Neither candidate addressed the suffering of Palestinians or the toll of Israel’s war on Gaza as protesters gathered near their election site.
Republican Donald Trump has called US President Joe Biden a “very bad Palestinian” who is unwilling to help Israel “finish the job” against Hamas in its war on Gaza.
“He doesn’t want to do it. He’s become like a Palestinian — but they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weakling,” former President Trump said during the first presidential debate with Biden on Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia.
Ayah Ziyadeh, director of American Muslims for Palestine, told Tel Aviv Tribune that the “bad Palestinian” comment “was blatantly racist.”
“Using the term ‘Palestinian’ as an insult shows the extent of racism that exists here,” Ziyadeh said.
While foreign policy and the Middle East were discussed repeatedly during the debate, as pro-Palestinian protests took place near the conference venue, the suffering of Palestinians and the toll of Israel’s campaign in Gaza – which has killed more than 37,700 people since October – received little mention.
Neither Biden, who is under pressure from his Democratic base because of his unwavering support for his ally Israel, nor Trump are “fit to represent” the Palestinian and Arab communities in the United States, Ziyadeh said.
“Not only are Muslim and Arab Americans deciding they do not want to engage with or re-elect Biden because of his continued stance and fueling of the Israeli genocide in Gaza. But the general American public has also changed and it has become one of the most important issues that will impact the next election,” she said.
“Lack of vision” to end the war
The debate highlighted the extent to which Democrats and Republicans have lost their will to end the war and support the creation of a Palestinian state, said Tamer Qarmout, a professor at the Doha Institute for Advanced Studies.
“The topic of discussion was not a Palestinian state per se, but a state that would support Israel and how best to support Israel,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“Both candidates lack a real vision to end this conflict. This is a very superficial debate that does not have the primary goal of ending the conflict.”
Trump said Israel wants the war to continue, and that it must. When asked whether he would support the creation of a Palestinian state to ensure peace in the region, Trump demurred. “I should see.”
A candidate is “blatantly racist.” He wants to expel us all. And said that President Biden was not, fundamentally, genocidal enough and that he should let Israel finish its war on Gaza. And the current president has knowingly and willingly, politically and financially, supported an obvious genocide in Gaza,” Ziyadeh told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“There are no fewer than two evils here,” she added. “The card that is being dealt to us as voters and as Americans is frankly unfair.”
Truce proposal
Meanwhile, Biden falsely claimed that all parties except Hamas had accepted his ceasefire proposal and that he had achieved general agreement on his three-step plan to end war, including from Israel.
“Everyone from the United Nations Security Council, to the G7, to the Israelis and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu has endorsed the plan that I presented,” Biden said.
“The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas.”
He reiterated his view that Hamas has been “greatly weakened” by Israel, adding that the group “should be eliminated.”
Biden also noted that he was the first recent president to not have troops in harm’s way overseas.
Meanwhile, Trump described Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan as the “most embarrassing moment in the history of our country” and said he was encouraging Russia to invade Ukraine.