Washington DC – After the Israeli military bombed a school housing displaced people in central Gaza on Tuesday, a young man stood in the chaotic scene with a rocket fragment in his hand. “This is an Israeli-American missile,” he said.
“We were stepping on dead bodies. I cannot describe the cruelty of what is happening,” the man said in a video verified by Al Jazeera after the attack in the Nuseirat area, which killed 17 civilians and injured dozens.
These mass casualty attacks have been an almost daily reality for Palestinians in Gaza for the past nine months. Officials and ordinary people in the besieged territory have expressed outrage that the bombs that decimate their lives are, in many cases, supplied by the United States as part of its alliance with Israel.
After airstrikes in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis killed at least 90 Palestinians last week, the Gaza Government’s Media Office directly blamed the US for the attack.
But US President Joe Biden has a different view of Washington’s role in the war.
“I’m the guy who has done more for the Palestinian community than anyone,” he said in a statement. interview which aired online on Monday.
“I’m the guy who opened all the assets. I was the one who made sure the Egyptians opened the border… I’m the guy who managed to unite the Arab states to agree to help the Palestinians with food and shelter.”
He added: “I mean, I’ve been very supportive of the Palestinians.”
The US president’s statement was met with ridicule from Palestinian rights defenders, who stressed that Biden’s unconditional support for Israel is fueling a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“It is difficult to decide whether these comments from Biden were arrogant, blind or misleading. It seems like he wants to take credit for allowing the genocide and allowing the Palestinians to have some medicine, water and food,” said Amer Zahr, a Palestinian-American comedian and activist.
Lexis Zeidan, a Palestinian-American organizer based in Detroit, echoed these criticisms.
“The one thing Biden has done more for when it comes to the Palestinians is raising the death toll from US-funded Israeli bombs,” she told Al Jazeera.
Armed by the US, the Israeli military killed more than 38,000 Palestinians in Gaza and leveled large parts of the territory.
A self-proclaimed Zionist
In the same interview with journalist Speedy Morman, Biden reaffirmed that he identifies as a Zionist.
“A Zionist is about whether or not Israel is a safe haven for Jews because of their history of how they were persecuted,” he said.
The president then asked the interviewer if he knows what it means to be a Zionist.
Zionism is a Jewish nationalist ideology that emerged in Europe in the late 1800s, calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, where only a small minority of the population was Jewish at that time.
Although supporters of the ideology present it as a form of self-determination, many supporters of Palestinian rights argue that Zionism has led to the dispossession and continued subjugation and oppression of Palestinians.
During the interview, Biden reiterated a position he frequently repeats when explaining his affinity with Israel: he stated that Jews around the world would not be safe without the country.
“If there was no Israel, every Jew in the world would be at risk,” he said.
Some activists say such remarks could be seen as perpetuating the anti-Semitic trope of “dual loyalty”: the idea that Jewish people should be loyal to Israel regardless of their origin.
Eva Borgwardt, national spokeswoman for IfNotNow, a Jewish-American youth-led progressive group, criticized the president’s comment.
“Many of us have heard this statement repeated as a threat to our security in this country. As President of the United States, it is Biden’s job to make the US safe for everyone, including American Jews,” Borgwardt told Al Jazeera in a statement.
“If he wants to keep Jews safe, he must focus on combating the real and present danger of white nationalism, rather than sending more bombs to Israel to prolong its attack on Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and left hostages. to waste away. in captivity.”
US support for Israel
Zahr, the Palestinian-American comedian, also criticized Biden for insisting he is a Zionist.
“After nine months, he still defiantly and proudly calls himself a Zionist. Well, in November he will see how this word makes us vote,” Zahr told Al Jazeera.
Due to his unwavering support for Israel, Biden has struggled with key constituencies in the Democratic Party, including young people, progressives, and Arab and Muslim Americans.
His electoral problems worsened after a disastrous debate in June, where he at times appeared exhausted and confused.
While Biden and senior officials in his administration often highlight their support for Israel, the president downplayed that support during the interview with Morman.
Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USPCR), said Biden claims he supports the Palestinians because he understands he has alienated voters in communities that support Palestinian rights.
“And so he tried to become an ally of the movement when in fact what he is doing is supporting the genocide of our people,” Abuznaid told Al Jazeera. “Right now, he’s setting it up. He’s defending it. He is supporting this. And this is how Palestinian-Americans perceive President Biden and these comments. The comments are offensive. They are disrespectful.”
Biden had boasted earlier this month that he is most popular in Israel than in the USA. But in addressing the Arab vote with Morman, the US president falsely claimed that the US is only sending defensive weapons to Israel.
“I denied them the offensive weapons they used, 2,000-pound (907 kg) bombs and the rest,” he said.
Although the US has prevented a single shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel this year, Biden administration officials have stressed that the transfer of other weapons has continued steadily and regularly.
In April, Biden signed $14 billion in additional US military aid to Israel. And the Pentagon confirmed this week that the 500-pound (226 kg) bombs that were part of the suspended shipment had been separated and delivered to the US ally.
“Biden could stop this genocide today by turning off the tap of unlimited funds and weapons to Israel. But instead, he allows Netanyahu to do whatever he wants, repeatedly calls himself a Zionist and does what the emperor does – unequivocally supports Israel because Israel protects US interests in the Arab world,” said Hatem Abudayyeh , president of the US Palestinian Community Network. (USPCN).
“If Biden is our savior, then who is our enemy?”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
