During a speech for Holocaust Remembrance Day, President Joe Biden decried the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, saying peaceful protests on campus are welcome “but there is no place on any campus in America” for antisemitic rhetoric or threats. Pro-Hamas critics within the liberal blogosphere quickly criticized Biden, calling his assertions racist.
The director of Jewish Voice for Peace, a leftwing advocacy group, blasted Biden for his “entirely inaccurate” remarks while a similar group, If Not Now, complained about “the use of police and state force” on campus protests that harassed and threatened Jewish students.
In the same speech, Biden reiterated the United States’ “ironclad” support for “the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent state.”
There’s just one problem with that: Biden has withheld congressionally appropriated arms support to Israel for what administration officials are saying are “humanitarian concerns.”
The president is withholding weapons from our ally in its fight against terrorists holding American hostages.
— Abe Greenwald (@AbeGreenwald) May 9, 2024
This after Biden came under pressure recently from dozens of Democrats in Congress to suspend the aid over “sufficient evidence” that Israel’s prosecution of its war against a terrorist organization that murdered more than 1,000 Israelis and still holds Israeli hostages merits the “consideration of a suspension of offensive weapons transfers.”
Biden’s “pause” on arms shipments to Israel caught the ire of Pennsylvania’s Democrat Senator John Fetterman, who said there should be no conditions on Israel aid and “if there should be any kind of conditions, it should be on Hamas”.
The president’s speech on antisemitism has quieted some Democrat lawmakers who previously criticized him for the softness of his support for Israel and not having condemned pro-Hamas protests on college campuses.
But Democrat Congressman from New York Ritchie Torres says Biden’s mix of pro-Israel talk and anti-Israel actions is sending mixed messages.
As the leader of the free world, America cannot claim that its commitment to Israel is “iron-clad” and then proceed to withhold aid from Israel.
The mixed messaging makes a mockery of our credibility as an ally. No one will take our word seriously.
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) May 8, 2024
New polling shows the campus protests against Israel’s right to exist splitting the Democrat Party: Among Biden voters polled, 3 out of 10 support anti-Israel protests while almost 40% agree with their aims but not how they conduct themselves. Only 20% of Biden supporters oppose the pro-Hamas protests compared to nearly 80% of Trump supporters.
Among those supporting pro-Hamas protesters in pop star and stalwart celebrity Democrat supporter Macklemore, who said of Biden: “blood is on your hands.”
The protests are expected to run long into the summer, with concerns of unrest and disruptions of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August, echoing the chaos of the 1968 DNC.
