Biden divides US voters with Gaza policy

Michael F. Brown Power Suits 25 December 2023

President Joe Biden sits in a red chair with wrapped boxes nearby

President Joe Biden visits children in an American hospital even as US-exported weapons to Israel injure tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.

Julia Nikhinson Pool via CNP

On 12 December, US President Joe Biden called Israel’s actions in Gaza “indiscriminate bombing.”

The president – “Genocide Joe” to many – is frustrated that he’s free-falling in polls, among other reasons due to his support for Israel’s devastating onslaught against Gaza. But the “indiscriminate bombing” comment is less likely to shore up his support among young voters than get the attention of those examining Israeli and US war crimes in Gaza and quite possibly the West Bank.

On Saturday, Biden told assembled journalists his conversation that day with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “private.” Then, in response to an additional question on the subject, he reiterated that he “had a private conversation” before noting he had not asked for a ceasefire.

Message received: It’s private and he’s not pushing for a ceasefire even as Netanyahu and Israel continue to bombard Gaza.

According to the Associated Press, “In just over two months, the [Israeli] offensive has wreaked more destruction than the razing of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II. It has killed more civilians than the US-led coalition did in its three-year campaign against the Islamic State group.”

Nonetheless, Biden favors continued arming of Israel. “We’re not going to do a damn thing other than protect Israel,” he said the same night as his “indiscriminate bombing” comment.

Over in the Republican corner, Donald Trump, Biden’s anticipated 2024 opponent, talks of undocumented migrants “poisoning the blood of our country” and refers to opponents as “vermin.”

In other words, while Biden is aiding and abetting Israel’s genocidal policies in Gaza, Trump is doubling down on the racist rhetoric of the genocidal Adolf Hitler.

American two-party democracy 2024: Pick either the genocide promoter or the Hitler-adjacent demagogue.

Many will stay away or go with a candidate who won’t win but better reflects their views.

Arab American and Muslim American voters in the swing state of Michigan are already making clear their determination to leave the top of the ticket empty – not voting for the president while voting for other elected officials – rather than vote again for Biden.

Polling

Recent polling demonstrates definite national Democratic division among key coalition groups over Biden and his direction.

The current president continues to lose support over his ongoing support for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Just 38 percent of registered voter respondents say in a New York Times/Siena poll from earlier this month that they trust Biden to “do a better job on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” compared to 46 percent who say they believe Trump would do better.

White respondents, at 59 percent, are most supportive of “providing additional economic and military support to Israel,” evidently for further “indiscriminate bombing.”

Young people ages 18-29 oppose such aid by 55-38 percent. They also sympathize more with Palestinians (46 percent) than Israel (27 percent).

Black voter respondents similarly sympathize more with Palestinians over Israel (34-28). White respondents are with Israel by 56-17 percent and Hispanic respondents by 36-27 percent. The problematically othered “other” category of respondents sympathizes with Palestinians by 34-22 percent.

Notably, of these four groups, only white respondents, by 50-34 percent, think Israel is “seriously interested in a peaceful solution.”

Democratic respondents by a 59-24 percent margin think “Israel should stop its military campaign in order to protect against civilian casualties, even if not all Israeli hostages have been released.”

Similarly, Democratic respondents by 64-20 percent contend that “Israel should stop its military campaign in order to protect against civilian casualties, even if Hamas has not been fully eliminated.”

White (45-34), Black (60-20), Hispanic (56-23) and “other” (59-27) respondents all agree that Israel is not “taking enough precautions to avoid civilian casualties.” A staggering 74-14 percent discrepancy holds for 18-29 year olds who clearly disagree with the approach taken by Israel’s apartheid military.

The polling was carried out from 10-14 December which means that about halfway through the polling Biden made his comment about Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing.”

Media coverage

With CNN starting to report more Friday and Saturday on US bombs being used against Palestinians, and CNN chief international investigative correspondent Nima Elbagir questioning the Israeli narrative, it’s likely these numbers will continue to shift toward an increasing number of Americans holding concerns about Israel’s actions.

That’s if CNN continues to permit such long overdue reporting.

If unconstrained American journalists ever get into Gaza from the major networks, providing significant coverage and interviews of civilians maimed by American weapons – and accounts of their family members killed – then it will be much more difficult for the Biden administration to keep aiding Israel’s war crimes.

Such robust coverage is not going to happen anytime soon, however. Israel and the US are well aware of the horrors being caused and don’t want the American public better exposed to what’s being done with their tax money lest it turn opinion against Israel’s actions.

Biden slipped in acknowledging Israeli war crimes with his “indiscriminate bombing” statement. This makes his administration complicit in Israeli war crimes.

It remains to be seen whether Biden will be as forthright in the future.

If international law means anything that statement will be exhibit 1 at any future trial of American and Israeli officials, unlikely as it is with Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, at the helm.

Whether Khan moves or not, Democrats will have major problems going forward if young people immediately associate the party with war crimes and come to see Palestinian freedom as a generational issue with entrenched Democratic leaders standing in the way.

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Michael F. Brown

Michael F. Brown is an independent journalist. His work and views have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, TheNation.com, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The News & Observer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post and elsewhere.