To Earn Back My Vote, Biden Must Stop Supporting Genocide in Gaza

As an anti-Zionist Jew and a lifelong Democrat, I have signed a public statement that bluntly declares, "We will not vote for Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential elections if he continues to support Israel's ethnic cleansing and genocide of the more than 2 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip."

In signing this statement, I join with over 1,000 Arab, Muslim, Jewish, Christian and allied U.S. voters who have signed the statement to express our disgust with the horrifying policies being embraced by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. As the statement goes on to say, "We cannot vote for the re-election of a U.S. president who enables Israel's campaign of mass starvation, bombardment, and murder of Palestinian civilians in Gaza." Please check it out and join me in signing.

Biden's actions in blindly supporting Israel's campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide, along with the plan to give Israel another $14 BILLION in military aid, are the last straw.

In addition to always having voted for Democrats, I have also volunteered for and donated money to many Democratic campaigns. In primary campaigns, I have focused my support on brave candidates like Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Cori Bush. I have done so, not only because of their support for Palestinian rights, but for their overall progressive positions on many issues that I am concerned about. But all too often, I have had to bite my tongue and vote for a Democrat as the least worst candidate in a general election. However, enough is enough. The administration has gone too far by failing to protect Palestinian civilians from a continuing genocide. It is now time to step up and tell the Democratic Party that nominating Biden and Harris for 2024 is both a losing strategy and an act of great immorality.

I too mourn for the many civilians who have been killed in Israel and Gaza, and I demand that all war crimes be vigorously prosecuted. As my late mother often said, "Two wrongs don't make a right," yet too many elected leaders ignore Israel's brutality while condemning the Palestinian victims. Indeed history is clear that for the last 75 years, Israel has been exempted from responsibility for its frequent violations of Palestinian rights, as it uses lethal violence to confiscate Palestinian land and hand it over to Israeli Jews.

We know that Hillary Clinton lost because many Democrats didn't come out and vote. Biden and Harris won because many of us progressives held our noses and voted for them as the only alternative to former President Donald Trump. However, Biden's actions in blindly supporting Israel's campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide, along with the plan to give Israel another $14 BILLION in military aid, are the last straw.

While elected officials like Biden, Harris, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and Nancy Pelosi spout Zionist talking points, many Americans are demanding an end to Israel's genocide in Gaza and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. In a recent Data for Progress poll, 80% of Democrats and 66% of likely voters want the president to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. A CBS News poll showed that 53% of Democrats oppose sending more weapons to Israel, and 70% support U.S. aid to Gaza.

America's elected leaders supported apartheid South Africa's crimes for far too long, and the same can now be said about today's Democrats as they continue to ignore Israel's crimes. It is time for all Democratic voters to make it clear that only a significant change in Biden's approach to Palestine can enable him to earn our votes in 2024. Please join me and over 500 other voters who have declared that we cannot vote for Biden in 2024 if he continues to support Israel's genocide in Gaza.