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Biden May Sacrifice Israel, or Tlaib is Aiding and Abetting Terrorists
The people in Dearborn, MI seem to think that they can singlehandedly determine whether President Biden wins the election in November. With those who have joined up to sabotage his election run, including local Dearborn officials and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who is essentially supporting terrorism, it could have an impact on election results.
But will the effect be as consequential as Democrats and Joe Biden believe?
Let me explain my thinking.
First, Rashida Tlaib has been campaigning for Biden to side with Hamas in the Gaza War. For a resolution condemning the rape and sexual violence ordered by Hamas and carried out by their followers, Tlaib refused to vote. In addition, she was censured:
In November, the House censured Tlaib for having ‘defended the brutal rapes, murders, beheadings, and kidnapping — including of Americans — by Hamas as justified.’
Only 22 Democrats voted in support of that Republican-led resolution.
Tlaib, a Palestinian American and member of the progressive ‘Squad,’ received the rebuke for promoting ‘false narratives’ about the war on her social media account and posting the phrase ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’
So, a number of issues have developed. In some ways, Tlaib is betraying not only the Democrats, but also the support of a long-term ally, Israel; she has told anyone who will listen in Michigan that they should vote “uncommitted” rather than vote for Joe Biden in today’s Democrat primary. She is demonstrating her support of Hamas, the organization that took hostages (including Americans), but has violated every tenet of lawful war and has committed war crimes.
Meanwhile, Biden has sent representatives to talk to Arab constituents in Dearborn (although he hasn’t gone himself). He’s worried that enough of those voters could refuse to vote for him, not only in the primary but in November, and compromise his victory, even though the Arab population is only 2.1% in Michigan..
Will he become desperate enough to shift his positions on Israel? Will he try to force them into an absurd hostage swap where Hamas has demanded an exchange of thousands of Palestinian prisoners for only some of the hostages? Will he insist on an unreasonable cease fire that would jeopardize Israel’s ability to be successful in this war? Will he require plans for a two-state solution, rewarding the Palestinians for their horrific October 7 attack?
As an aside, people periodically voice their concerns about American Jews who support Israel, saying their allegiances are compromised between the two countries.
I think that’s exactly the position that Rashida Tlaib is in, too, between the U.S. and Gaza.
Published in Foreign Policy
Exactly. We are free speech advocates. He has his free speech and we morally sane people have ours.
If they stay away in sufficient numbers in November that Michigan and its 15 EC votes are thrown to Trump, they very well may, as is being reported by several news organizations today. Like you, Susan, I don’t put a value judgment on the premise, neither am I suggesting that there’s something “wrong” with people casting votes however they wish, however misguided or ignorant I may think them. And frankly, if Biden loses Michigan, I’ll consider that a very good thing, no matter the reason. Meantime, watching Joe walk a tightrope between the Jews and the Palestinians for the next several months might be somewhat entertaining, although fraught with peril in many directions and ways.
Agree. I’ve mentioned this a couple of times myself here, and how interesting it is that it’s the Jews who are regularly accused of “dual loyalty” (with the This Is A Very Bad Thing implication) whenever they say something remotely supportive of Israel. And yet the spectrum of Jewish opinion on the war, in the US and elsewhere, runs the gamut from robustly supportive to energetically opposed, while the Palestinian point of view is monolithic and undifferentiated, and Rashida Tlaib (for example) frequently refers to herself as a Palestinian, with no “American” modifier.
Sauce for the goose, etc.
After the polls close in Dearborn each precinct prints a tabulator totals tape and posts it on the wall. Any member of the public can view the results. In one precinct uncommitted beat Biden by an amazing total of 250 to 5. (BTW: in the same precinct uncommitted beat Trump too, 31 to 29). There were millage renewals but turnout still seemed high for a primary where the frontrunners were certain to win. Across the city uncommitted won a majority of the vote over Biden. Biden was similarly beaten in Hamtramck which has a large Yemeni population. So Arab Americans will vote as a block on issues they care about and obviously the war in Gaza is hugely important. They identify with the civilians in Gaza so the casualties and hardships pull at the heart.
Activist political groups as well as other local political leaders promoted voting uncommitted so I would not give Tlaib too much credit/blame. They are not changing minds just channeling existing opinion into a specific action. An example of politicians running to the front of the parade.
IMO: Its not possible to criticize Tlaib too much and Israel also has to do what’s necessary to prevent another October 7th attack. One would hope that the war in Gaza is so important the administration would just do the right thing and not worry about politics but…
Speaking of politics, I find the county comparisons of Democrat votes interesting.
https://www.detroitnews.com/elections/results/2024-02-27/primaries/democratic/michigan
Fashion forward progressive Washtenaw (home to University of Michigan) voted uncommitted (17.3%) about the same as urban Wayne County (16.8%) which contains Dearborn and Hamtramck. In all the other counties roughly 10% voted uncommitted. My takeaways are that though he has consistently catered to them , Biden should fear losing the progressives (who are nationwide) more than Arab Americans who are less numerous and concentrated in a few states. The other thing is despite his unpopularity in the polls, he is still getting over 80% in the primaries. Democrats can’t be too unhappy with him.
I agree. I tried to separate Tlaib from the “uncommitted” for the reason you state, and emphasize her support of terrorists.
I don’t understand the first part of this sentence.
It will be fascinating to see how Arabs vote in November: will they vote uncommitted or finally come around to Biden? Or just stay home?
Fixed my comment. Unfortunately I have to edit multiple times before I come up with something intelligible. I meant to say Tlaib is so bad she can’t be criticized too much.
I have no guess on what happens in November.
All depends on something that is not going to happen…Joe Biden will not be the Democrat nominee for POTUS in 2024.
If I was a betting man, I’d wager against that premise.
Possibly poor wording on my part. The intent was to say that any conversation about the election candidates that has Biden as the Dem nominee is most likely a waste of time.
Same response. I just don’t think they’ll replace him. Not unless he becomes completely incapacitated or dies. (But likely not even then. Wouldn’t be the first time dead people have remained on a ballot. Some even win.)
Biden went for his annual physical today. Can’t wait to see what they say about his mental status.
The likelihood of people remaining “uncommitted” for the general vs the primary, seems low.
That’s 80% of the people who vote, but the actual turnout matters too.
I don’t think “uncommitted” is an option in a general election.
Last I heard, they haven’t been giving him that part of the test. But maybe that’s only optional at other times, not the “official” annual one.
Jerry does want a theocracy in America so he’s just a wee bit bound to the ‘idiological hold’ views he think only control others.
Also the great thing about conservatives. we engage will all types and dont cancel each other. Jerry is a quite terrible fringe on the right, but he’s still an American and can have an opinion. It’s important to know what people think in order to engage it.
”Under the spell of Zionism”? Is that like being “hypnotised by Israel”- as said by another member of “The Squad”?
Please don’t criticise others for extreme language when you deploy it yourself.
Hot tip: if you don’t like the message your first response should be to shoot the messenger. Do not, repeat do not, engage with the message to disprove it with documented facts. At the most use assertions.
Thanks for the tip. But when I see the facts are not facts, I will not engage.
We can quibble about the numbers Susan, but they are using hunger/starvation of civilians as a tool of war. Maybe it’s always used this way in conflicts, maybe they feel they’re justified, maybe they feel the objective this could achieve justifies it, but it is what it is.
I rather liked your idea about the exchange of gunfire instead.
What it is, is Hamas stealing the food for themselves, and you know it.
So why didn’t Hamas taking food cause starvation in Gaza before this? Did they not eat before October 7?
Oh come on, Zafar. Food was ample before 10/7. If you’re going to make that kind of argument, I’m done.
My point is that it is not ample now.
You speak as though the people inhabiting Gaza are innocent little angels who never elected and who do not even now support the terrorist, bigoted, Jew-hating Hamas regime. You wish us to believe it was someone else cheering in the streets when the GoPro camera footage was taken by the animals who attacked a peaceful event attended by mostly young men and women. The footage showed the horrific actions of rape and sexual mutilation and murder. Do you think this is some game? Now the Israelis, who have suffered constant bombardment since abandoning the Gaza territory to these people must feed them after suffering this last over-the-top hideous attack? The Gazans have declared war on Israel. Since its inception, Hamas has stated in its charter the intent to destroy Israel and all of the Jews within its territory. If we go back in history, is feeding the enemy how wars are waged. That would be news to me.
Exactly. What supplies there are, are stolen.
As little as possible.
I think “blank” is the correct term for the cognitive assessment entry.
Both things can be true.
You speak as if they deserve to starve.
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule53
From which: