The new strategy to remove "Genocide Joe"

Columnists  

 

Israel  

 

This is how Biden tries to save victory in the presidential election  

 

Wolfgang Hansson  

 

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.  

 

Published 16.45 

 

It was no coincidence that shortly before traveling to campaign in Muslim-majority Michigan, Biden issued sanctions against Israeli settlers.  

 

He is trying to avoid a vote boycott that threatens his re-election and at the same time wants to send a signal to Israel that there is a limit to US support.  

 

Biden's decision to target personal sanctions against four Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is highly unusual. Absolutely unique.  

 

The president feels that he must balance his support for Israel in order not to lose important constituencies before the autumn presidential elections. 

 

It may already be too late.  

 

A movement has formed among American Arabs in the United States calling on them not to vote for Biden in November. The Abandon Biden campaign is particularly strong in Michigan, a state home to 300,000 people with Middle Eastern and North African roots. But even in other wave master states there are considerable minorities from the Arab world.  

 

A poll from late last year among Americans with Arab roots showed that support for Biden dropped from 59 percent to just 17 percent after the war in Gaza.  

 

Biden won the state in the 2020 presidential election by a margin of just over 150,000 votes. The fact that a large part of the Arab population voted for Biden contributed to the victory. If they abstain this year, it could hand the state victory to Trump, who would then seize important electoral votes in one of six crucial swing states.  

 

But it is not only the Muslim population that is Biden's target. There are many young voters within the Democratic Party who are strongly critical of what they perceive as Biden's one-sided support for Israel. 

 

Joe Biden. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP

 

"Genocide Joe"  

 

It is thanks to a steady flow of arms and ammunition from the US that Israel is able to continue its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. Biden has repeatedly called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take greater consideration of the civilian population. When Netanyahu ignored that call, Biden has not acted.  

 

At virtually every appearance that President Biden has made since the Gaza war started, there have been protesters in attendance who have shouted abuse at the president such as "Genocide Joe" or "How many children have you killed today?".  

 

If the war goes on for a long time, the protests will be a problem for Biden. He needs the young, well-educated voters. Although there is little chance that neither they nor voters with roots in the Middle East will vote for Trump instead, it hurts Biden's chances if voters who would normally have voted for him instead stay home or vote for one of the independent candidates who really have no chance to win.  

 

The question, however, is whether Biden will have to do more than just punish four settlers to convince the critics.  

 

Then maybe the signal towards Israel is in a way more important.  

 

The US has long been irritated by the settler movement. Both former President Obama and Biden believe that the settlers are constantly putting sticks in the wheel of the only peaceful solution to the conflict that the outside world can see, the formation of an independent Palestinian state in the areas that Israel today occupies.  

Joe Biden has been nicknamed "Genocide Joe" during the protests. Photo: Paul Sancya/AP  

Losing patience  

 

The situation has worsened significantly since the Gaza war. Settler violence against the Palestinians in the West Bank has increased sharply at the same time that the settlers have received protection and support from the Israeli army. The outside world sees the violence as a major risk factor for an expansion of the conflict and has repeatedly demanded that Netanyahu's government keep the settlers in check. Without result.  

 

Now Biden hopes that his sanctions will make both the settler movement and Netanyahu realize that the US is serious.  

 

Many of the settlers have their roots in the United States and are American citizens. The four who were put on the sanctions list cannot travel to the US, have any assets in the US frozen and can no longer receive money from the US. 

 

Not least, it is a signal to the far-right settler parties that are part of Netanyahu's government that the US is about to lose patience. It is men like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir who, by constantly threatening to leave the government, are trying to prevent Netanyahu from agreeing to a truce or making other concessions.  

 

Netanyahu reacted sourly to Biden's sanctions, which he called "totally unnecessary".  

 

At the same time that Biden announced the sanctions, he stated that the United States still stands fully behind Israel. But the decision must still be seen as the first real sign that there is at least a small rift between the US and Israel.  

 

The two main characters have conflicting interests.  

 

Netanyahu wants to keep the war going as long as possible because he will likely be forced to resign the moment the war ends.  

 

Biden wants a quick end to the war so it doesn't ruin his chances of winning the presidential election.