Joe Biden is the lesser evil between two old white pro-Israel racists
Biden has proven himself to be an opportunist, and he might reluctantly abandon his pro-Zionist stance if he realized how much the Democratic Party base has changed on the matter.
While much may still change between now and the US presidential election in November, everything indicates that Joe Biden will be the Democratic candidate.
For progressives and anyone interested in justice in the Middle East, this is nothing to celebrate. Biden's record on Palestine is well known. The former vice president has been in politics for nearly half a century and during that time he has consistently affirmed his "unwavering support for Israel."
In a speech at a conference of rabbis in 2011, Biden said, “I am a Zionist because I learned that you don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. "
This is not the strictly worded and almost mandatory default statement that is expected of politicians in the United States. "As president, Joe Biden will continue to ensure that the Jewish state, the Jewish people and Jewish values enjoy the unwavering support of the United States," he promises on his website.
Biden represents the worst of the Democratic old guard and his nomination, almost certain, is a blow to activists' energy and aspirations
He is proud to have helped secure the biggest aid package ever given to Israel, calling it "the best $ 3 billion investment we have ever made," and noting on his site, "Biden helped shape the unprecedented ten billion dollar, ten-year memorandum of understanding for Israel's defense assistance, signed in 2016, the largest such military aid program in U.S. history. "
This aid plan, of course, was prepared as President Barack Obama was about to step down - a sad reminder that Democrats have always been as treacherous as Republicans on the question of justice in Palestine. .
Like Bernie Sanders, who recently retired from the Democratic presidential race, Biden opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. But Biden goes further, saying he is "scandalized" at the idea of conditioning aid to Israel.
"The idea that we can make military assistance to Israel dependent on changing a specific policy, I find it absolutely scandalous," he told a Wall Street Journal reporter in late 2019, intentionally seeking to stand out from Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, then still in the running for the Democratic nomination.
The lesser evil
On the other hand, while Biden has criticized the background to Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, he said he would not reverse the decision nonetheless. “Now that it's done, I will not move the embassy back to Tel Aviv,” he said recently.
This cavalier acceptance of the "facts on the ground" plays into Israel's hands and suggests that Biden is unlikely to call for an end to illegal settlement.
Meanwhile, Israel is considering a further annexation of Palestinian land, convinced that the leadership of the American Democratic Party, which now aligns itself with Biden, will take no action to oppose it.
A growing number of Americans have unfortunately learned that every four years they can vote only for the lesser evil, fully aware that the lesser evil is no less bad. This is the sad and chilling reality behind the facade of democracy in the United States.
On November 3, then, we will choose between two old, white, pro-Israel racists (Biden has opposed unordered racial integration policies in the past, fearing that his children will grow up "in a racial jungle").
We will choose between a man who brags about getting away with impunity for sexual assault and one who continues to deny the persistent allegations of sexual assault against him, refusing to be held to account.
Put simply, Biden represents the worst of the old Democratic guard and his nomination, almost certain, is a blow to the energy and aspirations of activists who believed they could make change from within the system.
Unenthusiastic voters
And yet, there is a difference between Trump and Biden. Trump has full confidence in the support of his base. Even the very numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and assault, which he denies, have failed to deter his fans, as evidenced by the women who proudly wear T-shirts that display rejection of such allegations.
Those who voted for him when he proposed to "make America great again" - his 2016 slogan - are apparently happy with his accomplishments and want to "preserve America's greatness" (the motto of 2020) for the white supremacists he emboldened.
Joe Biden is keenly aware that a majority of Democratic voters are reluctant - if not reluctant - to support him, and many are horrified by the sexual assault allegations he continues to ignore. .
Many are so disheartened that he is the likely Democratic Party candidate that they consider not going to vote at all.
Biden also knows there are still hundreds of thousands of votes that could go to Sanders, who strategically chose to stay in the June 23 primary ballot to push the party in a more progressive direction.
As the latter explained in the speech announcing the end of his campaign: “We must continue to bring together as many delegates as possible to the Democratic convention [in August], where we will be able to exert a significant influence on the party program and other responsibilities. It is then that together, united, we will move forward to defeat Donald Trump - the most dangerous president in modern American history - and we will fight to elect powerful progressives at all levels of the world. government. "
Slide to the left
Biden knows he'll have to swing to the left. We have seen him do this before when he took certain positions of Sanders, particularly on public education, or Elizabeth Warren on bankruptcy protection, which he had opposed earlier, knowing that those - these are very important to Democratic voters.
There is not much to look forward to. But it's something that sets him apart from Trump, who can only move further to the right, into an open embrace of fascism.
Biden has proven he is an opportunist, and he could turn his jacket over on Israel as well. It wouldn't be the result of a change of mind or a moral impulse to do the right thing. On the contrary, if it does happen, it will be reluctantly, when he realizes how much the base of the Democratic Party has changed on the subject as well.
There is not much to look forward to. But that's something that sets him apart from Trump, who can only move further to the right, into an open embrace of fascism.
- Nada Elia is a Palestinian diaspora political writer and commentator, currently working on her second book, Who You Callin ’’ ’Demographic Threat?’ Notes from the Global Intifada. A professor of gender and world studies (retired), she is a member of the steering collective of the American Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI).
