Biden's Gaza Ceasefire Veto Defies American Public Opinion

[Riaz Haq]

Aaron Bushnell, an active serviceman in the United States Air Force, burned himself to death in front of the Israeli Embassy in protest against the US policy in Gaza. Before setting himself on fire in what he called an "extreme act of protest", he said he would "no longer be complicit in genocide". Polls show that the vast majority (63%) of Americans want an immediate end to the carnage being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.  

USAF Engineer Aaron Bushnell

Although Bushnell resorted to this extreme form of protest against the Biden Administration's policy of unqualified support for Israel, he was not alone in opposing it. American public opinion polls confirm that the vast majority of Americans, including Jewish Americans, want an immediate end to the Gaza carnage. 

Gaza Ceasefire Poll. Source: ISPU

Overall, 63% of Americans support a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a recent poll conducted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU). In terms of religions, 71% of Catholics, 61% of Non-Affiliated,  60% of Protestants, 58% of White Evangelicals, 50% of Jews and 75% of Muslims support an immediate ceasefire, according to the poll. 

Jewish and Muslim Democrats, like Democrats in the general public, favor an end to the violence in Gaza. The majority of Republicans in the general public also favor a ceasefire. 

So why is President Biden defying the will of the American people on Gaza?  The simple answer is AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most powerful lobby in Washington D.C. This Israel lobby has showered its friendly politicians with money from wealthy Jewish donors. It has also ensured the defeat of those politicians who dared to speak out against Israeli policies in the Middle East. As one former Democratic senator, Ernest Hollings, put it on leaving office, ‘you can’t have an Israeli policy other than what AIPAC gives you around here.’ Or as Ariel Sharon once told an American audience, ‘when people ask me how they can help Israel, I tell them: “Help AIPAC.”’

President Jimmy Carter who helped broker peace between Israel and Egypt knows the Israel lobby well. He told Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now" many years ago: "I think it’s accurate to say that not a single member of Congress with whom I’m familiar would possibly speak out and call for Israel to withdraw to their legal boundaries or to publicize the plight of the Palestinians or even to call publicly and repeatedly for good faith peace talks.....  And I would say that if any member of Congress did speak out, as I’ve just described, they would probably not be back in the Congress the next term ". 

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[Riaz Haq]

US Jewish teens likely to criticize Israel, sympathize with Hamas - The Jerusalem Post

New data shows the worrying reality of how American Jewish teens view Israel.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-830230


A newly released survey from Mosaic United, conducted with Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism, reveals that Jewish teens in the United States are significantly more likely to hold critical views of Israel and sympathize with Hamas compared to their peers in other countries.

According to the findings, 37% of American Jewish teens expressed sympathy for Hamas, a stark contrast to just 7% of Jewish teens globally. Similarly, 42% of US Jewish teens believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, compared to only 9% of their international counterparts.

These disparities highlight a worrying divergence in how American Jewish teens perceive Israel, influenced by differences in culture, community, and education.

The survey also emphasized the correlation between Jewish educational engagement and positive attitudes toward Israel. Teens who participated in Jewish camps, day schools, or supplementary schools, or who had personal encounters with Israelis (mifgashim), were far less likely to harbor anti-Israel views.

Among those with a strong Jewish background, only 6% sympathized with Hamas, compared to 65% of teens with little to no Jewish educational experiences.

Connection grows with age, but challenges persist
Despite these concerns, the survey offers a hopeful trajectory as Jewish teens grow older. While 60% of 14-year-olds expressed sympathy for Hamas, this figure dropped to just 10% among 18-year-olds, suggesting that ongoing engagement and education can foster a deeper understanding of Israel’s complexities.

Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli called for increased efforts to bridge the gaps: “It is more important than ever to strengthen the bonds between Jewish teens in the diaspora and Israel. We are glad to see that 94% of Jewish teens feel a connection to Israel, but these findings show we must continue educating and supporting Jewish youth globally.”

[Riaz Haq]

Arnaud Bertrand
@RnaudBertrand
Quite a sign when Stephen Walt, one of the most renowned scholars of international relations in the world (and Harvard professor), writes an article in Foreign Policy arguing that "Noam Chomsky has been proved right":

https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/11/15/chomsky-foreign-policy-book-re...

Walt agrees with Chomsky that "the claim that U.S. foreign policy is guided by the lofty ideals of democracy, freedom, the rule of law, human rights" is "nonsense".

As he explains, all of US history proves the contrary, from the "genocidal campaign against the indigenous population" the country was founded upon, to the fact it intervened militarily "to thwart democratic processes in many countries, and waged or backed wars that killed millions of people in Indochina, Latin America, and the Middle East."

Walt also agrees with Chomsky that this is enabled by a massive brainwashing campaign on the US population: "government institutions work overtime to 'manufacture consent' by classifying information, prosecuting leakers, lying to the public, and refusing to be held accountable even when things go wrong or malfeasance is exposed. Their efforts are aided by a generally compliant media, which repeats government talking points uncritically and only rarely questions the official narrative."

Walt concludes: "If I were asked whether a student would learn more about U.S. foreign policy by reading [Chomsky's] book or by reading a collection of the essays that current and former U.S. officials occasionally write in journals such as Foreign Affairs or the Atlantic, Chomsky and Robinson would win hands down. I wouldn’t have written that last sentence when I began my career 40 years ago. I’ve been paying attention, however, and my thinking has evolved as the evidence has piled up."

https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1863383555386273996

[Riaz Haq]

"AIPAC is a night flower. It thrives in the dark", says ex AIPAC staffer MJ Rosenberg


Suppressed News.
@SuppressedNws
Former AIPAC employee speaks out, the control and activities of AIPAC are insane, how are Americans fine with this?

https://x.com/SuppressedNws/status/1878660144424443938

------------


Wally Rashid
@wallyrashid
Former AIPAC employee speaks out.

This is wild.

https://x.com/wallyrashid/status/1878617789004685617

-------------------

How AIPAC works your Congressperson– using donors, rabbis, and Jewish members
By M.J. Rosenberg

https://mondoweiss.net/2013/09/how-aipac-works-your-rep-using-donor...


This post appeared on MJ Rosenberg’s site today: Exclusive: House staffer tells me what AIPAC is doing.

The media today is full of stories about AIPAC and its decision to push for a “yes” vote on Syria to ensure that President Obama initiates the war it really wants, with Iran. Check out this Washington Post story.

There is simply no way AIPAC and its camp followers would do this for Syria. Israel has no problem with the Assad regime. Like their dearly departed fellow former strongman Hosni Mubarak, both Hafez and Bashir Assad scrupulously kept the peace with Israel since 1973. As for chemical weapons, Israel not only has used them in Gaza but is one of seven countries in the world (Syria is another one) that has not ratified the treaty banning their use. Additionally, any regime likely to succeed Assad’s is likely to be more militantly anti-Israel and more trigger happy than the current regime.

The reason Israel (and its lobby) are going all out to push the United States to attack Syria is as a precedent for a much larger attack on Iran. As AIPAC admits in its own statement of support for the Syria attack:

This is a critical moment when America must also send a forceful message of resolve to Iran and Hezbollah — both of whom have provided direct and extensive military support to Assad. The Syrian regime and its Iranian ally have repeatedly demonstrated that they will not respect civilized norms. That is why America must act, and why we must prevent further proliferation of unconventional weapons in this region.

America’s allies and adversaries are closely watching the outcome of this momentous vote. This critical decision comes at a time when Iran is racing toward obtaining nuclear capability. Failure to approve this resolution would weaken our country’s credibility to prevent the use and proliferation of unconventional weapons and thereby greatly endanger our country’s security and interests and those of our regional allies.

To put it simply, AIPAC fears that if it if lets President Obama go wobbly on Syria, it is impossible to imagine that he would undertake a war with Iran that could ignite the entire Middle East and lead to the commitment of U.S. troops in a third major Middle Eastern war in a little over a decade.

And that is why AIPAC and its satellites are turning the screws on Congress, especially on progressive and liberal Democrats who tend to be antiwar except when AIPAC comes knocking. (Republicans are more immune to AIPAC because they do not rely on AIPAC-directed campaign dollars given that they have so many other sources. Besides they tend to be hawks on their own, without pressure).