Biden's Gaza Ceasefire Veto Defies American Public Opinion

by Riaz Haq

Feb 27, 2024

Aaron Bushnell, an active serviceman in the United States Air Force, burned himself to death in front of the Israeli Embassy in protest against the US policy in Gaza. Before setting himself on fire in what he called an "extreme act of protest", he said he would "no longer be complicit in genocide". Polls show that the vast majority (63%) of Americans want an immediate end to the carnage being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza.  

USAF Engineer Aaron Bushnell

Although Bushnell resorted to this extreme form of protest against the Biden Administration's policy of unqualified support for Israel, he was not alone in opposing it. American public opinion polls confirm that the vast majority of Americans, including Jewish Americans, want an immediate end to the Gaza carnage. 

Gaza Ceasefire Poll. Source: ISPU

Overall, 63% of Americans support a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a recent poll conducted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU). In terms of religions, 71% of Catholics, 61% of Non-Affiliated,  60% of Protestants, 58% of White Evangelicals, 50% of Jews and 75% of Muslims support an immediate ceasefire, according to the poll. 

Jewish and Muslim Democrats, like Democrats in the general public, favor an end to the violence in Gaza. The majority of Republicans in the general public also favor a ceasefire. 

So why is President Biden defying the will of the American people on Gaza?  The simple answer is AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most powerful lobby in Washington D.C. This Israel lobby has showered its friendly politicians with money from wealthy Jewish donors. It has also ensured the defeat of those politicians who dared to speak out against Israeli policies in the Middle East. As one former Democratic senator, Ernest Hollings, put it on leaving office, ‘you can’t have an Israeli policy other than what AIPAC gives you around here.’ Or as Ariel Sharon once told an American audience, ‘when people ask me how they can help Israel, I tell them: “Help AIPAC.”’

President Jimmy Carter who helped broker peace between Israel and Egypt knows the Israel lobby well. He told Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now" many years ago: "I think it’s accurate to say that not a single member of Congress with whom I’m familiar would possibly speak out and call for Israel to withdraw to their legal boundaries or to publicize the plight of the Palestinians or even to call publicly and repeatedly for good faith peace talks.....  And I would say that if any member of Congress did speak out, as I’ve just described, they would probably not be back in the Congress the next term ". 

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  • Riaz Haq

    The Congressional Black Caucus’s Silent Partnership With AIPAC
    The influential group of lawmakers has damaged its reputation as “conscience of the Congress” by staying silent on the Gaza genocide.

    ANTHONY CONWRIGHT

    https://www.thenation.com/article/society/congressional-black-caucu...

    More than a year has passed since the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, issued its first order in the landmark case brought against Israel by South Africa, which contends that Israel has been committing acts of genocide in its war in Gaza. The ICJ found that “with respect to the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide…and the right of South Africa to seek Israel’s compliance,” South Africa’s case was “plausible.” Plausible: a restrained word that, in this context, fails to convey the harsh truth of the war Israel has been conducting. Palestinians are being starved, displaced, and slaughtered. More than 60,000 Palestinians have died, and 1.9 million are being brutally displaced, in a manner eerily similar to the dispossession of their forebears in the Nakba of 1948. By the end of September, according to a group of international food-aid organizations, more than 600,000 Palestinians would be experiencing famine, a completely preventable calamity marked by extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition, and starvation-related deaths.

    -----

    By accepting AIPAC’s endorsements and money, CBC members are, to use a biblical turn of phrase, selling their birthright for a mess of pottage. AIPAC readily sets aside the political concerns of the CBC in its efforts, spending lavishly on campaigns for GOP members of Congress targeting measures on racial equality, which totaled more than $17 million in the 2023–24 cycle.

    AIPAC—together with its two political action committees, AIPAC PAC and United Democracy Project—has one purpose: defending Israel at all costs. “We support candidates…based on one criteria [sic]—their commitment to strengthening the US-Israel relationship,” AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann told Politico in 2024.

    ----------------

    Jeffries and all seven members of the CBC’s leadership voted to send military aid to Israel; none cosponsored any bills or resolutions to limit such aid or block US arms sales. (Four of the six CBC members who currently serve on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have a similar record of eloquent silence on Israel’s relentless war on Gaza and US support for it.)

    ---------------

    Two years into the Gaza genocide, there has been some progress: More than half of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus now support a ceasefire. But while a ceasefire is a step in the right direction, it will do nothing to end the occupation that Palestinians continue to suffer under. A ceasefire resolution that does not name genocide does not reflect a politics grounded in conscience—it is an expedient political cover of the lowest order.

    ------

    This is the moment when the CBC can present itself as the conscience of Congress with honor—by leading the effort to guide this country through a key moral test of the 21st century. It’s true that demanding an end to US aid to Israel on the grounds that it’s advancing a genocide would likely expose legislators to yet more retaliation from AIPAC and the Israel lobby. But it’s equally true that the CBC must meet the genuine challenge of this historical moment. Adopting a position of unyielding defiance to Israel and its genocide in Gaza would lead both the CBC and the Democratic Party in a new direction that both organizations desperately need to follow. Instead of trying to wish away the atrocities committed by Israel, the Congressional Black Caucus could build and lead a multiracial coalition of resistance to a lobby that betrays the caucus’s mission, besieges its members, and injures its constituents. By resisting with a unified voice, the leaders of the CBC can make a difference. It is time to stand up.

    Dec 6, 2025

  • Riaz Haq

    Chris Menahan 🇺🇸
    @infolibnews
    Israeli-American Council to billionaire Haim Saban: How do you buy and exercise influence over politicians in the US?

    Saban: "I wanna be cautious…We just play within the system…Those who give more have more access, and those who give less have less access—it's simple math."

    https://x.com/infolibnews/status/2012732736193151356?s=20

    ---------------
    Suppressed News.
    @SuppressedNws1
    🇺🇸🇮🇱They aren’t even trying to hide it!

    IAC to Zionist billionaire Miriam Adelson: How do you buy and exercise influence over politicians in the U.S?

    Adelson: "Can you allow me not to answer? ... I want to be truthful and there are so many things I don't want to talk about."

    Clip:
    @infolibnews

    -----------------

    Ryan Rozbiani
    @RyanRozbiani
    Billionaires at the Israeli-American Council talk about how they Buy U.S. Politicians and Influence Them to help Israel

    Billionaire Miriam Adelson
    - $5 Million to AIPAC (2024)
    - $100 Million to Trump via Preserve America PAC (2024)
    - $4.9 Million to Friends of the IDF (2021)

    Billionaire Haim Saban
    - $1 Million to AIPAC via United Democracy Project (2023)
    - $10 Million to Friends of the IDF (2021)
    - $30 Million raised for Friends of the IDF

    https://x.com/RyanRozbiani/status/2012749837775626339?s=20

    Jan 18

  • Riaz Haq

    Drop Site
    @DropSiteNews
    ⭕️ Top Democrats conducting a still-secret 2024 election autopsy concluded Kamala Harris lost meaningful support over the Biden administration’s handling of Gaza, Axios reports.

    In a closed-door meeting, DNC officials told the pro-Palestinian IMEU Policy Project their data showed the policy was a “net-negative,” especially with young and progressive voters. The DNC has refused to release the report, denying it is hiding Israel-related findings. Harris has since said the administration should have publicly criticized some of Netanyahu’s actions more forcefully.

    By the final days of the Biden administration, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported roughly 47,000 Palestinians confirmed killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 7 in a war heavily backed and armed by the United States.

    https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2025729828897308881?s=20

    ----------------


    Axios
    @axios
    Scoop: DNC officials working on secret report found Gaza stance cost Harris votes

    https://x.com/axios/status/2025699910633316512?s=20

    ---------------

    Scoop: Dems working on secret report found Gaza cost Harris votes

    https://www.axios.com/2026/02/22/dnc-2024-autopsy-harris-gaza?utm_s...

    Top Democratic officials who worked on the party's still-secret autopsy of the 2024 election concluded that Kamala Harris lost significant support because of the Biden administration's approach to the war in Gaza, Axios has learned.

    Why it matters: The Democratic National Committee's research on what went wrong in 2024 has been under lock and key since party leaders decided last year to hide it from the public — a reflection of how explosively it could resonate within the party and be

    Feb 23