As a Palestinian American, I can’t vote for Joe Biden any more. And I am not alone
As a Palestinian American, I can’t vote for Joe Biden any more. And I am not alone
The president’s moral failure in Gaza has taken on historic proportions, like Lyndon Johnson’s in Vietnam before him
I am a Palestinian American in Pennsylvania, a contested state. I plan to write in “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary on 23 April and in November, I will vote for a third-party candidate.
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For many, myself included, a vote for Biden is simply impermissible – the extent of the moral calamity is so great as to render a vote for Biden a vote for complicity.
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As the president of the Center City mosque in Philadelphia, Mohammed Shariff, said to me: “My vote is the purest form of expression and speech.” President Biden ignores our voices at his own peril, and ours.
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“I’m going to shoot myself in the foot on principle.“
Not what was said or meant, but undeniably the ultimate result of this approach will be leadership that actively and happily opposes ANY progress for Palestine. Period.
Biden has done poorly on an issue that the alternative would utterly disregard.
I know, the “lesser evil” argument is weak - but Biden is pushing back on Netanyahu where others would encourage and enable him.
It’s your vote - think pragmatically.
What I want to know is why nobody is pushing against Hamas too. They're not the good guys, there are none in power over there. They need to get rid of both leaders and let the young people deal with this.
But this sudden turn from "Hamas needs to stop firing rockets at malls and schools" suddenly became "omg the poor Palestinian government, we must save it!"
I’ve not seen support for Hamas…? Who are you referring to?
The people shooting rockets and raping people on October 7, educate yourself
No dumb ass, I quite clearly noted I’ve not seen anyone advocating for them as suggested, outside of extremists. Even he usual suspects seem disinclined to support them after the attacks - even Iran held back until conditions in Gaza went so badly and even then until attacked and they’re usually itching for an excuse.
Funny how this Gaza thing has been going on for literally decades. But you never gave a shit until the news and social media told you to. You're just a fake activist, and you'll move on to the next outrage in no time, just like you guys moved on from Ukraine already. And you're not even an activist cause I doubt you get off your ass and do anything for Palestine besides bitch online.
I still remember after 9/11 you guys wanted every Arab and Muslim dead, and wanted Palestine wiped out, and suddenly you guys change your mind and we're supposed to believe your moral grandstanding is genuine lol
You have no idea about….everything apparently. But ooh you’re mad and judge mental. That’ll surely foster a dialogue and progress.
Job well done, you solved it.
There it is. Both sides-ing a genocide. I suspect most of you Blue Maga folks don't actually care about the Palestinians, which is why it's so easy for you to make the "lesser evil" argument.
I guess enjoy Trump glassing the place then
Why is it that everyone who opposes you is Maga? Idiot. I'm more left wing than you're ever willing to go. I've been protesting before you were born.
Sometimes (most of the time) both sides are bad. I've lived it, I've grown up in war instead of comfort like you. I grew up with bombs falling, not playing Nintendo all day like you. Netanyahu is bad, so is Hamas, get rid of them both. Just because you hate Israel (certain Israelis, not the Arab ones) doesn't make Hamas the good guys they aren't. Hamas leaders are wealthy and don't like in Palestine by the way. Educate yourself
Claiming he's pushing back while he's pushing for more funding and weapons sales is a weak argument. What he says never aligns with what he does
Fair enough, but consider what he's saying is all but unprecedented. He's tying strings to our policy and directly pushing aid to Gaza too. Yes, the air drops have not been anywhere near enough - but that they happen at all is telling.
Again, the point is that the alternative would be exponentially worse. Yes, worse even than the nightmare it already is.
No, nothing Biden is doing is praiseworthy. Ronald Reagan, yes that Ronald Reagan, was far more assertive:
In addition to not vetoing UN resolutions, Reagan took several actions that many in Israel and the United States perceived as anti-Israel. For example, on June 7, 1981, less than six months after Reagan took office, Israel launched a surprise bombing raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak, and, in so doing, violated the airspace of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Reagan not only supported UNSC Resolution 487, which condemned the attack, but he also criticized the raid publicly and suspended the delivery of advanced F-16 fighter jets to Israel.
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In addition to allowing the UN resolutions to pass and suspending the F-16 delivery, Reagan also restricted aid and military assistance to Israel to help force its withdrawal of troops from Beirut and central Lebanon.
All Biden does is flap his lips while giving weapons to Israel. The air drops are just theater that do nothing to prevent the famine.
Imagine being to the right of people like Reagan and Thatcher and calling themselves progressive
It doesn't get much worse then genocide. If Biden did the exact same things he's done with Palestine but as a Republican fucking liberals would be calling for impeachment, investigations, 25th amendment, etc. anything to get him out of office.
But democrats will accept right wing fascist authoritarian policy if it has a D next to their name
Why isn't it Biden's job to think pragmatically?
Here's some pragmatism for you.
- Leaving Israel to hang out to dry will open up America to accusations that it gives in too easily to 'antisemitic' rhetoric and doesn't really care for Jews. Don't think that can happen? It already has.
- Putin and Netanyahu, despite not being as close today, have historically been close, and Israel is a pretty friendly nation to Russia, with the third most common language spoken in Israel being Russian, and the third ranked non-Soviet state in terms of Russian speakers being Israel.
- Jews represent roughly 5.8 million Americans, compared to roughly 3.5 million. And Jews, as a whole, lean heavily towards Democrats, with roughly half of those polled in 2018 identifying with Team Blue. And while almost 60%, we're still talking 2.9 million Jews versus 2.1 million Muslims. Doing what you say you want him to do will lose him many of those 2.9 million votes, and if he listens to the most vocal of the people saying they won't vote for him, he has to wonder how much of the 2.1 million other votes he'll get back.
- And of course, the rest of the Middle East is just WAITING for us to stop protecting Israel. They've wanted Israel gone since 1949, and we are the only reason that hasn't happened. I'm sure that's entered Biden's pragmatic evaluation, too!
How's that for pragmatism for ya?
1: Jews aren't Israel, and they're perfefctly capable of making that distiction. The US doesn't need to equate them.
2: Great, let's get all the murderous shitheads in one bloc and fuck them all off together. Not seeing the downside here.
3: It's not just Muslims that he needs to win back, it's everyone on the left with any kind of principles. Including a goodly number of Jews.
4: 76 years of brutal oppression, but now Uncle Vernon isn't around to shield them from consequences? Behold my garden of fucks, may'st see that it lieth barren.
Just to add: the reason why man israelis speak russian is the fact that they come from post communist countries. Those people couldn't leave during that era.
My friend, you just argued that fueling genocide is the pragmatic choice.
Trump said he wanted Israel to hurry up and get it done. Rather have that man in office? Jesus fuck me you kids are dumb as fucking rocks. Dehydrated, rock hard stupid.
It is. He is standing by our ally while calling out their actions. I don’t agree with it either but recognize that turning our back on Israel would destabilize the mess in the region even more.
Netanyahu is the problem and it’s obvious that Biden wants him gone but for now it’s a shitty situation Iran just escalated.
What would have Biden do? Put troops in Gaza? I wish we’d cut off military aid personally but people far more qualified than me make those calls. It’s a shitshow for sure but opting for worse is not the solution.
Iran escalated, by returning fire?
I meant by arming the Houthis and clearly itching to get involved. The attack on their embassy was a dumb move in response which….further escalated things and frankly I think backfired massively as it eliminated the argument that Israel was solely defensive. Phrased that poorly.
Anyone who thinks Israel is our ally is fooling themself. Israel wants to pull us into another war. Anyone who thinks we can be allies with a country carrying out genocide, much less provide them with weapons, is morally bankrupt. You don't need qualifications to know fueling genocide is unconditionally wrong, you just need a soul.
Nope. Biden has already stated that his support for Israel is unconditional, and he's got their back no matter what they do.
A person is no better than the worst thing they will tolerate, and there's nothing he won't tolerate. Israel could build literal fucking gas chambers, and not only will he foot the bill, he'll fight anyone who tries to stop them.
The republicans run on being hateful morons, that's their whole platform and their voters know what they're getting.
The dems run on being decent responsible human beings, but you don't get to make that claim if you're too busy gagging on nazi dick. If people let them win regardless, they'll never be accountable again - and that's honestly even worse than letting the evil clowns drive.
Again, I agree Israel’s response has been excessive to the point of genocidal - but the Republicans would gleefully endorse and encourage worse. Biden has been openly lukewarm in his support and if reports are accurate he’s been railing on Netanyahu. I hate the devil’s bargain we have of supporting Israeli acts no matter what but as trivial as it is on the ground we let the UN measure pass which was telling and unprecedented.
Again, the principled opposition while justified will only promote far worse. Given that what is the logical decision?
Cut off aid, draw a line, have moral principles, have something you refuse to support.
Or lose.
That's the decision, and it's theirs to make.
I don’t know that the election would actually turn on this but I shudder to think how much worse it will get writ large if Trump gets back in the White House but I also don’t expect us to turn our back on Israel so….who knows.