Weekly Briefing: Why any decent person supports a ceasefire, but not Biden

If you want to understand Biden’s problem – blindly supporting Israel as it conducts what any decent person sees is a grisly slaughter of a civilian population, now at least 28,985 Palestinians – you have to look at the latest polling data, spotlighted at our site by Michael Arria this week.

American support for ceasefire is overwhelming: four to one, 63 to 16. Even Republicans support it by a crushing 54 to 34. As for Democrats – Biden’s base – it isn’t even close, 78 to 11.

One group lags. Jews are for a ceasefire but by a far lesser number than any other group in this poll (conducted by a Muslim organization): 50 to 34.

And Biden has to care about Jews in the upcoming election. Because Jews are typically reliable Democrats in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Florida, and Michigan. But also because Jews make up a large part of the Democratic donor class — the political “elephant in the room,” according to the New York Times — and Biden cannot do anything to upset that community now.

The Israel lobby is a manifestation of the organized Jewish community. Obviously not all Jews are Zionists – any more than all evangelicals oppose abortion rights – and a third of Jews support a ceasefire — but the leading community groups are supporting Israel now, whatever it does, and opposing ceasefire.

In fact, ever since the war began in October, Israel supporters with financial clout have been threatening establishment institutions to stay in line with the support of Israel.

Examples:

–A group of over 1600 Harvard alumni identifying themselves as Jewish pledged to donate only $1 to Harvard until it cracks down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations that include such statements as “From the river to the sea.” That group played a role in the resignation of the Harvard president.

–A group of prominent Wall Street law firms sent letters to the top law schools warning them that if they failed to crack down on supposed “antisemitism” – including criticism of Israel – the firms would think twice before they hired from those schools. (“We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination..”) This was the establishment flexing its muscle. And you wonder why Palestinians are getting canceled all over the country, including Samia Halaby at Indiana University, and Amir Husain at NYU.

— The leading Israel lobby groups– AIPAC, the ADL, the AJC, and the Conference of Presidents– launched a PR initiative aimed at justifying all Israeli brutalities in Gaza, including attacks on hospitals, as a legitimate response to the atrocities of October 7. The PR agency running this effort is a big supporter of Democrats and pro-choice causes: It is tied to Biden’s political guru and “brawler in chief,” Anita Dunn, and it is led by Mark Penn, a pollster who has “infuriated” Democrats by hinting that he will back a third-party challenge to Biden with his wife’s “No Labels” pro-Israel organization.

–Progressives Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush have taken stances in favor of ceasefire and against genocide, very much in line with the Democratic base and the national numbers I cited above. Both are both being primaried by opponents backed by the Israel lobby. Bush – a charismatic progressive voice who shot to fame during Ferguson protests — is behind in the polls.

That is what Biden is up against. The Democratic political establishment is inseparable from the Israel lobby. And the Israel lobby is the most reactionary force in American politics when it comes to the genocide of Palestinians. And it has money.

Oh, and by the way — those Christian evangelicals who pundits like to say are the reason that the U.S. government supports Israel — 58 – 23 percent are for a ceasefire, according to the polling data.

When the Washington Post suggests that Biden is supporting Israel because he has a “decades-long relationship with the prime minister,” or when National Public Radio says that the war has “highlighted the limits of U.S. influence in the region,” these media outlets are mystifying the truth.

The reason Biden can’t lift a finger in the face of a genocide is that he is afraid of alienating the Israel lobby as a force for his reelection. It’s that simple.

Thanks for reading,

Phil Weiss