US sends Israel 100+ weapons shipments. Most Americans oppose it – but Biden ignores them
Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy, March 9, 2024 —
The US has sent Israel more than 100 arms shipments since October 7, to bomb Gaza. Polls show 52% of North Americans oppose these weapons sales. Biden defies the Democratic Party’s base, while allying with Trump and the Republicans.
Polling shows that a slight majority of people in the United States oppose sending weapons to Israel to help it wage its brutal war on Gaza.
However, despite the fact that only a quarter of North Americans support arming Israel, the Joe Biden administration has sent the country more than 100 arms shipments since October 7, the Washington Post reported.
The newspaper quoted a former senior Biden administration, who remarked, “That’s an extraordinary number of sales over the course of a pretty short amount of time, which really strongly suggests that the Israeli campaign would not be sustainable without this level of U.S. support”.
A poll published by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, DC found that 52% of North Americans want to end US weapons shipments to Israel.
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of those who voted for Joe Biden oppose arms sales Israel.
Among people who did not vote for president, 60% do not want to send weapons.
The only political group that supported giving weapons to Israel was Donald Trump voters: 55%.
A mere 27% of all North Americans want to continue selling arms to Israel.
In other words, Biden and the Democratic Party leadership agree with Trump and the Republicans, and the DNC is defying its own base.
This was confirmed by another poll in January, which was commissioned by The Economist magazine. It found that 49% of young people in the United States (those between ages 18 and 29) and 49% of Democrats say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Overall, slightly over one-third (35%) of North Americans say Israel is committing genocide.
On the other hand, 57% of Republicans do not think Israel was committing genocide (just 18% do think so).
These surveys demonstrate that the only people represented by the US government’s staunchly pro-Israel policy are conservatives, Republicans, and Trump supporters.
UN experts say Israel is carrying out genocide
The top United Nations expert on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, stated publicly that Israel is intentionally starving Palestinian civilians and carrying out genocide.
Meanwhile, Washington has voted against four UN Security Council resolutions that called for peace in Gaza, unilaterally using its veto power three times to kill ceasefire proposals.
The UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague ruled in January that there is sufficient evidence to investigate Israel on charges of genocide.
A US federal court likewise found that Israel’s scorched-earth war on Gaza “plausibly” amounts to genocide.
The ICJ ordered Israel to stop killing Palestinians and to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The leading Western human rights organization, Amnesty International, warned that “Israel has failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply” with the Hague’s ruling, adding that “Israel has continued to disregard its obligation as the occupying power to ensure the basic needs of Palestinians in Gaza are met”.
Children in Gaza are starving to death under a suffocating Israeli blockade.
The UN News agency warned that “more infants [in Gaza] may die from hunger”.
The Associated Press reported in January that the “Israeli military campaign in Gaza, experts say, now sits among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history”.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated Beijing’s calls for an immediate ceasefire and stated at a press conference, “It is a tragedy for humankind and a disgrace for civilization that today, in the 21st century, this humanitarian disaster cannot be stopped”.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was even more direct in his criticism of Western hypocrisy.
“Why, for example, is the West so vociferous, vehement and unequivocal in the condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while remaining utterly silent on the relentless bloodletting inflicted on the innocent men, women and children of Gaza?” Anwar asked.
“Unfortunately, the gut-wrenching tragedy that continues to unfold in the Gaza Strip has laid bare the self-serving nature of much valued, the much vaunted rules-based order”, the Malaysian leader added.