Weekly Briefing: Biden buckles (under the weight of 28,000 Palestinian deaths)
For the last four months the great despair and anguish of our American readers was that the official narrative has kept creaking along in utter indifference to atrocities and destruction on a scale that recalls World War 2. That is changing.
For the last four months the great despair and anguish of our American readers was that the official narrative has kept creaking along in utter indifference to massacres and atrocities and destruction on a scale that recalls World War 2. I remember that moment when Susan Abulhawa was thrown to the floor in the Philadelphia City Council as she tried to tell what was happening.
And so a belief arose inside the establishment that they could pull all this off without much leakage. Because Palestinian lives just don’t matter (as the lives of Israeli civilians killed on October 7 do).
This week there was a break in this duality. The Biden administration buckled under the political weight of so many civilian deaths. Biden has come to understand that most of the Democratic base sees the Israeli onslaught as a “genocide” and at a press conference he said that the Israeli military operation had been “over the top” and said he’d been saying as much for a while — he hasn’t.
Then it was reported in the New York Times that a national security aide had all but apologized to Arab-American leaders in Dearborn for the administration’s “missteps” in dealing with the war. Jon Finer said that Biden has “no confidence” in the Netanyahu government, that “abhorrent” Israeli extremists in government should have been denounced openly, and maybe most significant–
We have left a very damaging impression based on what has been a wholly inadequate public accounting for how much the president, the administration and the country values the lives of Palestinians. And that began, frankly, pretty early in the conflict
So, We do value Palestinian lives, Biden is saying, after four months of not caring about Palestinian lives. And more than 28,000 killings by Israel and unimaginable suffering. Without a political or strategic clue about what they are doing.
I have read smart responses to the Biden administration from Ilhan Omar and IfNotNow, among others, saying that this is lip service. You can’t be valuing Palestinian lives and seeking billions more for Israeli weaponry to pound and batter huddled families, as Israel has been doing for weeks on end with U.S. material and diplomatic support.
Still, I acknowledge some awakening in the establishment to the depth of Palestinian suffering. When Bernie Sanders and many other senators call for restrictions on aid to Israel, it is good to ask Where have you been, but also to note that they have made a tiny step in the right direction. When an NPR anchor says, “There seems to be nowhere to run for Palestinians in Gaza now,” you do want to scream, Where have you been for the last four months. And hope they are catching a clue.
The official narrative is cracking. A reality they have denied is breaking in on them. As it has never before in this country, due to Arab-American activism. We see it in the protests and disruptions of Antony Blinken’s bloodstained house and of Hillary Clinton’s public justification for war crimes.
There has long been a great imbalance in power between the progressive street and the Israel lobby. And this battle belongs to us. The Israel lobby has held sway over Middle East policy for over 50 years, despite many quiet challenges, from the likes of elected officials who soon vanished, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Donna Edwards, Brian Baird, and others.
The political news this week was that the blood of 28,000 Palestinians is lapping up against American obduracy, and creating a real political debate at last.