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Joe Biden is in front of a split on his side In the wake of the Gaza conflict, progressive democrats put pressure on the president to take a tougher stance on Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.
Democratic members of Congress have criticized the Biden administration for defending Israel, which reflects decades of foreign policy orthodoxy, but is increasingly at odds with the party’s basic opinion.
As violence in the region continued over the weekend, Democrats fought in public over how the U.S. should respond.
Bernie Sanders, a left-wing senator from Vermont, said on Sunday: “When the United States puts nearly $ 4 billion a year into Israel, we have a right to respect the human rights of all people, including the Palestinians.” “.
He told the MSNBC news channel: “What we need now is an equal policy that protects the security of Israel – they have the right to live in peace and security without terrorist attacks – but the people of the Palestinian territories also have the right to live in peace and dignity.”
Sanders ’comments spoke to Biden with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and came one day after days of fighting.
The White House said the U.S. president had told Abbasi that Hamas should stop firing rockets at Israel, and that Netanyahu had “reaffirmed his strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself.”
On Sunday, there were 192 deaths in Gaza, including 92 women and children, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported. Israel has reported 10 deaths in Hamas attacks, including two children.
The President’s tone reflects long-term support for Israel. But it has caused outrage among American Muslim groups, several of them boycotted the White House virtual event on Sunday to celebrate the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
And he has also opposed a new generation of progressives in his party. With so many young and left-wing members of his party facing so many internal problems that he has been able to find common causes, such as the economy, infrastructure and climate change, it is more difficult to do so on foreign policy issues.
Several members of Congress criticized the administration’s stance in a heated debate in the House of Representatives last Thursday.
New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in the debate: “The president and many other figures have stated this week that Israel has a right to defend itself, and that is a recurring sentiment among this organization. But do Palestinians have the right to survive?”
Other Democrats have also appeared more willing than before to criticize Israel. Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a pro-Israel spokesman, said in a statement on Saturday he was “very concerned” about some of Israel’s military actions.
According to Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser to Barack Obama, “it feels increasingly unbearable for the US to see this loss of civilian life in Gaza – including so many children – and not to publicly demand a ceasefire.”
But several other members settled in Congress have maintained their regular support for Israel. Ted Deutch, a representative of the three Florida authorities, said in last week’s debate: “If they ask me to choose between a terrorist organization and our democratic ally, I will be with Israel.”
The divisions reflect the party’s changing views on U.S. policies in the region. In 2008, only 33% of Democrats believed that the US should put pressure on Israelis to make more commitments than Palestinians, Gallup’s vote. That number is 53 percent.
Meanwhile, many of those who campaigned last year for greater racial equality as a result of the assassination of George Floyd have found a common cause with Palestinians.
A statement The Black Lives Matter movement posted on Instagram last week: “It is impossible to defend racial equality, LGBT and women’s rights, condemn corrupt and abusive regimes and other injustices yet choose to abandon Palestinian oppression. It does not unite.”
The Democratic fight continued over the weekend with Ritchie Torres and Jamaal Bowman, both Democratic members of Congress representing New York neighborhoods, arguing on Twitter.
Last week Torres spoke out in Israel’s defense and accused his critics of forming a “mainstream Twitter mafia” against him. On sunday Bowman tweeted: “My brother Ritchie, this is not a Twitter mafia. This is about justice, humanity and equality.”
Torres replied, “I have a lot of respect for you as a colleague. But it alarms me when Twitter posts post images that erase Israel from the map, as an elected official recently did.”
Republicans have been keen to play democratic divisions over Israel, mainly because they face its division in the face of the party’s future. Liz Cheney’s elimination From the congressional leadership.
Jason Miller, an adviser to former President Donald Trump, he tweeted part of it Defining democratic divisions with Israel, he said, “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is showing a rift between Democrats.”
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