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UNCOMMITTED VOTERS SENDING A CLEAR MESSAGE TO BIDEN ABOUT SLAUGHTER
IN GAZA  
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Phyllis Bennis
June 10, 2024
Albuquerque Journal
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_ Uncommitted voters, tens of thousands of students protesting in
encampments, millions more protesting in the streets and in the halls
of Congressare sending a powerful message to Biden that his actions
are not acceptable. _

Pro-Palestinian protesters face New Mexico State Police and UNM
police as demonstrators occupy the Student Union Building at the
University of New Mexico on April 30, (Chancey Bush/Journal)

 

Almost 13,000 people – just under 10% of Democratic voters –
across New Mexico cast their primary election votes last Tuesday for
“uncommitted.” They weren’t just refusing to choose a candidate
– they were sending a clear message to President Joe Biden: we
won’t vote for someone who is funding, arming and protecting
Israel’s slaughter in Gaza.

And they’re not the only ones. Across the United States, in primary
after primary, uncommitted voters are shaping a major challenge to
Biden’s reelection. From swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin,
to deep blue states like Washington and Hawaii, more than 650,000
voters have chosen uncommitted — or its equivalents — rather than
Biden. From at least six states, uncommitted delegates will represent
voters at the Democratic convention in August.

This is unprecedented. In my almost 50 years of working for
Palestinian rights, one thing we always assumed was that no one ever
lost a U.S. election by being too pro-Israel — but Biden may be the
first to end that record.

The president recently announced what he called an Israeli-initiated
cease-fire plan, but as of Thursday the Israeli prime minister was
still rejecting it. But Israel’s bombing, the drone strikes, the
hunger continue, and Palestinian civilians – disproportionately
women and children – continue to die.

On June 3 the World Health Organization warned that because Israel is
allowing in so little aid, “children are now starving.”

Biden promised he would stop sending offensive weapons to Israel if
its troops “go into Rafah,” the small enclave crammed with
refugees fleeing bombing elsewhere in Gaza.

But Israeli troops have been attacking inside Rafah for weeks now, the
International Court of Justice ordered that Israel “must immediately
halt its military offensive” in Rafah, more than 1 million displaced
people have fled the bombing and assaults once again, yet the White
House still claims that this is somehow not a significant attack and
Washington is still providing the weapons enabling the onslaught.

Uncommitted voters, tens of thousands of students protesting in
encampments across the country, millions more people protesting in the
streets and in the halls of Congress, all demanding an immediate and
permanent cease-fire, including massive shipments of humanitarian aid
and an end to U.S. arms transfers to Israel, are sending a powerful
message to Biden that his actions are not acceptable.

Their campaigns have transformed public opinion — 83% of Democrats,
70% of all voters support a permanent cease-fire, media coverage, and
even the language of top administration officials. Biden and his aides
now acknowledge the need for a cease-fire, but still refuse to take
the action that would actually make that happen, cutting off the arms
transfers enabling Israel’s war.

And what happens to those hundreds of thousands of protesters? Despite
the fact that they speak for the overwhelming majority of the country,
they are often attacked with false claims of antisemitism.

There is no doubt real antisemitism is on the rise in this country.
The far-right militias marching in Charlottesville in 2017 chanting
“Jews will not replace us.” The 11 Jews in their Pittsburgh
synagogue in 2018 murdered by a white supremacist who blamed Jews for
allowing immigrants to enter the U.S. and replace white people. The
assaults on Jews in San Diego and elsewhere.

The threat to Jews is coming from right-wing white supremacists.
That’s not surprising – the history of modern antisemitism in this
country is linked to white supremacy and the rise of the Klan in the
early 1900s, which carried out lynchings of Jews alongside the far
greater number of African Americans.

The weaponization of antisemitism deliberately targets opponents of
Israeli occupation and apartheid and supporters of Palestinian rights
to undermine their campaigns, and intentionally aims to discredit the
activists. It also prevents critical discussions of how to reverse the
horrifying reality that our government and our tax dollars are
enabling what the International Court of Justice says plausibly
amounts to genocide.

So when student protesters, Palestinian campaigners, even Jewish
activists are falsely accused of antisemitism, it undermines not only
their work to stop the killing in Gaza, but our collective ability to
fight against the real antisemites as well.

_Phyllis Bennis is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in
Washington, D.C., and serves as international adviser to Jewish Voice
for Peace._

* Vote Uncommitted
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* Student protests
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* Gaza
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* Joe Biden
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