There are several reasons why President Biden’s re-election as POTUS is uncertain despite the undesirability of his only real opponent. In this post, I am dealing with only one of those, which is the main reason some people, including some of my Thinking Friends, say they cannot vote for Biden.
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| Pres. Biden contemplating what to do about Gaza. |
Why
is Pres. Biden supporting Israel so strongly? This is a question many
people, especially younger people, in the U.S. are asking. And most of those
asking that question are quite critical of the President because of that
support.
In
contrast to Lord Tennyson’s well-known words, “Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs
but to do and die,” concerning Israel’s retaliation against Hamas and the U.S.
President’s support of that warfare, it is incumbent upon us to ask the reason
why—and to ask why so many Palestinians have had to die.
The
attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, was an atrocious event, one not
unfairly compared with the September 11, 2001, attack on the U.S. True, the
deaths on 10/7 were around 40% of those on 9/11—but the population of Israel is
only about 3% that of the U.S.
Do
you remember the reaction of the U.S. government to those horrendous attacks on
9/11/01? On October 7 (in a remarkable coincidence of dates), the U.S.
officially launched Operation Enduring Freedom against Afghanistan.
In that
war which ended on August 30, 2021—an ending for which Biden has also often
been strongly criticized—at least 175,000 (and probably far more) people were
killed, including more than 46,000 civilians.
If
that is how the U.S. first responded to 9/11 even though the attackers were not
Afghans, it is not surprising that Israel responded with strong military action
against Gaza, where most of the Hamas terrorists lived.
Support
of Israel has been U.S. policy since 1948 when Israel became a nation, and
the U.S. under Pres. Truman was the first to recognize that new nation, and
this country has been Israel’s primary ally ever since.
Israel
has been the largest
cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid since its founding, receiving
about $300 billion (adjusted for inflation) in total economic and military
assistance.
What
else could Pres. Biden do but stand by an old ally? As I wrote in my blog post
on Dec. 21 last year,
I don’t think Biden’s position is any different from what any other President’s would be, including Hillary Clinton (who could well have been nearing the end of her seventh year as President if it had not been for her inexplicable loss in 2016).
Near Election Day in 2016 when I thought Clinton’s election was assured, I wrote “an open letter to Madame President.” Among other things, I implored her to ease up on her support for Israel in order to lessen the injustice being done to the Palestinians.
Pres.
Biden’s support of Israel has lessened over the months since last October, and his support for
humanitarian aid for Gaza has increased notably.
Four
weeks ago, Senator Schumer (D-N.Y.), the highest-ranking Jewish official in the
U.S. and a staunch ally of Israel, gave a powerful speech criticizing Prime
Minister Netanyahu and called for new elections in Israel, for if held now,
Netanyahu would most likely not be re-elected.
Pres.
Biden praised Schumer’s speech. In contrast, it was also widely reported that
leading Republican lawmakers were quite critical of it. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the U.S. needs to stand
with Israel and give its friend and ally its full support.
What would happen if Trump were President? Two weeks ago, Trump said he
would have responded the same way as Israel did after the Oct. 7 attack by
Hamas but urged the country to “finish up” its offensive in Gaza and
“get this over with.”*1
On that same day, “U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, a
Republican from Michigan who used to serve as a Baptist pastor, suggested at a
town hall meeting during Holy Week that the Gaza Strip should be nuked.”*2
I certainly wish Pres. Biden—and the U.S.
government—had a far less supportive position toward Israel and a far greater
humanitarian position toward Gaza.
Hearing what Trump and the Republicans are saying, though, why would anyone think voting for them rather than Biden would be better for the Palestinians?*3
____________________________________________________________________
*1
This was widely reported in the news media; here is the link to
what the Associated Press wrote.
*2 Here is how my friend Brian Kaylor, president & editor-in-chief of Word&Way, continued, citing Walberg: “‘We shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid,’ [Walberg] declared on March 25 after a constituent asked about the U.S. effort to build a port to deliver humanitarian aid to starving people in Gaza. ‘It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick.’” (Word&Way is a Christian [Baptist] media company based in Missouri since 1896.)
*3 Please
note my contention in the
March 20 post that not voting or voting for a third party candidate, especially
in swing states, increases the likelihood that Trump will be re-elected.
An open mike (when Biden didn't know it was open) caught the President saying something to the effect that he was going to have a ""come to Jesus" meeting with Bibi. "Come to Jesus" meeting was not a very good choice of words, considering who Netanyahu is. But I can wish that Bibi would behave more like Jesus than like Lamech of Genesis chapter 4 with his seventy sevenfole vengeance. There's some evidence that "Bibi" is hearing that he can no longer count on unconditional US aid. It is reported that he is ending his campaign in southern Gaza. But to your main point, I can only hope that people will not be one issue voters, and vote for Trump or a third party candidate and get the worst possible result of a second Trump administration. Trump is definitely more akin to Lamech!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your good, supporting comments, Charles. I hope that more of the young whippersnappers who read this blog post will come to agree with us old men!
DeleteLeroy, I have a childhood friend who is three weeks to the day older than I. We still converse. He calls me a young
Deletewhippersnapper! My wife Patricia's Uncle John is 102. Almost everybody is a young whippersnapper to him!
!!
DeleteHere is a summary of what CNN posted about Pres. Biden's recent comments about PM Netanyahu:
ReplyDelete"President Biden offered one of his sharpest rebukes of Israel's handling of the war in Gaza, describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approach to the conflict as a "mistake" and calling for a halt to the fighting. "I think what he's doing is a mistake. I don't agree with his approach," Biden told Univision in an interview. The president's comments add to mounting US criticism of Israel's war in Gaza. Still, Netanyahu on Tuesday emphasized that "no force in the world" would stop Israeli troops from entering Rafah, where about 1.5 million Gazans are sheltering. Netanyahu said a date was set for Israel's planned offensive but the Biden administration has dismissed it as bluster fueled by Netanyahu's tenuous political standing at home, officials told CNN."
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/09/politics/biden-trump-threat-to-democracy/index.html
Here are comments from Glenn Hinson, a Thinking Friend in Kentucky and another "old man" like Charles and me. (Charles and Glenn are both past 90, as I will be in just a few years.)
ReplyDelete"I must admit very mixed feelings, Leroy. Living in Israel in 1976, I witnessed very unfair treatment of Palestinians by the IDF. I firmly believe in the two-state solution to this problem and oppose Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Yet I am convinced that Biden is doing the best any president could in emphasizing the two-state solution and trying to provide humanitarian relief to the Palestinians, while trying to change Israel’s objective—to destroy Hamas. What other country is doing more?"
Glenn Hinson captures my stance closely. Even one visit to Israel showed me an extremely "Shoah conscious" state that took great care with security, considering many seek their destruction. Israel's suffering and your 9-11 comparison, plus your observation about the American reaction (overreach?) to it is astute. You recognize the fearful and unreasoning tendency of the Israeli far-right represented in Bibi. As to the U.S., I do not want to see the U.S. creeping--or galloping--toward the automatic option of destructive, retaliatory force. I would want our presidents and Congress to be more peacemakers who martial what is already good on "our side" and that of others. I do not want to see an unreasoning reactionary who spouts authoritarian threats in the White House again, taking opportunities to destroy what positive initiatives the U.S. has left or may realize in the world. The U.S. is already great but needs healing that requires cooperation toward the good.
ReplyDeleteJerry, I always appreciate your cogent comments, and this morning's is no exception.
DeleteI was in Japan in 2001 and 2003 and shared the strong opposition that my Japaese Christian friends had toward the warfare the U.S. launched in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. And we were dismayed at the strong support President Bush garnered for his response to 9/11--and that support was still strong enough that he was reelected (narrowly) in 2004, defeating a man who would likely have been a far better President. I'm sure there was some opposition to the military retaliation for the U.S. to the tragic events of 9/11, but--and maybe because I wasn't living in the U.S. then--I don't recall the opposition during Bush's first term being as strong as the current opposition to Biden is in this final year of his first term.
And who knows what military action the U.S. will become involved in if Biden is not re-elected.
A local Thinking Friend, who is also past 90, sent this comment by email:
ReplyDelete"Your post is standard fare on Biden’s run for President, but I am impressed with your prophetic word to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton."
Late this morning, Thinking Friend Eric Dollard in Chicago shared these comments:
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Leroy, for your remarks about Israel and the war in Gaza.
"I support Israel as a country, but I do not support the policies of Likud and Benjamin Netanyahu, who represents a threat to Israel itself. The attack on Israelis on October 7 was certainly despicable, but Netanyahu is ultimately responsible for that disaster--for two reasons. One involves is his settlement policies in West Bank and the treatment of Palestinians there, along with his treatment of Gaza, and the other is that Netanyahu was warned about the October 7 attack and did nothing to prevent it. That may have been on purpose so he would have an excuse to attack Gaza and boost his political standing. If so, then it has backfired spectacularly.
"The Palestinians are not going away despite the horrors perpetrated in Gaza. The only solution with any chance of bringing peace to the region is the two-state solution, but Netanyahu and his supporters have no interest in such a solution, and any successor to Netanyahu may not be any better.
"As for Biden, he has finally adopted a tougher line with Netanyahu, although not tough enough. The attack on Gaza needs to stop."
Let me start with 9/11. My wife and I were in NY just weeks after 9/11 to celebrate our 25 wedding anniversary. When we visited Times Square there were a few protestors holding signing calling on Bush to not go to war over 9/11. I immediately thought, "Of course we are going to war. Of course it is going to be a huge mistake."
ReplyDeleteNow, about choosing the lesser of two evils, today's young people have been stuck between two evils so many times many are beyond just frustrated. From the economy to social policies that is often the choice. Why Biden's Israel policy is evil starts with his first day in office. The public policy of past administrations has been support for a two-state solution. While defending Israel, the US has tried to remain a fair broker on peace between Israel and Palestine. Jimmy Carter was the example others tried to follow. Unfortunately, Trump broke that policy by moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Biden should have moved the embassy back on day one as a gesture of good faith to Palestine. He did not, thus leaving a clear warning to Palestine. October 7 the desperation and isolation of Palestine boiled over. No one objected to Israel making a proportionate response. Instead, Israel erupted in all directions, acting like the West Bank were their liebestraum, Gaza their Warsaw Ghetto, and a final solution their goal. If "never again" means anything, it means never again for all.
Biden should freeze all military aid to Israel until Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and negotiations for peace with Palestinians, with an opening for negotiating a real "final solution" that is acceptable to both sides (not just an ongoing ceasefire like in Korea). Hamas and Netanyahu are both wrong for demanding total victory from the river to the sea. Israel has the greater power and therefore the greater responsibility. The Babylonian captivity lasted only 70 years, yet the return caused lots of problems between the returnees and the remaining local populations. The Jews are trying to return as a national power after an absence of 2,000 years. There is, however, a scriptural place for Israel to start its negotiations. In Genesis we learn that when the sons of Jacob sold their brother Joseph into slavery they sold him to a group of Arabs. Yes, there were Arabs in Palestine even in the days of Jacob. The Arabs are listed in Genesis as the sons of Ismael (God Listens), the eldest son of Abraham. It is time for the children of Isaac and the children of Ismael to finally find peace.
Craig, there is much I could write in response to these comments you posted yesterday, but let me just say that your first paragraph contains much that is wrong or misleading. I say that because of the 2020 article from The Times of Israel website (linked to below) as well as the Wikipedia article on the Jerusalem Embassy Act (which you can easily find). Even if Bernie had been elected President in 2020, he would not have moved the Embassy back to Tel Aviv on his first day in office, and he quite likely could not have moved it back later. On this matter, neither of the current main presidential candidates were/are "evil," for they were/are acting in accordance with the law passed overwhelmingly by Congress in 1995.
Deletehttps://www.timesofisrael.com/moving-the-us-embassy-back-to-tel-aviv-technically-possible-but-very-unlikely/
Eric, I always look forward to reading your comments, for you regularly indicate a level of understanding and breadth of knowledge that perhaps many of my Thinking Friends and certainly most of the general public don't have.
ReplyDeleteI don't have enough knowledge to say that PM Netanyahu was "ultimately responsible" for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. While I wholeheartedly agree that the Palestinians have been treated horribly by Israel since 1948, I cannot agree with the actions of militant terrorists. So while I understand why Hamas exists, I deplore their violent acts. Desperate people often use desperate ends, but I don't know that we can blame Israel for what Hamas did, although certainly what Israel has done through the decades led to their desperation. But I also strongly deplore the violent reaction to Hamas by the Israeli government under PM Netanyahu.
While not knowing the situation fully, I agree with you that it is quite possible that much of what Israel has done under Netanyahu is because of his seeking to remain in power rather than to face the corruption charges against him once he is out of office. That is similar, I think, to the primary reason Trump is trying so hard, by hook or by crook, to be reelected. If he were to become President again, many of the felony charges against him would be dropped, or at least postponed until he would be out of office. That is even more reason the voting public in the U.S. need to make sure he is not elected in November--and not allowed to use force to claim electoral victory in case the votes do not go his way.
Your last statement is what I agree with most. There needs to be a permanent ceasefire NOW!
[This should have been posed under Erik's comment above.]
DeleteHere are comments received this afternoon from Thinking Friend Virginia Belk in New Mexico:
ReplyDelete"The entire situation is alarming, disturbing, frightening to me.
"I doubt Mr. Turman envisioned Israel's inhumane treatment of Palestinian people in their greedy land grab efforts after 1948, much less after 1967.
"I am troubled by the famine/hunger situation in Palestine, by the wall building blockade so that Palestinians can't get to places of work, worship, or recreation. Mr. Netanyahu's choice of attacking Iranian Hamas by killing citizens of Palestine and of refusing to consider allowing Palestine to form its own nation is inhumane.
We should support the intent of the original support statement of Israel, but not the manner in which Israel is responding to 7 October 2023; we should cease sending arms and other military equipment to them now!"
I am not about to say I have the answer to this terrible situation. What I do have is an extensive lack of understanding why developments are going the way they are. These are some of the points that leave me with little assurance of any kind of lasting peace.
ReplyDelete1. Can we be assured there will be peace in the region if two states are established with so many loud voices calling for Palestine to be free from the River to the Sea?
2. How can there be "surgical strikes" by Israel when Hamas fighters work from positions in hospitals and schools?
3. I thought the West Bank was supposed to be under Palestinian control. Where does Israel get the idea it can force Israeli settlements into the region?
4. Why do I hear Hamas is rejecting ceasefire offers from other countries that supposedly Israel will accept? To what are they objecting?
5. The number of people in Gaza having been killed is one number. Does this include Hamas fighters and innocent civilians killed by Israeli troops and bad aiming by Hamas fighters who do not always know how to guide their own missiles?
Yes, pray for the peace of Jerusalem, all quarters, and every village and city in the region. I'm not sure it has ever known peace.
Tom, you raise a lot of good and important--and difficult--questions. Let me just respond to your first and third questions at this time.
DeleteRe: 1. -- Here (below) is a link to an article posted last October, but it is still relevant to the question you asked. As the article says, "what the phrase means depends on who is telling the story--and which audience is hearing it." I think it is a good slogan if it means what a British man is quoted as saying at the end of the article: "These words should not be construed in any other way than they were intended, namely as a heartfelt plea for an end to killings in Israel, Gaza, and the occupied West Bank, and for all peoples in the region to live in freedom without the threat of violence." I support those who use those six words in this way.
https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-international/ap-from-the-river-to-the-sea-why-a-6-word-phrase-sparks-fury-and-passion-over-the-israel-hamas-war/
Re: 2. It was nearly ten years ago that I visited Israel/Palestine for the first and only time, and I was on a bus with academics who were taking a tour of Jerusalem, including East Jerusalem and then on east where there are many Israeli settlements. I had always been an advocate for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, but when I saw the Israeli settlements, I thought that that was no longer a possibility. I thought the settlements were temporary houses that some Israelis lived in, but come to find out, they were mostly large permanent structures built to last for decades. And the number of those settlements has only increased in the past ten years. It seems to me that the U.N.--and the United States!--should put more pressure on Israel not to expand the settlements and the begin work on decreasing their size and/or gradually turn them over to the Palestinians, for they are certainly on land that is supposed to be for the Palestinians to live on--and to live on peaceably.
Here is the link to "Biden’s ‘bear hug’ with Israel pays off with a minimal strike on Iran," an opinion piece in this morning's Washington Post:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/19/israel-iran-biden-mideast-war/