The horror that is Gaza is a serious issue for voters. But it is far from the only issue.
Issue #564 The Choice Thursday, April 11, 2024
I’m sure like some of you reading this piece, maybe a lot of you, I have friends and family who are beyond upset at what is going on in Gaza with the ongoing brutal war between Hamas and Israel - and at how President Biden is handling this situation. The initial sympathy felt by many around the world for the horrific attack perpetrated by Hamas on innocent Israeli women and children on October 7 of last year- including the murders and beheadings of children in front of their parents and of parents in front of their children - has now almost completely switched to global condemnation of Israel for the excessively and disproportionately brutal manner in which they have responded, resulting in the killing of more than 35,000 Palestinians (an extremely large percentage of whom are women and children). Israel continues to make it extremely difficult for food and essential supplies to enter the territory, and I’m not sure how many - if any - intact structures remain. At least not according to whatever photos are being released.
So yes, it’s a horrible situation. And as much as I support the re-election of the president, I do not support at all the way he has handled the war in Gaza. As a matter of fact, I haven’t been a fan of how our government has been blindly supportive of Israel no matter what for quite some time. And no, I’m not anti-Israel, and I am most definitely not anti-Jewish. I just have problems with how we seem to excuse whatever Israel does and give them whatever they want or need regardless. Israel was the largest supplier of weapons to apartheid South Africa, which murdered Black people as par for the course, and the United States government barely blinked.
The fact that our government continues to provide military hardware to Israel that they can use to continue to bombard Gaza while turning a deaf ear to President Biden’s entreaties to behave more responsibly and do more to provide humanitarian aid to innocent Palestinians enrages me. And honestly speaking, I am very disappointed in the President when it comes to Gaza. I don’t mind saying that out loud, even at a critical time like this, because I don’t think we should try and act like those of us who strongly support President Biden’s re-election don’t have our qualms with the man. I had some serious qualms with President Obama too, for that matter.
But same as with Obama, I realize that it is both unrealistic and unfair to judge the man’s entire presidency based on a single negative - even if that negative is significant. Because the good that Biden (and Obama) managed to do far, far outweighs their negatives.
As I have said before, Biden is hardly the lesser of two evils, he is a good man and a great President. One of the best I have seen in my lifetime. But I’m realistic enough - and acquainted enough with history - to know that ALL presidents will disappoint you. And that is especially true if you are an idealist. It’s a virtual guarantee. So it’s a good thing to keep in mind that presidents are not saviors, they are human and they will definitely make mistakes. And the mistakes they make will almost always be far larger than any mistake you or I will ever even be given a chance to make. Because we regular folk cannot do things like declare war.
Or put pressure on Israel to declare a ceasefire by shutting off weapons deliveries. Those kinds of globally consequential mistakes are far above our pay grade.
But I’ll tell you this; as horrific as the Gaza situation is, and as much as that situation upsets many of us, it is a certainty that if President Biden is defeated in November and Trump gets a second term, the situation in Gaza will swiftly become a shrinking crisis in the rearview mirror compared to what awaits. Because as far as Gaza is concerned, Trump has already made clear he stands firmly with Benjamin Netanyahu and would not even pretend to advocate on behalf of those brown-skinned Palestinians, most of whom are Muslim. Just like he would never advocate on behalf of brown-skinned people anywhere else. If Netanyahu decides to line Palestinians up in a shooting gallery, Trump will be perfectly OK with that.
And if you think I’m exaggerating, please do yourself a favor and check the record. It’s not even hard to find out the truth on any of this. All you need to do is Google the word “Trump” and you’ll find pretty much everything you need to know.
Then Google the term “Biden accomplishments”.
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