How Much Do We Put On The Line For Palestine?
There’s a number of vexing questions worth considering as angry “pro-Palestinian” protests - as they’ve been characterized - grip college campuses across the nation. Public and media discourse on the matter may not be answering them as we’re now watching police break up everything from peaceful protest encampments and marches to not-so-peaceful office seizures and now violent scraps with other “pro-Zionist” or pro-Netanyahu protesters who support the Israeli state’s offensive against Hamas and the Gaza strip at whatever cost. A number of thoughts and questions to consider …
How much will these protests impact the 2024 election and will they draw younger and needed Gen Z support away from President Biden in his re-election bid? The conventional wisdom is that it will prompt young voters to stay at home out of either protest or pure apathy and that Biden’s campaign should be paying much closer attention.
Young voters, in the meantime, should understand that with the stakes being this high, you can both: vote and make sure the current president gets re-elected while criticizing him for Gaza.
And, how much will what’s unfolding in Gaza make Arab and Muslim American voters move away from Biden in such a critical election year? This is a key question for states like Michigan or even battleground states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin with heavy pockets of Muslim voters.
But: Why would any of these key groups risk throwing their votes away and giving the presidential election up to a Trump presidency that the candidate promises will be a full-blown fascist kleptocracy … and that will very likely end up being the United State’s last democratic presidential election? And why risk critical U.S. Senate and House seats, as well, that would expand a non-functional, non-governing Republican majority even if Biden manages to win a second term? Because, based on basic principles of U.S. governance, the Biden administration can’t be a raging success without a House and Senate to support its policy aims.
Why would Arab and Muslim voters want a Trump presidency that wants to actively ban them from living in the United States, regardless of immigration status?
Do we know all we know about the organizers behind pro-Palestinian protests? Who’s connected to Hamas and who’s not? Who’s actively trying to disrupt this 2024 election for sinister means?
We do know that the timing of these protests is electorally convenient for Republicans and Trump as many protesters counter-productively argue against a second term of Biden that would offer them the best chance towards resolving the conflict in Gaza and actually protecting Gaza’s residents from further bloodshed inflicted by Israeli forces. Biden is not actively demanding a “genocide” in Gaza; Trump, actually, is.
So, we do know a Trump presidency would advocate for and actively support the complete obliteration of Gaza, its inhabitants and a Palestinian state. Which is it: Stopping further bloodshed of Palestinians in Gaza, which you get closer to with an extended Biden presidency OR continuing and actually expanding bloodshed in Gaza and further destabilizing the Middle East, which you will get with a new administration of Trump?
Who are the organizers behind these protests? Many are, clearly, not peaceful and seem as if they’re arguing against themselves for a peaceful resolution of the Gaza conflict. Making comparisons between 1) those who are violent or disruptive and chaotic pro-Palestinian protesters of today with 2) non-violent Civil Rights Movements protesters of 60 years ago and even peaceful Black Lives Matter protests of several years ago is incorrect considering the latter were deliberately organized as peaceful as a way to strike contrast with violent response from law enforcement. Once again, the political timing, in the middle of an existential election such as this one, is rather fishy.
Still: The inability to peacefully resolve the conflict in Gaza and to directly influence Israel’s disproportionate military response that’s led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths can eventually lead to a broader Middle East crisis and, potentially, a World War III scenario. That’s all coupled with what’s already happening in Ukraine due to Russian aggression and what could happen in the Pacific due to rising Chinese aggression. In some ways, we should view these campus protests as a useful way to force the Biden administration to move towards a negotiated solution on Gaza as quickly as possible so as to avoid the potential insertion of U.S. troops - what amounts to our sons and daughters - in that region.
To what extent should Black students, intellectuals, activists and policymakers be putting Black community interests on the line for Palestine’s? It’s worth bringing up: Do we see the Arab and Palestinian-aligned world doing the same for Black interests domestically and globally? Politics is always transactional. Do we see it here? When Palestinians and other members of the Arab world migrate to the United States, do they advocate fiercely for Black civil rights, voting rights and other policy interests the same way? Has there been an Arab and Palestinian fight for lost affirmative action and DEI initiatives? Do they protest this vigorously on Black Diaspora conflicts and emergencies in places like Sudan, Congo, Haiti, Niger or climate crisis and pollution disasters taking place that disproportionately impact Black communities in the U.S., Africa and Caribbean and elsewhere? Those impacts have costs hundreds of thousands to millions of Black lives. We need to ask if the risk is worth it and if the reciprocity is there? Yes, as Dr. King once famously said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” But to ensure Black community political and economic survival, we need to make sure we have our own political and geo-political priorities known and preserved before helping others preserve theirs. It’s not in our best interests to remain perpetual underdogs.
Climate crisis is worsening and over 100,000 deaths were estimated to have been caused by it, globally, in 2023 - that we can directly attribute. It could be much higher. The World Health Organization says we’ll see at least 250,000 deaths each year by 2030 due to climate disaster. Where are the massive protests for that, against the fossil fuel industries and governments that facilitate that level of mass genocide which is much more destructive than what we’re seeing in Gaza?