If you care about Gaza, you should vote for Biden
Photo courtesy of the White House
Biden’s support for Israel is threatening his chance of reelection. A small but significant number of Democrats are saying they will refuse to vote for him in November. Some are even suggesting they’d vote for Trump instead. This would be an irresponsible decision. While Biden’s engagement with Israel has been far too lenient for a country deemed plausibly responsible for genocide by the International Criminal Court, it is much better than Trump’s was in his first term would be in a second term.
In the US, voters have two choices. Third party candidates have no chance of winning a majority in the electoral college. Like it or not (and I don’t), this is the system Americans must operate within when casting their vote in November. In swing states like Michigan or Pennsylvania, not voting for Biden is tantamount to a vote for Trump. Every American over the age of eighteen has a responsibility to cast their ballot for the candidate who both has a chance of winning and whose government will, on balance, have a better impact on the lives of most people than the other.
A Trump presidency would be demonstrably worse for Palestinians by emboldening the Israeli far right to act with even less regard for human life in Gaza. As Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir put it “Instead of giving us his full backing, Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel… If Trump was in power, the U.S. conduct would be completely different.”
Israel has killed more than 30,000 people in Gaza, the vast majority of which being civilians. Congressman Raphael Warnock recently said a prayer in the Senate chamber for a thirteen-year-old child named Donia Abu Mohsen, who falls under the category Wounded Child, No Surviving Family (WCNSF). This acronym describes children who were injured in Israel’s ongoing attack on Gaza and left orphaned. In early February, more than 17,000 children were labelled WCNSF by the UN. Donia is no longer on that list- she was killed in an Israeli strike on the hospital which was treating her. Biden’s support of Israel’s action in Gaza is indefensible. It fails both metrics by which US foreign policy is supposed to be judged: interests and values. The war has destabilised the region, leaving the administration to scramble to keep things together through intense shuttle diplomacy. American values are supposed to hold human rights, basic dignity, and a right to self-determination in high respect. Biden’s support of Israel is doing exactly the opposite.
While it is important to acknowledge the current administration's many failings on this issue, discussing how former President Trump would handle it is even more pressing in the context of this election.
“You’ve got to finish the problem”. That was Trump’s answer when asked recently if he was “on board” with how Israel was “taking the fight to Gaza”. On the Biden administration's defence of Israel, the former President said “frankly, they’ve gone soft.” If elected, Trump wants to revive and expand his travel ban on Muslim-majority countries and deport anti-Israeli protestors. None of Trump’s rhetoric suggests he has any concern for the loss of Palestinian life. His record on Israel-Palestine should be even more alarming to those seeking a peaceful resolution.
Bowing to the preference of the Israeli right, Trump removed a provision of the 2016 and 2020 Republican party platform calling for a two-state solution. As President, he disregarded and antagonised Palestinians. His recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel upended decades of US foreign policy on the issue and angered Palestinians who are supposed to control East Jerusalem. The decision was condemned by the Pope, the European Union, and every other member of the UN Security council. His recognition of the Golan Heights as part of Israel sparked similar international uproar and was seen as a “political gift” to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He delegated US foreign policy on Israel and Palestine to his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who at the time had tens of millions of dollars’ worth of financial obligations to Israeli banks. Kushner’s half-baked peace plan would result in effectively no sovereignty for Palestinians, was partially plagiarised, and widely critiqued as a giveaway to Israel. Breaking yet again with precedent, the Trump administration decided in 2019 that Israeli settlement of the West Bank is not a violation of international law.
In contrast, Biden supports a two-state solution and reversed Trump’s 2019 West Bank settlement decision. Recently, he ordered the US military to establish a port in Gaza to increase the flow of humanitarian aid and pressured Israel to change its reckless attitude to human life in State of the Union address. He has said he would reject any resolution to the conflict where Israeli annexed part of Gaza or the borders change in any way.
Single-issue voting is irresponsible and often does more harm than good. However, even on the issue of the war in Gaza and the wider conflict between Israel and Palestine, the choice between the two major candidates is clear. If your priority is stopping the loss of life in Gaza and preventing future Israeli annexation or settlement of the region, you must vote for Biden in November.