Analysts say foreign policy rarely influences U.S. elections but can make a difference in difficult times. Protests by opponents of Israel's war in Gaza took place at dozens of President Biden's campaign events.
WASHINGTON / NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, USA –
He Conflict in Gaza is well received by American voters and is putting pressure on the re-election of US President Joe Biden. Protesters disrupted his recent campaign appearances to express their anger over his support for Israel's military campaign.
On Wednesday, they briefly scolded at a union event where Biden was speaking. During a rally on Tuesday centered on abortion access, 14 protesters shouted throughout most of their speech in Manassas, Virginia. The interruptions clearly made the president uncomfortable.
“This is going to continue for a while,” Biden said. “They planned it,” he added.
This protest was organized by Die-In For Humanity, a 700-member protest group that has made nearly 100 appearances at Biden events. the US Capitolin front of the homes of members of the government, in front of the Israeli embassy and at the January protests in Washington.
“I think most people don’t agree with American tax dollars being used for atrocities abroad,” he said Voice of America Hazami Barmada, the group's main organizer. She was one of the protesters led away from Tuesday's event.
“We are witnessing a turnaround in the United States with essentially a complete rejection of Biden,” Barmada said. “What we are saying is that if you continue to continually ignore the voices of the Arab American community calling for the injustice and atrocities in Gaza to stop, you will not get the voice of the American community,” he said.
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The White House said Wednesday that the president supports Americans' right to peacefully protest.
“He also believes that it is really important that Israel has the right and the ability to continue to defend itself against what is clearly still a real threat from Hamas,” said John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council.
“But that doesn’t mean we will stop once again urging our Israeli colleagues to focus more on minimizing civilian casualties and providing assistance,” Kirby said.
Political analysts said foreign policy rarely drives elections but could make a difference if the race is close. This was also the case for undecided New Hampshire voter Isaac Geer, who took part in a primary election on Tuesday that Biden and his Republican challenger Donald Trump won for their respective parties.
“The most important thing I will vote for this election season is foreign policy,” he told the VOA, in Nashua, New Hampshire. “It is very important to me that we stay out of any foreign war, keep our military spending low and bring our troops home or keep them there.”
Also read: The war in Gaza divides opinion in the USA
Trump's plan for resolving the Gaza crisis is unclear, and his previous actions as president included a much-criticized “ban” on Muslim immigrants. The VOA He contacted the Trump campaign several times, but they did not respond.
It's a difficult decision for Muslim activists. Hassan Abdel Salam is a Minneapolis-based professor and co-founder of the Muslim voter movement Abandon Biden, which focuses on swing states. He is a Canadian citizen.
“Mr Trump has blocked our friends, colleagues and family from entering the country,” he told the VOA. “But Mr. Biden killed them. And four years under a Republican does not compare to one day in Gaza is the argument that has emerged in our communities, we have to make sacrifices.”
Political analysts say Biden is in a tough spot.
“There is no doubt that the situation in Gaza is a political problem for Biden,” he told the VOA Norm Ornstein, Research Fellow Emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute. “If you step back and look objectively, Biden has handled this problem as adeptly as any president. He understood that from the beginning by embracing each other.” [el primer ministro israelí Benjamin] Netanyahu could prevent some of the worst things from happening in Gaza.
But now – he added – he was about to put it aside. “And that means that the initial move that alienated many voters, not just Arab-American voters but young progressives, may end up being even worse for him, because if he pushes aside or rejects Bibi Netanyahu, then some will its strongest supporters, the… Pro-Israel supporters may also be upset.
[Carolyn Presutti contribuyó a este reporte desde Nashua, New Hampshire. Y Patsy Widakuswara desde Washington]
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