Recently, 120 anti-war organizations signed a letter addressed to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, encouraging the former vice president "to adopt a principled foreign policy towards Israel and the Palestinian people based on justice, freedom, equality, and human dignity." As Code Pink, one of the signatories of the letter, says:
"The letter comes in the context of the 2020 Democratic primaries having experienced a monumental shift in leadership positions towards the state of Israel and the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Despite this, on May 19, the Biden campaign released a revolting statement of support for Israel and Jewish Americans. The letter began by conflating American Jewry with support for Israel. It promised to continue attacking the nonviolent boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, bragged about having increased military assistance to Israel at the end Obama’s term, and referred to Palestinian 'choices' to commit violence.
"Within days of the May 19 Biden campaign statement being released, so much backlash had accumulated that the degrading language of Palestinian 'choices' had been removed. This signals an opportunity for us as progressives to influence and shift policy positions regarding Palestinians and Israel. We hope that this letter representing millions of Americans helps do that."
Despite the backlash that the Biden campaign's statement received, it appears to be relatively clear why he has taken the position he has on this issue, and highly unlikely that he will shift his position significantly. The former vice president is by far and away the top recipient of campaign money from the pro-Israel industry, having taken over $1 million from them. That is more than quintuple the amount the second-largest recipient of money from the industry, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), had received. Donors to Biden in the industry include J Street Pittsburgh co-chair Nancy Bernstein, who has donated $5,600 to his campaign.
As the aforementioned letter points out, there is steadily growing support for what these anti-war organizations are calling on Biden to support. "A February 2020 Gallup poll found increased support for Palestinians, especially among young people," the letter states. "The same is true for American Jews, who are becoming more and more critical of Israeli government policies and more and more supportive of Palestinian rights." In spite of this, Biden's recent statements and his contributions from the pro-Israel industry do not give reason to believe that he will come around anytime soon.
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