As a Palestinian-American, I can’t vote for Joe Biden any more. And I am not alone | Ahmed Moor
www.theguardian.com
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.

…

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.

…

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.

    • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      172·
      7 months ago

      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?

      • TheBananaKing@lemmy.world
        65·
        7 months ago

        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.

      • juicy@lemmy.todayOP
        13·
        7 months ago

        My friend, you just argued that fueling genocide is the pragmatic choice.

        • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          7 months ago

          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.

    • PorradaVFR@lemmy.world
      208·
      7 months ago

      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.

        • PorradaVFR@lemmy.world
          21·
          7 months ago

          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.

      • juicy@lemmy.todayOP
        13·
        7 months ago

        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.

      • TheBananaKing@lemmy.world
        711·
        7 months ago

        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.

        • PorradaVFR@lemmy.world
          53·
          7 months ago

          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?

          • TheBananaKing@lemmy.world
            52·
            7 months ago

            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.

            • PorradaVFR@lemmy.world
              31·
              7 months ago

              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.