Despite the fear, the insecurity, [young] people demonstrated a sense of hope by voting,” Mr. Williams says. “They seemed to be saying, ‘This is how we can define our future and make our situation better.’”

Outgoing President Guillermo Lasso called snap elections in May when he dissolved the legislature to avoid his own impeachment over corruption allegations. His past year in office has been defined by low approval ratings, economic stagnation, and growing prison violence. Whoever wins this weekend will complete Mr. Lasso’s term, only holding office for 17 months, raising concerns that the next president could end up focusing more on campaigning for their reelection than on making real policy changes.

Maria Sol Borja

Teenager Martina Hernández watches the final presidential debate – and looks at political memes on her cellphone - in Quito, Ecuador, Oct. 1, 2023. As she sees and hears more about violence in her community, she wishes the candidates would take a page from El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, who succeeded in decreasing homicides there – but at a cost to citizen civil liberties.

“The big picture is that democracy, as in rules and procedures, seems to be working. Yet Ecuador is still very unstable, especially from the economic perspective,” says Raul Aldaz, an economics and political science professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. “Enter the threat of organized crime. Unchecked, it could completely undermine the state.”

Just days before the first-round presidential vote in August, candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated when leaving a political rally, bringing international attention to the violence that’s overwhelmed Ecuador in recent years.

Over the weekend, six suspects in Mr. Villavicencio’s murder were found dead by hanging in an Ecuadorian prison. That came on the heels of a $5 million reward offered by the United States for information on the mastermind behind the assassination, a move many Ecuadorians celebrated.

“At this point, we probably need some outside help,” says Daniela Costa, a manager at a Lebanese restaurant outside the capital.

The violence spiral

Five years ago, Ecuador was considered one of the safest countries in Latin America. The calm was credited, in part, to a 2007 model of legalizing street gangs while still targeting drug cartels, which have long used Ecuador’s ports to transport drugs to Europe and the U.S.

But homicide rates more than quadrupled from 5.8 per 100,000 people in 2018 to 26.7 per 100,000 last year, according to the Brazil-based Igarapé Institute. A combination of factors has added to Ecuador’s security tailspin, including the country’s geographic location between cocaine-producing Peru and Colombia, a dollarized economy that makes it attractive for money laundering, a weak president, and high rates of poverty and unemployment.

Over the past year, public shootouts and car bombings have marked public life. President Lasso’s administration has imprisoned gang and organized crime leaders but failed to maintain control of prisons, with multiple deadly riots since late 2020.

The security situation has not spared children, with school shooting drills now commonplace in many coastal provinces. Gang recruitment of youth is particularly high in the coastal provinces of Guayaquil and Esmeraldas.

It feels too close to many Ecuadorian parents raising this generation. Grade-school children take over the beach in the small northern town of San Vincent on a recent afternoon, practicing soccer in a rainbow of neon-hued jerseys.

Josue, the father of one of the players, says the violence that’s been spreading has filled him with dread. “I have all boys at home. Everywhere I look I see threats to their safety,” says Josue, who asked to use only his first name out of concern for his family’s security.

Whitney Eulich

Carlos, from the second graduating class of Iche's seven-month culinary training program in Ecuador's Manabí province, grills fish and shrimp while chicken and mushrooms are smoked on a rack above the traditional wood-fire stove.

A woman who asks to go by her first initial, G., due to safety concerns, says she tells her four adolescent nieces and nephews not to linger with friends after school and to go straight to an adult if they notice any outsiders passing through their quiet neighborhood. She pauses midsentence to eye a passing motorbike. “Trouble always comes on a motorcycle,” she says.

The coast has been relatively more dangerous than the rest of the country. It also offers fewer economic prospects to young people. Rural Ecuador faces a much higher rate of poverty – at 70% – than urban areas, where 23% live in poverty, according to data from the United Nations.

Ecuador’s economy, expected to grow less than 1% next year, was hard hit by the pandemic. Some two-thirds of the population works in the informal sector. Meanwhile, graduation rates fell drastically across the country, with roughly 63,000 fewer Ecuadorians completing high school between 2022 and 2023.

About 2 miles inland from soccer practice sits Iche, a restaurant and culinary school that opened in 2021 and is trying to boost economic prospects for youth who today can easily be lured by small-scale trafficking, says Adriana Arellano, one of the project’s co-founders.

“We are all asking ourselves, ‘How can we fight against something so big and powerful as organized crime?’” she says.

Their program includes a seven-month training in local culinary tradition – at the center is a traditional stove where students learn to smoke, dehydrate, and grill local meats – and rotations through all parts of running a restaurant.

This project “provides a flicker of hope amid a really hopeless context,” says Ms. Arellano. “At the root of this work is the idea of trying to provide young people a path ahead.”

Maria Sol Borja contributed reporting from Quito, Ecuador.

Portrait by Jennifer Durham

Nicola Griffith

Growing up in Yorkshire, England, Nicola Griffith felt the pull of the past: “Every horizon has a mark of history on it,” she says. A visit to Whitby Abbey first acquainted her with St. Hilda, the seventh-century noblewoman who founded the abbey. Little is known about her life, other than a tantalizing description of her as an adviser to kings. So began the author’s decadeslong passion to write the story of Hilda, or Hild, as she was also known. The young woman she imagines is no saint – yet. Ms. Griffith spoke about the character’s trajectory, from the first book in “The Hild Sequence,” 2013’s “Hild,” to “Menewood,” published this month, about Hild’s secret community, which she hopes to keep safe from warring kings. 

When did you first learn about the real Hild?

I love old abbeys, old castles, all that kind of thing. But I had never been to [the ruins of Whitby] Abbey until I was in my early 20s. I crossed the threshold of the abbey, and it was like stepping into Narnia. The world just changed. You know when some people talk about the skin of the Earth being thin in some places, this sense of immanence? It was like that for me. 

I read in a tourist pamphlet about St. Hilda of Whitby, who founded the abbey, and I wanted to learn more, but there were no books about her. 

My question was, why is this woman, from a time when we’re told that women had no power, no influence, no significance whatsoever, still remembered 1,400 years later? Nobody could tell me. I was on fire to find out; I thought what we knew of history must be wrong. This could not have happened if what we think of as history is actually true. So I basically started this enormous controlled experiment. I rebuilt the seventh century. I mean, I researched before I even wrote a word.

I’d been researching that book [“Hild”] for 20 years. I’d been reading everything you could possibly think of, all the medieval plants, everybody’s lists of grave goods. I followed all the archeology magazines and blogs and journals, and I read about the weather. I researched the flora, fauna, jewelry, making textiles. And then the day before my birthday, I thought, I cannot start another year without having done this book. So I sat down and said, I’m going to write one paragraph. And so I did. And there was Hild. And she was 3 years old and sitting under a tree. And I thought, that’s how I’m going to do it. She’s going to learn the world along with the reader.

When you came to write the character, how did you imagine her?

Hild is not a saint. I mean, yes, she becomes known as a saint, but she is not a saintly person growing up. She kills people [when necessity dictates]. ... She is not always as kind as she could be. But she can see how [her] actions affect people. She can see how terrible some choices are for [those] who are caught in the crossfire of powerful people. Still, she really loves life. She loves to wring every drop of joy from life that she can. 

What does Menewood signify?

Hild has this inkling that trouble is coming. And so she makes this haven. Menewood is a secret [community]; it’s safe, it’s all hers – no one can mess with it. And it all just grows organically. It’s not like she sat down [and envisioned] a Utopian space. That’s not what she’s doing. It begins as a kind of selfish impulse, a survival strategy, and then gradually it becomes clear that in fact, people work better if they’re well fed and feel happy and have a say in decisions. 

In a book that’s over 700 pages long, many characters come and go. How did you think about the ancillary characters?

The books I love best are the generous books where you get a sudden, deep, focused dive into a person that you will never see again. And it doesn’t have to be long; it’s maybe two sentences. Suddenly, you know who they are, what their life is like. And it adds to this reality, this texture of the world.

There was tremendous violence in Hild’s world, that she witnessed and participated in. People were fighting for control of territory and it was quite brutal. Hild is part of that world and can speak that language. But it feels like she would avoid the violence if she could. Or would she?

She wouldn’t choose to kill people. It’s not fun for her, but [killing is] very much a tool. It’s a necessary tool. There is a sense of necessity to certain sets of violence [in this era]. It’s not that violence is enjoyable or that it’s casual, but it is not as abhorrent as it would be to most of us now.

Hild knew how use weapons, she understood military strategy, and she was highly competent in so many areas. Do you think that women in the seventh century were more competent than they are given credit for being?

I can’t imagine how society would have worked if women were not allowed to be physically competent. It was women who handled the sheep and did the massive physical work of textile production. They were acknowledged to be strong. In the early seventh century, the world was precarious enough that everybody needed to pull their weight.

The battle scenes are cinematic. Were you playing them in your head?

I have an active imagination. [Laughs]

For example, the big battle toward the end of “Menewood,” I have read Bede’s account of that. And of course he believes that the winner was able to win because of God. And I’m like, OK, so if we take God out of the equation, what happened? Really, what could have happened? How could this have been possible? Because on paper it’s impossible. What happened was impossible except by divine intervention. And so I thought about, OK, where was this battle? What time of year was it? What would it be like to stand on one of those hills? To look at these rivers and birds. What would it feel like? What would it smell like?

Are there lessons for today in the kind of life that Hild is leading and how she leads?  

What Hild lives is applicable to everyone everywhere, which is basically treat everybody as a real person. Everybody has their own feelings. And the other important part is that no one can do it on their own. You need your friends; you need your family; you need your community.

Will there be more to Hild’s story? 

I think the next book is going to take her to the beginning of her religious life. And then the fourth book will be about her religious life.

What do you like best about the character?

Hild never dithers. She can be in fear for her life, but she’s never anxious. She doesn’t second guess herself all the time.  

I think I’ll be writing Hild for the rest of my life. I love it. It’s the work of my life.

I have always been impressed by the power of good children’s programming – the type of television that can also have a profound effect on adults. The sounds and sights draw us in – the playful jingle of “CoComelon,” or the journey through the tunnel into the sprawling world of “Fraggle Rock.”

“Bluey,” the animated children’s show about a family of Australian cattle dogs, has had a similar effect in my household and beyond. Much of the world knows about “Bluey.” How it talks about adult issues like aging or infertility with a gentleness and honesty that makes it compelling viewing no matter what your age. And every father who watches secretly wants to be Bandit, the main character’s dad.

It reminds me of the cultural relevance of “Sesame Street.” Even now, I can hear the reassuring doo-wop of the Pointer Sisters as a pinball races through various machinations. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12,” their voices ring in soulful, funky harmony. “Sesame Street” taught me numbers, yes. But it also taught me respect, kindness, and curiosity.

Time magazine once said the greatest achievement of Jim Henson, architect of “Sesame Street” and “Fraggle Rock,” was helping to “sustain the qualities of fancifulness, warmth and consideration that have been so threatened by our coarse, cynical age.”

“Bluey,” on Disney+, has this gift as well. In the case of my family’s favorite episode, “Rain,” this sense of compassion is achieved in relative silence. The only audible voices are within the first few seconds – a series of goodbyes from the title character and her mother, Chilli. Then, a rumble of ominous thunder takes the pair in different directions – Bluey into playtime, and Chilli into a rush to yank the clothes off the line.

The episode is a reminder of how childhood and parenthood – so often in conflict – can quickly lead to unscripted joy and unlooked-for grace. Chilli’s housecleaning efforts are thwarted when Bluey turns her mother’s work into a messy dam in the driveway. In the episode’s climax – a literal push-and-pull between mother and daughter – Chilli is unable to keep Bluey from leaving wet paw prints through the house. So she lies on the floor in what appears to be defeat before eventually joining in the mischief.

“Rain” has brought my family together. My 2-year-old began to mimic Bluey’s sloshy rush toward the door into either my arms or my wife’s. Before he could communicate words, he was able to express his approval of “Bluey”!

Where “Sesame Street” endeared itself to generations through education and representation, Bluey’s calling card is its empathy. The result is the show’s remarkable ability to handle tough situations with an infusion of love and understanding.

In “Onesies,” an episode that subtly addresses infertility and the situations that can separate families, Bluey inquires:

“Mum, why did Auntie Brandy want to leave? Is she sad? And why have we only seen her once in our lives?”

“You know how you really want Bingo’s cheetah onesie?” Chilli responds. “But it doesn’t fit you, so you can’t have it. And there’s not anything anyone can really do to make it fit.”

“Why can’t she just have the thing she wants?”

“Because it’s not meant to be.”

Combined with the visual of Bingo in a cheetah onesie running away from Brandy, it makes for heart-wrenching, insightful television.

I recently walked through a toy aisle and saw a “Bluey” toy that featured a sanitation worker. I can remember as a kid how much people derided folks who made a living taking out the garbage. Young people who said they wanted to be a custodian as an adult got teased. 

As a teacher’s kid, I knew better. I thought the world of “Mr. Raymond,” the custodian who was the first person to get there in the morning and the last one to leave. His surname, Bright, captured the essence of how he engaged teachers and children.

The first line of a classic tune by The Stylistics is an ode to striking sanitation workers, and their reprise is a reminder, much like Bluey, that people make the world go round.

“Bluey” deserves all of its critical acclaim. Its cast of characters, including Bluey and Bingo’s doting, do-it-all father, is worth celebrating. But the defining component of shows such as “Bluey” and “Sesame Street” is that they don’t just build core memories.

They build positive character attributes. And that is something we never age out of.

REUTERS

Leaders of dozens of European countries gather for the European Political Community Summit in Granada, Spain, Oct. 5.

Anyone who has ever sat through inconclusive meetings at work might relate to leaders from nearly 50 European countries participating in a summit last week. Although topics ranged from Ukraine to immigration, the summit ended Oct. 5 with no action steps, or “deliverables.” Yet that was by design. The purpose of this latest gathering of the European Political Community was simply to listen and reflect in the spirit of equality. The usual dynamics of power were left at the door.

The informal forum was set up by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. One aim is to build trust and create respectful deliberation among the European Union’s 27 members and 20 non-EU-affiliated countries, many of which seek to join the bloc. The summit’s tone of humility was reflected by President Macron himself. In June, he apologized to many Eastern European countries for not heeding their warnings about Russian aggression.

“We did not always hear the voices you brought,” he said. “That time is over.”

Europe has a strong record of creating safe spaces for loosely structured, often citizen-led groupings to discuss difficult topics without the trappings of institution and hierarchy. Ireland relied on temporary citizen assemblies to help create a consensus on issues such as abortion. The United Kingdom used such a forum to deliberate on the impact of Britain’s exit from the EU.

In 2019, the EU set up the Conference of the Future of Europe, consisting of young people and civil society, to recommend reforms in Europe’s official bodies. Citizen panels have become “a regular feature of our democratic life,” says European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. 

The European Political Community has no budget or central office. Its gatherings rotate to countries willing to host the meetings. “The format offers a rare space to test ideas in closed sessions,” writes Camille Grand, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. It also “can help create the conditions for progress before more institutionalised processes take over.”

Not all talk shops are, well, talk shops. If they are set up for authentic listening more than artful persuasion, they allow the best ideas and information to emerge in gentle settings.

The European Political Community just finished its third gathering, this one in Spain, showing that informal discussions between leaders are needed. “There is sometimes underestimated value,” writes Alexander Adam, an adviser to the French president, “in deliberation taking precedence over ... decision."