Written by Elijah Shoults
Only a few hours before I began writing this I learned of President Biden’s decision to back out of his reelection bid. This leaves us in a moment of uncertainty, but perhaps not quite as uncertain as one might think. Presidential candidates are quite often the instruments of public opinion, rather than the drivers of it, and whoever sits in the Oval Office next year it is quite likely that their policies will align with what has become the norm for left-leaning or right-leaning politics.
On the subject of Gaza, the GOP candidate will offer full-throated support of Israel while paying lip service to the idea of making peace with the Palestinians, while the Democratic candidate will try to restrain Israel’s harshest actions but still give them most of what they want. For the purposes of evaluating who to vote for in the next election, let’s review the last two administrations.
While past presidents, both Republican and Democrat, have favored Israel while pushing for peace deals, President Trump elevated US support for Israel to the point that any talk of peace was nothing more than a fig leaf.
He recognized the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights, moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and supported the legalization of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory. The 2020 peace plan that he proposed was so plainly one-sided in favor of Israel that the Palestinians vehemently rejected it.
For the most part Biden has continued Trump’s policies and in the early part of his term paid relatively little attention to the Palestine issue. Considering that every peace proposal over the multi-decade course of this conflict has been short lived, and especially in light of the fact that illegal Israeli settlements have steadily grown, both Republicans and Democrats share plenty of blame for the current situation. Namely, a situation where we are spending billions of dollars to further a conflict where the majority of casualties are civilians.
After renewed hostilities erupted on Oct. 7th Biden signed one of the largest military aid packages ever given to Israel. However, he has also imposed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, repeatedly called on Israel to restrain their attacks, and at one point paused an arms shipment to pressure them.
While these official protests are certainly weak, they are emblematic of the fact that a significant portion of Democratic voters have a strong desire for peace and a two-state solution. This divide does not exist in the Republican party, which is only too happy to give Israel as many weapons as it wants and free reign to use them as they see fit.
So what does the future hold for the next presidency? Trump and the Republicans have consistently supported Israel’s continuing heavy-handed approach, and there’s no reason to think that they’d stop.
While the Democratic party is still dominated by voices trying to balance support for Israel with support for peace, there is a growing faction within the party which is no longer willing to fund the massacre of Palestinians. Demographic data confirms that this is largely a youth-driven movement, which means it will only grow stronger with time.
Achieving peace requires the eventuality of a Palestinian state. Since Israel has consistently taken more and more Palestinian territory with their illegal settlements, it is obvious that they have no true desire for peace.
So long as Israel maintains this course of action more conflicts are inevitable. Many of Israel’s current leaders have used genocidal language in describing their intent towards Palestinians, and this is what Republicans have no problem with supporting.
There are many in this country who are so fed up with the Democrats for continuing to support Israel militarily that they are finding it difficult to vote for them. Not wanting to support evil, even a lesser evil, is a good sign, it means that your conscience is working. Politics is a messy business, full of compromise.
Both parties in this country have failed the Palestinian people for 75 years, but in that same time Democrats have won victories for women’s reproductive rights, gay marriage, and environmental protections. The only Palestinian American in Congress, Rashida Tlaib, has been rightly critical of our failure towards Palestine. However, she has not abandoned her party, she remains a Democrat.
So far in the most recent round of fighting tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed. If a Republican administration allows the Israeli hard-liners to have their way that number could reach into the millions. A Democratic administration in the next term would likely mean the continuation of the status quo, while leaving the door open for the younger generation to put a halt to our nation’s support for this genocide.