The Biden administration’s disgraceful policy on Gaza is finally becoming a crisis. Brushing a genocide under the rug only works for so long. The world is appalled, and the Democratic Party base is appalled, and Biden is taking steps– rhetorically anyway– to try to distance himself from a policy of murderous recrimination he has underwritten since the October 7 atrocities.
First at the State of the Union Speech on Thursday night Biden criticized Netanyahu during a post-speech handshake with Colorado Senator Michael Bennet.
“I told him, Bibi, and don’t repeat this, but you and I are going to have a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting,” Biden said. Then alerted that he was being recorded, Biden said, “I’m on a hot mic here… Good. That’s good.”
And outside the Capitol, demonstrators held banners saying “Biden’s Legacy Is Genocide.”
Then yesterday Biden went further. He gave an interview to a loyal Democratic Party journalist, Jonathan Capehart of MSNBC, and said Netanyahu “is hurting Israel” in the eyes of the world.
He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas but he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions being taken. He’s hurting– In my view he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel by making the rest of the world — It’s contrary to what Israel stands for, and I think it’s a big mistake.
So I want to see a ceasefire. Starting with a major, major exchange of prisoners. For a six week period. We’re going into Ramadan, there should be nothing happening.
This may sound good—to those who are idealistic about Israel maybe, like Senator Bennet – but how does it sound to any one who cares about Palestinian human rights? More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed, the overwhelming majority civilians, in actions of pure rage and collective punishment. And as Biden was quick to assure Capehart, “I’m never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical, so there’s no red line I’m going to cut off all weapons.”
As Mitchell Plitnick wrote on our site of the increasing Israel-critical rhetoric from the Biden administration, it’s so much “theatrics.” The policy hasn’t changed at all, and it won’t even if the Good Cop Benny Gantz is at Israel’s helm, as Kamala Harris and Biden seem to prefer.
Biden could shut Israeli actions down in a minute. But he will only do lip service to the progressives because the Democratic Party elites are still committed to Israel. Several Congresspeople brought Israelis to the State of the union Speech, including Los Angeles Congressman Brad Sherman, who issued a statement of unqualified support for Israel’s slaughter of Gazans, in defiance of progressives, who are trying to “muddy our national discourse.”
As anti-Israel forces attempt to penetrate and muddy our national discourse, President Biden’s robust defense of Israel will serve as a powerful reminder to the many families of American and Israeli hostages who will be present for tonight’s Address, as well as to the world, that America’s bond with Israel stands unbroken, and our commitment to its right to exist remains unwavering.
And that guy represents Malibu and Studio City and Pacific Palisades! So screw the progressives.
Even NPR is telling us that Biden can’t walk away from the Jewish community politically, even if his base wants him to. Senior Editor Ron Elving:
Netanyahu has taken Israel in a particular direction that is not necessarily popular among American Jews, but which has alienated many people in this country in the Biden administration and elsewhere. And as a result there is a difficulty here that is really insurmountable for the Biden campaign.
While the New Yorker reminds us that Biden has not only the ability to cut off military aid to Israel, but he is required by law to do so, so long as it is preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. But he won’t do it. And it’s “collective punishment,” says Isaac Chotiner, and an embarrassment.
The idea that we’re giving massive amounts in aid to a country that is refusing our request to allow humanitarian assistance through so we have to airdrop food is embarrassing.
Embarrassing. That’s what we’ve come to. The superpower is embarrassed by its client state’s ongoing massacre of Palestinian civilians that shows no signs of stopping. The President is having to explain himself and distance himself from the Israelis.
I suppose we should be grateful there’s a political crisis at last. Though we are a long way yet from an honest examination of Zionism and its roots in the Jewish community and American policy.
Thanks for reading,
Phil Weiss
“Israel has the right to defend itself”. We’ve heard that phrase a zillion times but what the hell does it really mean?
If you’re looking at international law the situation is surprisingly complicated and uncertain and it’s beyond my pay scale. Let’s say that the fact the Israel is clearly an occupying power and has been for decades throws a monkey wrench into the arguments for ‘self-defence’. Legal geeks should read this essay in the Jurist “Israel’s Right to Self-Defense Under International Law“:
https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2023/12/7-10-the-question-of-israels-right-to-self-defense-under-international-law/
On a more mundane level, the only reason the Hamas attack on Oct 7 was successfull was because Israel was asleep at the wheel – troops had been diverted to the West Bank, intelligence reports were ignored, Netanyahu supported Hamas for years as a way of dividing the Palestinians among themselves, etc etc. If Israel simply gets its vigilance back to an appropriate level Hamas cannot repeat what it did. So what does ‘self-defence’ mean?
Thanks for the clarity, depressing though it is.
“Embarrassing” seems an inadequate reaction to active complicity in genocide . . . an “embarrassingly inadequate” response, in fact. But perhaps it is all we can expect from Biden.
Biden’s Pier-for-Gaza Is Hollow Gesture
Jonathan Cook
March 10, 2024
The U.S. president could get aid into Gaza much faster, if he wanted to, writes Jonathan Cook. His timetable for helping Palestinians is dictated by the schedule of the presidential election.
‘A few observations on U.S. President Joe Biden’s building of a “temporary pier” — or what his officials are grandly calling a “port” — to get aid into Gaza:
No. 1 — Though no one is mentioning it, Biden is actually violating Israel’s 17-year blockade of Gaza with his plan. Gaza doesn’t have a sea port, or an airport, because Israel, its occupier, has long banned it from having either.
Israel barred anything getting into Gaza that didn’t come through the land crossings it controls. Israel stopped international aid flotillas, often violently, from reaching Gaza to bring in medicine. The blockade also created a captive market for Israel’s own poor-quality goods, like damaged fruit and veg, and allowed Israel to skim off money at the land crossings that should have gone to the Palestinians in fees and duties.
No. 2 — It will take many weeks for the U.S. to build this pier off-shore and get it up and running. Why the delay? Because every Western capital, including the United States, has supported the blockade for the past 17 years.’
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/10/bidens-pier-for-gaza-is-hollow-gesture/
PW “Biden could shut Israeli actions down in a minute”. Millions of us in the states know this and are rip roaring pissed off that he has not done so. The whole world knows that as well. He is losing standing around the world.. He may hold onto the majority of the Pro Israel no matter Israel does vote and lose millions of others. I really think he stands a good chance of losing based on this issue.
Writing at The Nation, Jack Mirkinson writes about “The Tragic Absurdity of Biden’s Gaza Policies.” The subhead tells us that “The US government is making elaborate plans to ameliorate a humanitarian catastrophe that would not exist without its own bombs.”
It is not a bad piece, but anyone who follows this site realizes that the subheading should actually read “The US government is making plans to PRETEND to do something in the future to ameliorate an existing humanitarian catastrophe in which it is actively complicit.”
As I noted elsewhere, when I see pictures of Biden now, I inevitably think of the painted skulls that are widely displayed here in Texas for the Day of the Dead. White-washed skulls with macabre grins. Biden won’t carry Texas in November in any event, but if people in other states share my feeling, it can’t be a good sign politically.