Since the Hamas-led October 7 attack, Israeli authorities have conducted a major crackdown on freedom of expression, usually in relation to social media posts. Dozens of Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of Jerusalem have been arrested for voicing opposition to the war, while Israel’s academic institutions have suspended and dismissed students and faculty members alike for similar offenses. The Knesset also voted to amend Israel’s Counterterrorism Law, enabling unprecedented surveillance against Palestinians.
Jailing people for speaking out against the war? Sounds like Russia. I think Genocide Joe has backed the wrong side in the conflict.
It would be pretty difficult to do that considering the US government has been giving Israel billions a year in aid a long time before Joe Biden was President, and the vast majority of other US politicians support Israel as well. But sure, blame it on Biden I guess, maybe we can elect Trump, who will probably be asking his staff “why can’t we just kill all the Palestinians with the nuclear?”
There’s a lot Biden could have done- and a fair amount that he could simply have not done.
Like, he could not vow unconditional support for genocidal maniacs. but, you know, details are unimportant. That other politicians also support Israel doesn’t mean it’s inappropriate to call Biden out for that.
It’s such a crappy situation that there’s no way he could win. Anything other than siding with Israel would lead to claims of anti-semitism and criticism from the very powerful Isreal lobby, not to mention Republicans. A more nuanced position would be better, sure, but I don’t know how politically feasible it is in the US. We can definitely criticize Biden but “Genocide Joe” always strikes as stupid especially since it’s bashing Biden at a time when making him less popular would give us Genocide Donald, who would clearly be so much worse.
Anything other than siding with Israel would lead to claims of anti-semitism and criticism from the very powerful Isreal lobby, not to mention Republicans.
I’m not sure of that actually.
By far not all American Jews are Israel supporters in this case.
Not all Republicans as well.
There needs to be some way to raise their voice for those who are heavily against what’s happening, which will give such a turn lots of supporters.
And, of course, I hope you do understand that people yelling about anti-semitism in this case are different from people yelling about “white genocide” in only one aspect - they are defending mass murder happening right now, while the latter are just relatively harmless racists.
Only if you assume his sole objective is to selfishly hold on to power by being re-elected, which is admittedly not necessarily inaccurate. If he cared about saving people instead of furthering his own interests, he could take the political L to actually fucking save people. He’s already president, there is no higher position he could go for next to enact even more change.
“It’s okay that your president supports genocide because like, it could be worse and like, people might say mean things.”
Is that even really an argument? I don’t think accusations of antisemitism hold much water when the accusers are using it to literally defend genocide. Biden decided to run for (and won,) the presidency. He can put his big boy pants on and serve Americans and our interests. Or… he could continue to serve the interests of foreign governments.
As you say, he’s gonna catch flak either way. Might as well be on the right side of history.
Where do you get “people might say mean things”? One of those reductions where someone acts like Trump being derogatory, inflammatory, thin skinned, insulting and lying is just silly little ‘mean things’? Obviously I mean that Trumps’ actions would be the same or worse, not ‘saying mean things’, though that is also significant. His inflammatory rhetoric and inconsistency does affect international relations.
Anyway, it’s hard to find a national politician in the US who doesn’t side with Israel. I agree it would be nice if Biden took a more neutral stance, but Congress are the ones who appropriate money for Israel, not the President.
Anything other than siding with Israel would lead to claims of anti-semitism and criticism from the very powerful Isreal lobby, not to mention Republicans
we all know that the accusations of antisemitism- in this case- are blatant bullshit.
Anyway, it’s hard to find a national politician in the US who doesn’t side with Israel. I agree it would be nice if Biden took a more neutral stance, but Congress are the ones who appropriate money for Israel, not the President.
As for appropriations, once again: that other people support genocidal behavior in a foreign goverment does not justify the president also supporting said genocidal behavior. We can hold everyone to higher standards. as for how hard it is to find politicians that don’t… it’s actually not that hard. There’s more out there than you seem to think. Cori Bush, André Carson, Jesús García, Raúl Grijalva, Marie Newman, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib, all voted against funding on the oct. 10th. Also Thomas Massie, though his explanation was that he’s opposed to all foreign aid…
There’s also growing calls by other politicans to not provide military support but continue other forms of aid (notably humanitarian aid).
I agree he can do more, but at this stage Israel is feeling so impudent and even if Biden tells them to stop, they will continue with what they are doing without a hitch.
Hey Bibi, I’ll be shutting down your supply of iron dome missiles, shutting your access to the US arms stockpiles in Israel and cutting off all US money going into the country unless you stop your bombing campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Try that script in a phone call and see how long the bombing continues.
They can’t. Israel is very much dependent on US direct and indirect aid (See: the US going all over the place getting Arab countries to naturalize relations with them) to survive.
No one said it’s better, but casualties and occupation time are pretty indisputable and if you think both of those are genocides, one is happening a lot faster. That’s why Russia ends up looking ‘humane’ in comparison. All genocides are horrible, not all genocides are equally impactful and I don’t think it really helps anyone to ignore that, at the very least not when the two in question are ongoing.
Oh no. I’m not comparing two genocidal countries. It’s just funny how they are “comparable” and the Western world has one of the worst sanctions against one while they are funding the other.
The christofascist elite of the US and the zionist Jewish elite are good friends since decades ago, did you really believe the president of the US it’s free to do whatever he wants? He have owners and the interests of the owners can’t be touched.
Jailing people for speaking out against the war? Sounds like Russia. I think Genocide Joe has backed the wrong side in the conflict.
It would be pretty difficult to do that considering the US government has been giving Israel billions a year in aid a long time before Joe Biden was President, and the vast majority of other US politicians support Israel as well. But sure, blame it on Biden I guess, maybe we can elect Trump, who will probably be asking his staff “why can’t we just kill all the Palestinians with the nuclear?”
There’s a lot Biden could have done- and a fair amount that he could simply have not done.
Like, he could not vow unconditional support for genocidal maniacs. but, you know, details are unimportant. That other politicians also support Israel doesn’t mean it’s inappropriate to call Biden out for that.
It’s such a crappy situation that there’s no way he could win. Anything other than siding with Israel would lead to claims of anti-semitism and criticism from the very powerful Isreal lobby, not to mention Republicans. A more nuanced position would be better, sure, but I don’t know how politically feasible it is in the US. We can definitely criticize Biden but “Genocide Joe” always strikes as stupid especially since it’s bashing Biden at a time when making him less popular would give us Genocide Donald, who would clearly be so much worse.
I’m not sure of that actually.
By far not all American Jews are Israel supporters in this case.
Not all Republicans as well.
There needs to be some way to raise their voice for those who are heavily against what’s happening, which will give such a turn lots of supporters.
And, of course, I hope you do understand that people yelling about anti-semitism in this case are different from people yelling about “white genocide” in only one aspect - they are defending mass murder happening right now, while the latter are just relatively harmless racists.
Only if you assume his sole objective is to selfishly hold on to power by being re-elected, which is admittedly not necessarily inaccurate. If he cared about saving people instead of furthering his own interests, he could take the political L to actually fucking save people. He’s already president, there is no higher position he could go for next to enact even more change.
“It’s okay that your president supports genocide because like, it could be worse and like, people might say mean things.”
Is that even really an argument? I don’t think accusations of antisemitism hold much water when the accusers are using it to literally defend genocide. Biden decided to run for (and won,) the presidency. He can put his big boy pants on and serve Americans and our interests. Or… he could continue to serve the interests of foreign governments.
As you say, he’s gonna catch flak either way. Might as well be on the right side of history.
Where do you get “people might say mean things”? One of those reductions where someone acts like Trump being derogatory, inflammatory, thin skinned, insulting and lying is just silly little ‘mean things’? Obviously I mean that Trumps’ actions would be the same or worse, not ‘saying mean things’, though that is also significant. His inflammatory rhetoric and inconsistency does affect international relations.
Anyway, it’s hard to find a national politician in the US who doesn’t side with Israel. I agree it would be nice if Biden took a more neutral stance, but Congress are the ones who appropriate money for Israel, not the President.
we all know that the accusations of antisemitism- in this case- are blatant bullshit.
As for appropriations, once again: that other people support genocidal behavior in a foreign goverment does not justify the president also supporting said genocidal behavior. We can hold everyone to higher standards. as for how hard it is to find politicians that don’t… it’s actually not that hard. There’s more out there than you seem to think. Cori Bush, André Carson, Jesús García, Raúl Grijalva, Marie Newman, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib, all voted against funding on the oct. 10th. Also Thomas Massie, though his explanation was that he’s opposed to all foreign aid…
There’s also growing calls by other politicans to not provide military support but continue other forms of aid (notably humanitarian aid).
Reagan stopped the bombing of West Beirut with a phone call.
The situation reaching this stage is uniquely Biden’s fault.
People often give that Reagan example but it doesn’t even remotely prove that Biden could stop it, in a different situation 40 years later.
It means he could’ve done more than what he’s doing right now. A lot more. He’s not obligated by anything to support Israel’s genocide.
I agree he can do more, but at this stage Israel is feeling so impudent and even if Biden tells them to stop, they will continue with what they are doing without a hitch.
Hey Bibi, I’ll be shutting down your supply of iron dome missiles, shutting your access to the US arms stockpiles in Israel and cutting off all US money going into the country unless you stop your bombing campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Try that script in a phone call and see how long the bombing continues.
They can’t. Israel is very much dependent on US direct and indirect aid (See: the US going all over the place getting Arab countries to naturalize relations with them) to survive.
Israel makes Russia look humane
Yeah, the Russia stuff was bad, but Israel IIRC surpassed the civilian death toll from the entire Ukrainian conflict in the first couple of days.
Part of this is probably due to Gaza not having air défenses, but still.
Most of it has to do with Gaza being a tiny open air prison, with no where to escape from the ‘front line’.
Gaza is also much more compact and densely populated than most of Ukraine.
Russia is also, literally committing genocide, there isn’t a better here.
Theres definitely a faster one though.
And there’s definitely a larger one.
Let’s not try to compete over which genocide is better than the other. That’s a silly game.
No one said it’s better, but casualties and occupation time are pretty indisputable and if you think both of those are genocides, one is happening a lot faster. That’s why Russia ends up looking ‘humane’ in comparison. All genocides are horrible, not all genocides are equally impactful and I don’t think it really helps anyone to ignore that, at the very least not when the two in question are ongoing.
500,000 people in Gaza compared to 43.5 million in Ukraine.
If both these acts are allowed to be carried out to their full, the speed is irrelevant and the most impactful would certainly not be Gaza.
Russia only looks ‘humane’ if you’re a fucking idiot.
There are an estimated 2.3-2.5m people living in Gaza.
They’re objectively worse at it, so there’s a silver lining there?
Oh no. I’m not comparing two genocidal countries. It’s just funny how they are “comparable” and the Western world has one of the worst sanctions against one while they are funding the other.
Oh so the Eastern world is sanctioning Russia and Israel?
The christofascist elite of the US and the zionist Jewish elite are good friends since decades ago, did you really believe the president of the US it’s free to do whatever he wants? He have owners and the interests of the owners can’t be touched.