Washington, DC – After the Israeli army bombed a faculty housing displaced folks in central Gaza on Tuesday, a younger man stood on the chaotic scene with a rocket fragment in his hand. “That is an Israeli American missile,” he stated.
“We had been stepping on corpses. I can not describe the cruelty of what’s occurring,” the person stated in a video verified by Al Jazeera after the assault within the Nuseirat space, which killed 17 civilians and injured dozens.
Such mass-casualty attacks have been a near-daily actuality for Palestinians in Gaza for the previous 9 months. Officers and on a regular basis folks within the besieged territory have expressed outrage that the bombs decimating their lives are, in lots of circumstances, equipped by the US as a part of its alliance with Israel.
After air raids in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis killed no less than 90 Palestinians final week, the Gaza Authorities Media Workplace blamed the US straight for the assault.
However US President Joe Biden has a special view of Washington’s position within the battle.
“I’m the man that did extra for the Palestinian neighborhood than anyone,” he stated in an interview that aired on-line on Monday.
“I’m the man that opened up all of the property. I’m the man that made positive that I acquired the Egyptians to open the border… I’m the man that’s been in a position to pull collectively the Arab states to agree to assist the Palestinians with meals and shelter.”
He added, “I imply, I’ve been very supportive of the Palestinians.”
The US president’s assertion was met with ridicule by Palestinian rights advocates, who harassed that Biden’s unconditional help for Israel is fuelling a genocide in opposition to Palestinians in Gaza.
“It’s arduous to resolve whether or not these feedback by Biden had been conceited, blind or deceitful. Plainly he desires to take credit score each for enabling the genocide and for letting Palestinians have a little bit bit of drugs and water and meals,” stated Amer Zahr, a Palestinian American comic and activist.
Lexis Zeidan, a Detroit-based Palestinian American organiser, echoed that criticism.
“The one factor Biden did extra for in the case of Palestinians is improve their loss of life toll with US-funded Israeli bombs,” she informed Al Jazeera.
Armed by the US, the Israeli army has killed greater than 38,000 Palestinians in Gaza and levelled large parts of the territory.
A self-proclaimed Zionist
In the identical interview with journalist Speedy Morman, Biden re-asserted that he identifies as a Zionist.
“A Zionist is about whether or not or not Israel is a secure haven for Jews due to their historical past of how they’ve been persecuted,” he stated.
The president then went on to ask the interviewer whether or not he is aware of what it means to be a Zionist.
Zionism is a Jewish nationalist ideology that emerged in Europe within the late 1800s, calling for the institution of a Jewish state in Palestine, the place solely a small minority of the population was Jewish at the moment.
Whereas the ideology’s supporters current it as a type of self-determination, many Palestinian rights advocates argue that Zionism has led to the dispossession and ongoing subjugation and oppression of Palestinians.
Through the interview, Biden reiterated a place he usually repeats whereas explaining his affinity for Israel: He claimed that Jews the world over wouldn’t be secure with out the nation.
“If there weren’t an Israel, each Jew on the planet could be in danger,” he stated.
Some activists say such remarks may very well be seen to perpetuate the anti-Semitic trope of “twin loyalty”: the concept Jewish folks have to be loyal to Israel, no matter their background.
Eva Borgwardt, nationwide spokesperson at IfNotNow, a youth-led Jewish-American progressive group, slammed the president’s remark.
“Many people hear this repeated assertion as a risk to our security on this nation. As president of the US, it’s Biden’s job to make the US secure for everybody, together with Jewish People,” Borgwardt informed Al Jazeera in a press release.
“If he desires to maintain Jews secure, he ought to deal with combating the true and current hazard of white nationalism, as an alternative of sending extra bombs for Israel to delay its assault on Gaza, which has killed tens of hundreds of Palestinians and left hostages to languish in captivity.”
US help for Israel
Zahr, the Palestinian American comic, additionally slammed Biden for insisting that he’s a Zionist.
“After 9 months, he’s nonetheless defiantly and proudly calling himself a Zionist. Properly, in November, he’s going to see how that phrase makes us vote,” Zahr informed Al Jazeera.
As a consequence of his unwavering help for Israel, Biden has struggled with key constituencies within the Democratic Get together, together with younger folks, progressives, and Arab and Muslim People.
His electoral woes had been exasperated after a disastrous debate efficiency in June, the place he appeared exhausted and confused at occasions.
Whereas Biden and prime officers in his administration usually underscore their backing of Israel, the president performed down that help through the interview with Morman.
Ahmad Abuznaid, the chief director of the US Marketing campaign for Palestinian Rights (USPCR), stated Biden is claiming that he helps Palestinians as a result of he understands that he has alienated voters in communities that help Palestinian rights.
“And so he tried to make himself an ally of the motion when, actually, what he’s doing is supporting the genocide of our folks,” Abuznaid informed Al Jazeera. “At this second, he’s arming it. He’s defending it. He’s supporting it. And that’s how Palestinian People understand President Biden and these feedback. The feedback are offensive. They’re disrespectful.”
Biden had boasted earlier this month that he’s more popular in Israel than he’s within the US. However when addressing the Arab vote with Morman, the US president falsely claimed that the US is barely sending defensive weapons to Israel.
“I denied them offensive weapons that they had been utilizing, 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs and the remaining,” he stated.
Whereas the US did cease a single cargo of two,000-pound bombs to Israel this yr, Biden administration officers have harassed that the switch of different weapons has continued steadily frequently.
In April, Biden signed off on $14bn in further US military aid to Israel. And the Pentagon confirmed this week that 500-pound (226kg) bombs that had been a part of the suspended cargo have been separated and launched to the US ally.
“Biden may cease this genocide right this moment by turning off the faucet of limitless funds and weapons to Israel. However as an alternative, he permits Netanyahu to do as he pleases, repeatedly calls himself a Zionist, and does what the emperor does — helps Israel unequivocally as a result of Israel secures US pursuits within the Arab world,” stated Hatem Abudayyeh, chair of the US Palestinian Group Community (USPCN).
“If Biden is our saviour, then who out there’s our enemy?”