Biden Can End His Support of Israel’s Actions in the Middle East—if He Listens to the American People

TOPSHOT-ISRAEL-US-PALESTINIAN-CONFLICT

Over the past year, the international community has watched with alarm as Israel has conducted a military campaign in Gaza that Palestinians and many others consider genocidal. This campaign, one of the most lethal and destructive in recent history, has been heavily armed and funded by the United States government.

The U.S. has provided at least billions of dollars in weapons to Israel, and this staggering sum continues to grow. In August, the Biden Administration approved a further substantial arms package.

This unwavering support for Israel contradicts international law and the wishes of a majority of Americans. Public opinion polls consistently show that Americans favor a ceasefire in Gaza and oppose the transfer of weapons to Israel, including advanced weaponry, amid the ongoing death and destruction.

The conflict has resulted in the deaths of at least 42,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 16,500 children. Additionally, 96,000 people have been wounded, and nearly 2 million have been displaced from their homes. These are staggering numbers, highlighting the immense human cost of the conflict.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli military forces and settlers have launched a wave of violent repression, exploiting the world’s focus on Gaza. At least hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers. More than thousands have also been forcibly evicted from their homes as Israel expands illegal settlements. A recent report by the watchdog group Peace Now labelled one seizure in the Jordan Valley as “the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords.”

It’s crucial to understand that the violence Palestinians face did not begin with the Hamas attack on October 7th. Most people in Gaza are refugees whose families were expelled from their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948. Since the occupation began in 1967, they have lived under oppressive Israeli military rule. For over 17 years prior to October 7th, Israel imposed a suffocating siege and naval blockade on Gaza, restricting the flow of people and goods into and out of the territory. The blockade, condemned by the United Nations and human rights groups, further plunged much of Gaza’s already impoverished population into despair.

Now, the nightmare of Gaza, characterized by the stench of corpses, widespread destruction, and the incessant buzzing of military drones, is spreading to Lebanon. The death toll has risen significantly, while more than 1 million of Lebanon’s 5 million people have been displaced amid the ongoing conflict. Israel has also launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government are actively seeking to draw the U.S. into a war with Iran on Israel’s behalf. Will President Biden finally set a clear boundary to stop Israel’s escalating aggression? So far, there is no indication that he is prepared to restrain Netanyahu.

Clearly, no one benefits from Israel’s war footing. This includes the people of Gaza and Lebanon who are suffering, as well as the American people.

However, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are not heeding the wishes of most Americans. Harris has pledged “unwavering” support for Israel and stated that she would not impose conditions on weapons transfers to Israel even if she were elected in November. Donald Trump has vowed that the U.S. and Israel would become “closer than ever” if he were President again.

If there is any hope for peace, it must come from the American people exerting pressure on both Israel and the Palestinians. They must demand that the noble values their country professes – equality and justice for all – be applied to their government’s treatment of Palestinians, Lebanese, and others in the region.

For many Palestinians, the situation has never felt more hopeless. Freedom seems like a distant dream when one’s own survival is at stake. The hope I hold onto is that the growing global awareness of the reality of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the ongoing oppression in Israel and the occupied territories will bring us closer to collective liberation and an end to the horrors we have endured for far too long.

A great American once said that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. But it does not bend on its own. It is up to each of us to create the kind of world we want to live in – one that respects the dignity of every person and the sanctity of every life.