Thousands of pro-Hamas protesters surrounded the White House on Saturday calling for an end to the Gaza War and for the U.S. to stop supporting Israel in its existential fight for survival against Hamas.
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The protesters should be congratulated for their professionalism. Neatly lettered signs, color-coordinated shirts, and the usual chants gave the protest a flavor of staginess.
“Intifada Revolution” they shouted.
The protesters unfurled a large red ribbon where 36,000 names of dead Palestinians were supposedly written. I wonder how many times the Palestinian equivalent of “John Smith” was written on that paper ribbon?
Of course, all 36,000 dead Palestinians are not all civilians. But since no one in Gaza has bothered to count up the number of dead terrorists, we have to assume that the demonstrations at the White House were mourning dead Hamas fighters as well.
This is largely Biden’s fault. He said that Israel attacking Rafah would be a “red line” and would result in a cutoff of U.S. arms to Israel. Israel has moved very carefully so as not to offend our president’s delicate sensibilities.
But on Friday, the IDF launched a precision operation to extract four Israeli hostages taken from the Nova music festival on October 7. The Israeli air force covered the ground operations, which allowed soldiers to free the hostages and whisk them away.
The Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health says 274 civilians were killed in that operation, a number that even the Washington Post admits can’t be independently verified.
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GOP Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton had some advice for the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
“But my advice to them [Gazan officials] would be: If you don’t want your people killed in hostage rescue missions, then you shouldn’t take hostages in the first place and you should release them once you have and you certainly shouldn’t hide them in civilian areas.”
Bingo.
“There is no world in which I can confidently vote for” Mr. Biden, said Nas Issa, a spokeswoman for the Palestinian Youth Movement. If Mr. Biden “doesn’t change course and hold Netanyahu and the Israeli government at large to account, under what circumstances would it be acceptable to any person of conscience to vote for him?” she added.
The protesters who gathered on Saturday to apply political pressure to Mr. Biden said their biggest demand was the freezing of all weapons shipments to Israel until the war stops. The United States has committed $38 billion in military aid to Israel over 10 years.
“We’re funding it,” said Alexia Samano, a protester who traveled to Washington from Orlando, Fla. “Stop funding this.”
No arrests had been made by late Saturday afternoon, when tens of thousands of protesters finished marching around the perimeter, according to law enforcement. But statues in Lafayette Square, on the northern side of the White House, were vandalized with handwritten scribbles that read “free Palestine.” Two statues of cherubs were also covered in a red, gooey substance that seemed to represent blood.
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For the record, the U.S. supplies about 15% of Israel’s defense budget. Most U.S. support is in the form of highly specialized weaponry like JDAM precision bombs. Israel doesn’t need American weapons.
Biden’s political troubles are now set in stone. Even if the Gaza War stopped tomorrow, the president has lost most of these voters and it’s hard to see how he could ever reclaim them.
They won’t be Trump voters. But they’ll either vote for a third-party candidate like Cornel West or, more likely, simply stay at home on election day.