Washington DC – After the Israeli army bombed a school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza on Tuesday, a young man watched the chaotic scene with a rocket fragment in his hand. “It’s an Israeli-American missile,” he said.
“We were walking over dead bodies. I cannot describe the cruelty of what is happening,” the man said in a video verified by Tel Aviv Tribune after the attack in the Nuseirat area, which killed 17 civilians and injured dozens.
For nine months, Palestinians in Gaza have faced such attacks, which have claimed many lives. Officials and ordinary citizens in the besieged territory have expressed outrage that the bombs that are decimating their lives are, in many cases, supplied by the United States as part of its alliance with Israel.
After airstrikes in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis killed at least 90 Palestinians last week, the Gaza government’s media office directly accused the United States of responsibility for the attack.
But US President Joe Biden has a different view of Washington’s role in the war.
“I am the man who has done more for the Palestinian community than anyone else,” he said in an interview broadcast online Monday.
“I am the man who opened all means. I am the man who made the Egyptians open the border… I am the man who managed to bring together the Arab states to agree to help the Palestinians by providing them with food and shelter.”
He added: “I mean, I’ve been very supportive of the Palestinians.”
The US president’s claim was met with ridicule by Palestinian rights advocates, who pointed out that Biden’s unconditional support for Israel is fueling a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“It’s hard to tell whether Biden’s remarks were arrogant, blind or deceptive. He seems to want to take credit for enabling the genocide and for allowing Palestinians to have some medicine, water and food,” said Amer Zahr, a Palestinian-American comedian and activist.
Lexis Zeidan, a Detroit-based Palestinian-American organizer, echoed this criticism.
“The only thing Biden has done more for the Palestinians is increase their death toll with US-funded Israeli bombs,” she told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Armed by the United States, the Israeli army has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians in Gaza and razed large parts of the territory.
A self-proclaimed Zionist
In the same interview with journalist Speedy Morman, Biden reaffirmed that he identifies as a Zionist.
“A Zionist questions whether or not Israel is a safe haven for Jews because of their history and how they have been persecuted,” he said.
The president then asked the interviewer if he knew what it meant to be a Zionist.
Zionism is a Jewish nationalist ideology that emerged in Europe in the late 1800s, calling for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine, where only a small minority of the population was Jewish at the time.
While proponents of this ideology present it as a form of self-determination, many Palestinian rights advocates argue that Zionism has led to the dispossession and continued subjugation and oppression of Palestinians.
During the interview, Biden reiterated a position he often repeats to explain his affinity with Israel: He asserted that Jews around the world would not be safe without the country.
“If there were no Israel, all the Jews in the world would be in danger,” he said.
Some activists say such remarks could be seen as perpetuating the anti-Semitic cliché of “dual loyalty”: the idea that Jews must be loyal to Israel regardless of their background.
Eva Borgwardt, national spokesperson for IfNotNow, a progressive Jewish-American youth-led group, criticized the president’s comment.
“Many of us perceive this repeated statement as a threat to our security in this country. As president of the United States, it is Biden’s job to ensure that the United States is safe for all, including Jewish Americans,” Borgwardt told Tel Aviv Tribune in a statement.
“If he wants to keep Jews safe, he should focus on combating the real and present danger of white nationalism, instead of sending more bombs to Israel to prolong its assault on Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and left hostages languishing in captivity.”
US Support for Israel
Zahr, the Palestinian-American comedian, also criticized Biden for insisting he was a Zionist.
“Nine months later, he continues to proudly proclaim himself a Zionist. In November, he will see how that word will make us vote,” Zahr told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Because of his staunch support for Israel, Biden has struggled to win over key groups in the Democratic Party, including young people, progressives, and Arab and Muslim Americans.
His electoral woes were compounded after a disastrous performance in a debate in June, in which he appeared at times exhausted and confused.
While Biden and senior officials in his administration often emphasize their support for Israel, the president downplayed that support during the interview with Morman.
Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USPCR), said Biden claims to support the Palestinians because he understands that he has alienated voters from communities that support Palestinian rights.
“So he tried to be an ally of the movement when in reality he is supporting the genocide of our people,” Abuznaid told Tel Aviv Tribune. “Right now, he is weaponizing it. He is defending it. He is supporting it. And that is how Palestinian Americans perceive President Biden and his comments. Those comments are offensive. They are disrespectful.”
Biden had boasted earlier this month that he was more popular in Israel than in the United States. But when he spoke to Morman about the Arab vote, the American president falsely claimed that the United States was only sending Israel defensive weapons.
“I denied them the offensive weapons they were using, the 2,000-pound (907 kg) bombs and the rest,” he said.
Although the United States has stopped only one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel this year, Biden administration officials have stressed that the transfer of other weapons continues steadily.
In April, Biden approved an additional $14 billion in military aid to Israel. And the Pentagon confirmed this week that the 500-pound bombs that were part of the suspended shipment have been separated and handed over to the U.S. ally.
“Biden could end this genocide today by turning off the tap of unlimited funds and weapons to Israel. But instead, he allows Netanyahu to do whatever he wants, repeatedly calls himself a Zionist, and does what the emperor does: he supports Israel unequivocally because Israel protects American interests in the Arab world,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, president of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN).
“If Biden is our savior, then who is our enemy?”
