Most US Democrats say Israel is committing genocide: Survey
The majority of voters from President Biden’s Democratic Party agree that the US ally is committing genocide in Gaza, a new study shows.
The survey by Data for Progress, in collaboration with Zeteo, found that 56 percent of Democratic respondents agree with genocide accusations against Israel, while only 22 percent reject them.
Overall, a plurality of 39 percent of respondents said Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza.
The UN defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”, including killings and measures to prevent births.
The findings could spell political trouble for Biden who has been facing increasing pressure from his Democratic base over his “ironclad” support for Israel, months before the presidential elections in November.
The survey, which included responses from 1,265 likely US voters, also found that 70 percent of respondents support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
US pause of Israel weapons shipment due to Rafah plans: Austin
Biden’s decision to hold up the delivery of high payload munitions to Israel was made in the context of Israel’s plan to carry out an offensive in Rafah, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said.
“We’ve been very clear … from the very beginning that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into the Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battlespace. And again, as we have assessed the situation, we have paused one shipment of high payload munitions,” he told a Senate hearing.
“We’ve not made a final determination on how to proceed with that shipment.”
AIPAC hits out at Biden’s decision to delay arms shipment to Israel
The influential pro-Israel US lobby group described the move, confirmed by defence chief Lloyd Austin earlier, as a “dangerous and counterproductive message”.
“It emboldens Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah, and undermines America’s commitments to all our allies,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said in a social media post. “Congress must demand the Biden Admin reverse this delay and ensure Israel has what it needs to win this war.”
AIPAC has been spending millions of dollars on US elections to defeat candidates critical of Israel.
Israel’s UN ambassador says US pausing arms shipments ‘very disappointing’
Israel’s UN ambassador Gilad Erdan says he did not believe the US would stop supplying arms to Israel but called Washington’s decision to hold up some weapons shipments “very disappointing”, even frustrating.
US President Joe Biden “can’t say he is our partner in the goal to destroy Hamas [in the Gaza war] while on the other hand delay the means meant to destroy Hamas”, Erdan said in an interview on Israel’s Channel 12 News.
‘Absolutely right’: Bernie Sanders backs US pausing arms shipment to Israel
The progressive US senator has voiced support for Biden’s decision to halt an arms shipment to Israel, calling for further moves to pressure Israel to end abuses against Palestinians.
“This must be a first step. The US must now use ALL its leverage to demand an immediate ceasefire, the end of the attacks on Rafah, and the immediate delivery of massive amounts of humanitarian aid to people living in desperation,” Sanders said in a statement.
“Our leverage is clear. Over the years, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. We can no longer be complicit in Netanyahu’s horrific war against the Palestinian people.”
American right calls arms halt to Israel ‘devastating, obscene, absurd’
It’s something that’s becoming increasingly uncomfortable for the Biden administration. There’s no question that there’s pressure from the left to make sure there is conditionality attached, that there’d be an obligation of Israel to follow international law. But on the right, it’s just the opposite.
This weapons “pause” is being condemned by some top Republicans in the US Congress, including Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnel who are criticising the Biden administration for not doing enough to “rein in the radical left-leaning elements” of the Democratic Party.
They’re calling it a “shameful abdication of leadership” to withhold military assistance to Israel. They’re calling it “devastating, obscene, absurd”. And they’re saying now is the time to give Israel what it needs and it simply can’t afford to lose the war it’s waging right now.
New US bill aims to deport international students arrested at Gaza protests
The measure was introduced by Republican Congressman Andy Ogles amid a bipartisan US push to punish student protesters and accuse them of anti-Semitism.
The proposed legislation calls for revoking the visas of international students who have been arrested “while establishing, participating in, or promoting an encampment on the campus of an institution of higher education on or since October 7, 2023”, according to a copy of the bill published by The Daily Caller right-wing publication.
US authorities have arrested more than 2,000 students over the past weeks to break up encampments across the country that urged their universities to end investments in Israeli firms and weapon manufacturers.
Ogles faced backlash earlier this year when he said, “I think we should kill them all”, when asked about the killing of children in Gaza.
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