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Biden Needs to Stand By His Promises, Not Try to Appease Anti-Israel Voters
US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address at the US Capitol, March 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
President Biden finds himself in a political predicament: by providing military aid and diplomatic support for Israel, he has alienated many Arab voters in Michigan, a swing state that may be crucial for his re-election bid. On the other hand, his failure to veto last week’s UN Security Council Resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, and his increasingly harsh rhetoric about Israel’s defensive war in Gaza, has had the same effect on many Jewish voters.
Aside from his own personal views, Biden’s action at the UN and his attacks on Israel seem partly intended to mollify Arab voters and bring the progressive wing of his party back into the fold before a tough election. But it’s likely that Biden can’t win back these voters without instituting an arms embargo against our longstanding ally while it is at war, something he is loath to do.
In attempting to placate these voters, all Biden has succeeded in doing is to alienate another set of voters: American Jews who support Israel. While Jews certainly don’t vote solely based on what is best for Israel, many Jewish people were initially heartened by Biden’s strong response to the Hamas massacre on October 7, and the defensive war Israel launched in response. But now many Jewish voters are questioning Biden’s promise that he would stand by Israel until it was able to fully defeat Hamas.
Furthermore, the US abstention at the United Nations has had horrible consequences for Israel, the Palestinians, and all people who want to see peace in the region. Hostage negotiations were making progress with Hamas until that resolution, at which point Hamas abruptly reverted to its original position. The timing was no coincidence. Hamas felt emboldened by the UN resolution — and the US abstention — and decided time and the international community were on its side. Biden’s move was a grave misstep, and one that will have major real world consequences.
Although Arab Americans have a strong presence in swing states, so do Jews — like the many Jewish people that live in the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia.
Arab Americans who don’t vote for Biden don’t have a viable alternative, and it would hurt their interests to abandon him. They aren’t going to like Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban 2.0, or Trump’s racist language and even harsher criticism of the Palestinians. Biden’s political fortunes are much more secure if he doesn’t drive voters who care about Israel into the arms of Trump. Viewed through this lens, his decision to abstain from the UN vote was particularly shortsighted. Not only did it undermine the hostage negotiations, but it may have hurt his re-election campaign.
It also signaled to our allies and enemies that the US is an unreliable, fair-weather friend. It demonstrated weakness of will, and a lack of steadfastness that will reduce confidence in the commitments we make and the positions we take. That is bad for our standing in the world, and bad for Biden. One of the advantages that Biden touts against his opponent is the image of the steadfast elder statesman in contrast to Trump’s erratic buffoonery. But Biden’s flip-flopping on Israel has harmed that image he so carefully cultivated. It was as reckless politically as it was geopolitically.
In these precarious times, the US needs a steadfast leader. Someone who can be counted on to make difficult decisions and stick to them, even if a vocal minority in his party is alienated by them. We need a leader whose commitment to our allies is not subject to the vicissitudes of domestic politics. Unfortunately, we do not have that leadership at this crucial time.
Kenneth Blake is a former state prosecutor. He teaches Critical Thinking and Government in Petaluma, CA.
The post Biden Needs to Stand By His Promises, Not Try to Appease Anti-Israel Voters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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