f{"id":29970,"date":"2023-11-17T12:31:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T20:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=29970"},"modified":"2023-11-17T12:31:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-17T20:31:54","slug":"bidens-legacy-should-be-forever-haunted-by-the-names-of-gazas-dead-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/11\/17\/bidens-legacy-should-be-forever-haunted-by-the-names-of-gazas-dead-children\/","title":{"rendered":"BIDEN\u2019S LEGACY SHOULD BE FOREVER HAUNTED BY THE NAMES OF GAZA\u2019S DEAD CHILDREN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"KHAN — Photo: Pacific Press\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Support for Israel\u2019s Wars<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For 50 years, Biden has been consistent in his support for Israel\u2019s wars against the Palestinians. Time and again he has backed and facilitated campaigns of terror waged by a nuclear power against a people who have no state, no army, no air force, no navy, and an almost nonexistent civilian infrastructure<\/a>. As Gaza burns in a smoldering pyre of death and destruction, 80-year-old Biden may be overseeing the final act in his devotion to Israel\u2019s most extreme agenda. His legacy should be forever haunted by the names of the dead children of Gaza, thousands of whom have died in a matter of weeks under the hellfire of U.S.-manufactured weapons and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden has been in public office longer than almost any U.S. politician in history. His career in the U.S. Senate began on the eve of the 1973 Arab\u2013Israeli war when he traveled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. \u201cI sat across the desk for an hour as she flipped those maps up and down, chain smoking, telling me about the [1967] Six Day War,\u201d Biden said. He called it \u201cone of the most consequential meetings I\u2019ve ever had in my life.\u201d But, as has been in the case with more than a few of Biden\u2019s vignettes about his central role in historical events, in his numerous and varied retelling of that story, he seems to have exaggerated<\/a> how important that meeting was to Meir and the Israelis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Joe Biden: Career Defender of Israel\u2019s Crimes and Impunity<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Over the ensuing decades and up to the current horrors being inflicted on the people of Gaza, Biden has operated as one of the staunchest promoters of Israel\u2019s colonialist agenda, often defending Israel\u2019s disproportionate use of force, collective punishment, and at times outright massacres. \u201cWere there not an Israel, the United States would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region,\u201d Biden said on the Senate floor in 1986. He repeated<\/a> that same line earlier this year during a July visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Washington. During Biden\u2019s trip to Israel last month, as Israel intensified its attacks on Gaza and the civilian death toll skyrocketed, he told<\/a> Netanyahu and his war cabinet, \u201cI don\u2019t believe you have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and I am a Zionist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Building support for Israel\u2019s military might and funneling money and political support to Israel has been a central component of Biden\u2019s career-long foreign policy agenda. He is fond of calling himself \u201cIsrael\u2019s best Catholic friend.\u201d In 2016, during a visit to Israel, Netanyahu heaped praise on Biden, then vice president. \u201cThe people of Israel consider the Biden family part of our family,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cI want to thank you personally for your, for our personal friendship of over 30 years. We\u2019ve known each other a long time. We\u2019ve gone through many trials and tribulations. And we have an enduring bond that represents the enduring bond between our people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MOST READ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"\/$ <\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Pentagon Won\u2019t Say Where It\u2019s Sending U.S. Troops \u2014 to Avoid Embarrassing Host Nations<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ken Klippenstein<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"\/$ <\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
I Joined Gaza\u2019s Trail of Tears and Displacement<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hind Khoudary<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"\/$ <\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Palestinians Sue Biden for Failing to Prevent Genocide in Gaza<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prem Thakker<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is one story from these decades of Biden\u2019s dedication to Israel that seems eerily prescient given the bloodbath playing out in Gaza right now. It took place early in the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. In public, Biden was neither a cheerleader for the invasion nor an opponent. But in a private meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Prime Minister Menachem Begin in June 1982, Biden\u2019s support for the brutality of the invasion appeared to outstrip even that of the Israeli government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the Israeli prime minister was grilled<\/a> in the Senate over Israel\u2019s disproportionate use of force, including the targeting of civilians with cluster bomb munitions, Biden, in Begin\u2019s words, \u201crose and delivered a very impassioned speech\u201d defending the invasion. Upon his return to Israel, Begin told Israeli reporters he was shocked when Biden \u201csaid he would go even further than Israel, adding that he\u2019d forcefully fend off anyone who sought to invade his country, even if that meant killing women or children.\u201d Begin said, \u201cI disassociated myself from these remarks,\u201d adding, \u201cI said to him: No, sir; attention must be paid. According to our values, it is forbidden to hurt women and children, even in war. Sometimes there are casualties among the civilian population as well. But it is forbidden to aspire to this. This is a yardstick of human civilization, not to hurt civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coming from Begin, the comments were striking, because he had been notorious as a leader of the Irgun, a militant group that carried out some of the worst acts of ethnic cleansing accompanying the creation of the state of Israel, including the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre. The details of his exchange with Biden about Lebanon did not receive attention in the U.S. press. Instead, the New York Times focused on what it termed<\/a> the \u201cbitterest exchange\u201d between Biden and Begin over the issue of Israeli settlements, which Biden opposed because, he said, it was hurting Israel\u2019s reputation in the U.S. \u201cHe hinted \u2014 more than hinted \u2014 that if we continue with this policy, it is possible that he will propose cutting our financial aid,\u201d Begin alleged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, Biden has referenced this confrontation when explaining his opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements<\/a> in the West Bank<\/a> as a disagreement among very good friends. Biden has long argued<\/a> that these expansions undermine prospects for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, though his rhetoric has often been contradicted by his actions, as was the case with his opposition to last week\u2019s U.N. vote labeling the settlements illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Photo: Saul Loeb\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInnocents Got Killed\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In the 1990s, as Biden solidified his reputation as a top foreign policy senator, he often helped shepherd legislation and funding packages to Israel that human rights groups and international aid organizations said would hinder efforts at brokering lasting peace and further entrench the state of apartheid imposed on millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden was an early proponent of moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a move that finally took place in 2018 under the Trump administration<\/a>. In 1995, Biden helped pass a Senate resolution demanding that the embassy be moved by May of that year. Despite objections that it would harm ongoing Israeli\u2013Palestinian peace talks by deciding a key issue by fiat, Biden said the move would send a positive signal to the region. \u201cTo do less would play into the hands of those who would do their hardest to deny Israel the full attributes of statehood,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2001, following rare public criticism from the Bush administration directed<\/a> at Israel\u2019s policy of assassinating suspected Palestinian militants, Biden defended Israel\u2019s right to carry out such killings and even rebuked President George W. Bush for criticizing them. \u201cMy view has always been that disagreements between Israel and the United States, those differences should be aired privately, not publicly,\u201d Biden said. He also defended the legality of targeted killings, which at the time were considered highly questionable by legal experts for occurring outside a declared conflict. \u201cI don\u2019t believe this is a policy of assassinations,\u201d Biden said, referring to the targeting of suspected Hamas members. \u201cThere is in effect a declared war, a declaration by an organization that has said its goal is to do as much as it can to kill Israeli civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In July 2006<\/a>, Israel was bombing both Gaza and southern Lebanon, with Biden cheering it on. The Israelis, Biden said on MSNBC, \u201chave in both cases, both in Gaza and in southern Lebanon, done the right thing.\u201d In the face of international condemnations of Israel\u2019s brutality in its attacks, Biden defended Israel. \u201cI find it fascinating \u2014 people talk about, \u2018Has Israel gone too far?\u2019 No one talks about whether Israel\u2019s justified in the first place,\u201d he said on \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d Unless critics of Israel recognize that it was a victim of terrorism, he said, \u201cI think it\u2019s awful \u2014 I think it\u2019s a secondary question whether Israel\u2019s gone too far.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden said his \u201conly criticism of the Israelis is they\u2019re not that great at public relations.\u201d He compared Israel\u2019s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon to the U.S. invasion and occupation<\/a> of Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit like the same thing we had when we went into Afghanistan,\u201d Biden said at a press conference in July 2006. \u201cWe went into Afghanistan, remember, we took out a wedding party by accident? Remember, we took out \u2014 with these very sophisticated missiles we had, we accidentally killed some citizens? Was ever a war more justified than us going into Afghanistan? I can\u2019t think of any war since World War II more justified. Yet innocents got killed in us trying to protect America\u2019s interests.\u201d By August 2006, more than 1,000 people were killed in Israel\u2019s war against Lebanon, and UNICEF estimated<\/a> that 30 percent of the casualties were children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his time as vice president, Biden often played the role of placating his friend Netanyahu who famously loathed President Barack Obama. During those eight years, Obama largely maintained long-standing U.S. posture of showering Israel with weapons and other aid despite repeated political spats with Netanyahu, most prominently over Iran and Israeli settlements. During numerous episodes when Israel unleashed gratuitous violence, drawing international condemnation, Biden served as Israel\u2019s most prominent American defender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the early summer of 2010, a group of mostly Turkish activists attempted to deliver a flotilla of humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. The attempt was interdicted by the Israeli military, which launched a raid on one ship that resulted in the deaths of nine people, including one American citizen. The raid triggered an international outcry and led to a diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey, while drawing further attention to the civilian impact of the ongoing Israeli siege of Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden took the lead in defending the raid to the U.S. public. In an interview with PBS, he described<\/a> the raid as \u201clegitimate\u201d and argued that the flotilla organizers could have disembarked elsewhere before transferring the aid to Gaza. \u201cSo what\u2019s the big deal here? What\u2019s the big deal of insisting it go straight to Gaza?\u201d Biden asked about the humanitarian mission. \u201cWell, it\u2019s legitimate for Israel to say, \u2018I don\u2019t know what\u2019s on that ship. These guys are dropping eight \u2014 3,000 rockets on my people.\u2019\u201d No weapons were ever found on the ship, only humanitarian supplies. Amid the fury that the raid generated and the muted response from Obama, Biden\u2019s remarks were welcomed<\/a> by AIPAC<\/a> spokesperson Josh Block, who said at the time, \u201cWe appreciate the many strong statements of support for Israel from members of Congress and the vice president today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the 2014 Gaza war \u2014 a seven-week Israeli ground invasion that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians (two-thirds of them civilians) and caused widespread displacement and destruction of civilian infrastructure \u2014 Biden boasted of how the Obama administration had \u201csteadfastly stood before the world and defended Israel\u2019s right to defend itself,\u201d declaring<\/a>, \u201cWe have an obligation to match the steel and the spine of the people of Israel with an ironclad, nonnegotiable commitment to Israel\u2019s physical security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In May 2021, a few months into Biden\u2019s presidency, Israel intensified its ethnic-cleansing campaign against Palestinians in East Jerusalem, forcibly evicting<\/a> people from their homes to hand them over to Israeli settlers<\/a>. The incendiary situation was then exacerbated during a Ramadan siege by Israeli forces<\/a> at one of the holiest sites in Islam<\/a>, Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. In response, Hamas began launching rockets into Israel. Netanyahu retaliated by ordering a massive 11-day bombing campaign against Gaza, striking residential buildings, media outlets<\/a>, hospitals, and a refugee camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the civilian death toll among Palestinians began to rise, Ned Price, the State Department spokesperson, characterized the operation as Israel exercising its right to self-defense. When he was then asked whether the principle of self-defense also applied to Palestinians, he struggled to answer before saying, \u201cBroadly speaking, we believe in the concept of self-defense. We believe it applies to any state.\u201d When Matt Lee of The Associated Press pointed out that Palestinians do not have a state, Price said, \u201cI\u2019m not in a position to debate the legalities from up here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 250 Palestinians died during Israel\u2019s siege, including dozens of children. More than 70,000 Palestinians were displaced. Throughout the bombing, the U.S. staunchly defended Israel\u2019s disproportionate attacks, with Biden declaring<\/a> on May 16, \u201cthere has not been a significant overreaction\u201d from Israel before pivoting to condemn Hamas\u2019s firing of rockets into civilian areas of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"GAZA$
Photo: Abed Zagout\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Evidence of Genocidal Intent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Following Hamas\u2019s horrifying attacks on October 7, Biden and his administration have defended Israel\u2019s mass bombardment of Gaza, and U.S. weapons shipments<\/a> have been accelerated. Biden called<\/a> his proposal for additional military support an \u201cunprecedented commitment to Israel\u2019s security that will sharpen Israel\u2019s qualitative military edge,\u201d saying, \u201cWe\u2019re going to make sure other hostile actors in the region know that Israel is stronger than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This crisis has undoubtedly solidified Biden\u2019s legacy as one of the premiere American defenders of Israel\u2019s crimes, including disproportionate attacks against an overwhelmingly defenseless civilian population, in the history of U.S. politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an alternate reality \u2014 one where the rule of law is applied equally to all states \u2014 Israeli leaders would likely face war crimes charges for the razing of Gaza. Leading genocide scholars and international law experts<\/a> have cited<\/a> the statements of Israeli officials about the aims of their operations in Gaza as potential evidence of \u201cgenocidal intent.\u201d A coalition of international lawyers representing Palestinian rights groups has already petitioned<\/a> the International Criminal Court to open a criminal inquiry and issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such attempts at accountability should not focus solely on Israeli leaders, according to some U.S. constitutional law organizations. The U.S. is Israel\u2019s premiere bankroller and arms dealer, not to mention its political defender. There are several U.S. laws and treaties that prohibit support for, and failure to prevent, genocidal activities. Among these is the Genocide Convention Implementation Act<\/a>, signed into law in 1988. Its sponsor<\/a>? A senator named Joe Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Palestinians Sue Biden for Failing to Prevent Genocide in Gaza<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
On Monday, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed<\/a> a federal lawsuit on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza seeking to block the Biden administration from providing further military aid to Israel<\/a>. The suit names Biden, Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. \u201cThey have continued to provide both military and political support for Israel\u2019s unfolding genocidal campaign while imposing no red lines,\u201d said Katherine Gallagher, one of the lawyers who filed the case. \u201cThe United States has a clear and binding obligation to prevent, not further, genocide. They have failed in meeting their legal and moral duty to use their considerable power to end this horror. They must do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is unfathomable, given the current world order, that any meaningful legal accountability will be served on U.S. or Israeli leaders. But on a moral level, it is important to remember these legal efforts to confront the slaughter and the complicity of Biden and other Western leaders. The U.S.-enabled horrors of the past five weeks should remain a bloody, permanent stain on the fabric of Biden\u2019s political career and legacy. Among the U.S. political elite, it will simply be noted as Biden doing his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CONTACT THE AUTHOR:<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Jeremy Scahill<\/a>jeremy.scahill@\u200btheintercept.com<\/a>@jeremyscahill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Palestinians including children at Nasser Hospital for injuries in the aftermath of Israeli attacks in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Nov. 13, 2023.\u00a0Photo: Mustafa Hassona\/Anadolu via Getty Images Biden\u2019s support for the terror bombing of Gaza continues his long history as a steadfast supporter of Israel\u2019s greatest crimes. Jeremy Scahill November… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1449],"class_list":["post-29970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-biden-legacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Photo: Pacific Press\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Support for Israel\u2019s Wars<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For 50 years, Biden has been consistent in his support for Israel\u2019s wars against the Palestinians. Time and again he has backed and facilitated campaigns of terror waged by a nuclear power against a people who have no state, no army, no air force, no navy, and an almost nonexistent civilian infrastructure<\/a>. As Gaza burns in a smoldering pyre of death and destruction, 80-year-old Biden may be overseeing the final act in his devotion to Israel\u2019s most extreme agenda. His legacy should be forever haunted by the names of the dead children of Gaza, thousands of whom have died in a matter of weeks under the hellfire of U.S.-manufactured weapons and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden has been in public office longer than almost any U.S. politician in history. His career in the U.S. Senate began on the eve of the 1973 Arab\u2013Israeli war when he traveled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. \u201cI sat across the desk for an hour as she flipped those maps up and down, chain smoking, telling me about the [1967] Six Day War,\u201d Biden said. He called it \u201cone of the most consequential meetings I\u2019ve ever had in my life.\u201d But, as has been in the case with more than a few of Biden\u2019s vignettes about his central role in historical events, in his numerous and varied retelling of that story, he seems to have exaggerated<\/a> how important that meeting was to Meir and the Israelis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Joe Biden: Career Defender of Israel\u2019s Crimes and Impunity<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Over the ensuing decades and up to the current horrors being inflicted on the people of Gaza, Biden has operated as one of the staunchest promoters of Israel\u2019s colonialist agenda, often defending Israel\u2019s disproportionate use of force, collective punishment, and at times outright massacres. \u201cWere there not an Israel, the United States would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region,\u201d Biden said on the Senate floor in 1986. He repeated<\/a> that same line earlier this year during a July visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Washington. During Biden\u2019s trip to Israel last month, as Israel intensified its attacks on Gaza and the civilian death toll skyrocketed, he told<\/a> Netanyahu and his war cabinet, \u201cI don\u2019t believe you have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and I am a Zionist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Building support for Israel\u2019s military might and funneling money and political support to Israel has been a central component of Biden\u2019s career-long foreign policy agenda. He is fond of calling himself \u201cIsrael\u2019s best Catholic friend.\u201d In 2016, during a visit to Israel, Netanyahu heaped praise on Biden, then vice president. \u201cThe people of Israel consider the Biden family part of our family,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cI want to thank you personally for your, for our personal friendship of over 30 years. We\u2019ve known each other a long time. We\u2019ve gone through many trials and tribulations. And we have an enduring bond that represents the enduring bond between our people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MOST READ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"\/$ <\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Pentagon Won\u2019t Say Where It\u2019s Sending U.S. Troops \u2014 to Avoid Embarrassing Host Nations<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ken Klippenstein<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"\/$ <\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
I Joined Gaza\u2019s Trail of Tears and Displacement<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hind Khoudary<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"\/$ <\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Palestinians Sue Biden for Failing to Prevent Genocide in Gaza<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prem Thakker<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is one story from these decades of Biden\u2019s dedication to Israel that seems eerily prescient given the bloodbath playing out in Gaza right now. It took place early in the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. In public, Biden was neither a cheerleader for the invasion nor an opponent. But in a private meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Prime Minister Menachem Begin in June 1982, Biden\u2019s support for the brutality of the invasion appeared to outstrip even that of the Israeli government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the Israeli prime minister was grilled<\/a> in the Senate over Israel\u2019s disproportionate use of force, including the targeting of civilians with cluster bomb munitions, Biden, in Begin\u2019s words, \u201crose and delivered a very impassioned speech\u201d defending the invasion. Upon his return to Israel, Begin told Israeli reporters he was shocked when Biden \u201csaid he would go even further than Israel, adding that he\u2019d forcefully fend off anyone who sought to invade his country, even if that meant killing women or children.\u201d Begin said, \u201cI disassociated myself from these remarks,\u201d adding, \u201cI said to him: No, sir; attention must be paid. According to our values, it is forbidden to hurt women and children, even in war. Sometimes there are casualties among the civilian population as well. But it is forbidden to aspire to this. This is a yardstick of human civilization, not to hurt civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coming from Begin, the comments were striking, because he had been notorious as a leader of the Irgun, a militant group that carried out some of the worst acts of ethnic cleansing accompanying the creation of the state of Israel, including the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre. The details of his exchange with Biden about Lebanon did not receive attention in the U.S. press. Instead, the New York Times focused on what it termed<\/a> the \u201cbitterest exchange\u201d between Biden and Begin over the issue of Israeli settlements, which Biden opposed because, he said, it was hurting Israel\u2019s reputation in the U.S. \u201cHe hinted \u2014 more than hinted \u2014 that if we continue with this policy, it is possible that he will propose cutting our financial aid,\u201d Begin alleged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, Biden has referenced this confrontation when explaining his opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements<\/a> in the West Bank<\/a> as a disagreement among very good friends. Biden has long argued<\/a> that these expansions undermine prospects for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, though his rhetoric has often been contradicted by his actions, as was the case with his opposition to last week\u2019s U.N. vote labeling the settlements illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Photo: Saul Loeb\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInnocents Got Killed\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In the 1990s, as Biden solidified his reputation as a top foreign policy senator, he often helped shepherd legislation and funding packages to Israel that human rights groups and international aid organizations said would hinder efforts at brokering lasting peace and further entrench the state of apartheid imposed on millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden was an early proponent of moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a move that finally took place in 2018 under the Trump administration<\/a>. In 1995, Biden helped pass a Senate resolution demanding that the embassy be moved by May of that year. Despite objections that it would harm ongoing Israeli\u2013Palestinian peace talks by deciding a key issue by fiat, Biden said the move would send a positive signal to the region. \u201cTo do less would play into the hands of those who would do their hardest to deny Israel the full attributes of statehood,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2001, following rare public criticism from the Bush administration directed<\/a> at Israel\u2019s policy of assassinating suspected Palestinian militants, Biden defended Israel\u2019s right to carry out such killings and even rebuked President George W. Bush for criticizing them. \u201cMy view has always been that disagreements between Israel and the United States, those differences should be aired privately, not publicly,\u201d Biden said. He also defended the legality of targeted killings, which at the time were considered highly questionable by legal experts for occurring outside a declared conflict. \u201cI don\u2019t believe this is a policy of assassinations,\u201d Biden said, referring to the targeting of suspected Hamas members. \u201cThere is in effect a declared war, a declaration by an organization that has said its goal is to do as much as it can to kill Israeli civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In July 2006<\/a>, Israel was bombing both Gaza and southern Lebanon, with Biden cheering it on. The Israelis, Biden said on MSNBC, \u201chave in both cases, both in Gaza and in southern Lebanon, done the right thing.\u201d In the face of international condemnations of Israel\u2019s brutality in its attacks, Biden defended Israel. \u201cI find it fascinating \u2014 people talk about, \u2018Has Israel gone too far?\u2019 No one talks about whether Israel\u2019s justified in the first place,\u201d he said on \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d Unless critics of Israel recognize that it was a victim of terrorism, he said, \u201cI think it\u2019s awful \u2014 I think it\u2019s a secondary question whether Israel\u2019s gone too far.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden said his \u201conly criticism of the Israelis is they\u2019re not that great at public relations.\u201d He compared Israel\u2019s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon to the U.S. invasion and occupation<\/a> of Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit like the same thing we had when we went into Afghanistan,\u201d Biden said at a press conference in July 2006. \u201cWe went into Afghanistan, remember, we took out a wedding party by accident? Remember, we took out \u2014 with these very sophisticated missiles we had, we accidentally killed some citizens? Was ever a war more justified than us going into Afghanistan? I can\u2019t think of any war since World War II more justified. Yet innocents got killed in us trying to protect America\u2019s interests.\u201d By August 2006, more than 1,000 people were killed in Israel\u2019s war against Lebanon, and UNICEF estimated<\/a> that 30 percent of the casualties were children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his time as vice president, Biden often played the role of placating his friend Netanyahu who famously loathed President Barack Obama. During those eight years, Obama largely maintained long-standing U.S. posture of showering Israel with weapons and other aid despite repeated political spats with Netanyahu, most prominently over Iran and Israeli settlements. During numerous episodes when Israel unleashed gratuitous violence, drawing international condemnation, Biden served as Israel\u2019s most prominent American defender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the early summer of 2010, a group of mostly Turkish activists attempted to deliver a flotilla of humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. The attempt was interdicted by the Israeli military, which launched a raid on one ship that resulted in the deaths of nine people, including one American citizen. The raid triggered an international outcry and led to a diplomatic crisis between Israel and Turkey, while drawing further attention to the civilian impact of the ongoing Israeli siege of Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden took the lead in defending the raid to the U.S. public. In an interview with PBS, he described<\/a> the raid as \u201clegitimate\u201d and argued that the flotilla organizers could have disembarked elsewhere before transferring the aid to Gaza. \u201cSo what\u2019s the big deal here? What\u2019s the big deal of insisting it go straight to Gaza?\u201d Biden asked about the humanitarian mission. \u201cWell, it\u2019s legitimate for Israel to say, \u2018I don\u2019t know what\u2019s on that ship. These guys are dropping eight \u2014 3,000 rockets on my people.\u2019\u201d No weapons were ever found on the ship, only humanitarian supplies. Amid the fury that the raid generated and the muted response from Obama, Biden\u2019s remarks were welcomed<\/a> by AIPAC<\/a> spokesperson Josh Block, who said at the time, \u201cWe appreciate the many strong statements of support for Israel from members of Congress and the vice president today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the 2014 Gaza war \u2014 a seven-week Israeli ground invasion that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians (two-thirds of them civilians) and caused widespread displacement and destruction of civilian infrastructure \u2014 Biden boasted of how the Obama administration had \u201csteadfastly stood before the world and defended Israel\u2019s right to defend itself,\u201d declaring<\/a>, \u201cWe have an obligation to match the steel and the spine of the people of Israel with an ironclad, nonnegotiable commitment to Israel\u2019s physical security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In May 2021, a few months into Biden\u2019s presidency, Israel intensified its ethnic-cleansing campaign against Palestinians in East Jerusalem, forcibly evicting<\/a> people from their homes to hand them over to Israeli settlers<\/a>. The incendiary situation was then exacerbated during a Ramadan siege by Israeli forces<\/a> at one of the holiest sites in Islam<\/a>, Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. In response, Hamas began launching rockets into Israel. Netanyahu retaliated by ordering a massive 11-day bombing campaign against Gaza, striking residential buildings, media outlets<\/a>, hospitals, and a refugee camp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the civilian death toll among Palestinians began to rise, Ned Price, the State Department spokesperson, characterized the operation as Israel exercising its right to self-defense. When he was then asked whether the principle of self-defense also applied to Palestinians, he struggled to answer before saying, \u201cBroadly speaking, we believe in the concept of self-defense. We believe it applies to any state.\u201d When Matt Lee of The Associated Press pointed out that Palestinians do not have a state, Price said, \u201cI\u2019m not in a position to debate the legalities from up here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 250 Palestinians died during Israel\u2019s siege, including dozens of children. More than 70,000 Palestinians were displaced. Throughout the bombing, the U.S. staunchly defended Israel\u2019s disproportionate attacks, with Biden declaring<\/a> on May 16, \u201cthere has not been a significant overreaction\u201d from Israel before pivoting to condemn Hamas\u2019s firing of rockets into civilian areas of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"GAZA$
Photo: Abed Zagout\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Evidence of Genocidal Intent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Following Hamas\u2019s horrifying attacks on October 7, Biden and his administration have defended Israel\u2019s mass bombardment of Gaza, and U.S. weapons shipments<\/a> have been accelerated. Biden called<\/a> his proposal for additional military support an \u201cunprecedented commitment to Israel\u2019s security that will sharpen Israel\u2019s qualitative military edge,\u201d saying, \u201cWe\u2019re going to make sure other hostile actors in the region know that Israel is stronger than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This crisis has undoubtedly solidified Biden\u2019s legacy as one of the premiere American defenders of Israel\u2019s crimes, including disproportionate attacks against an overwhelmingly defenseless civilian population, in the history of U.S. politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an alternate reality \u2014 one where the rule of law is applied equally to all states \u2014 Israeli leaders would likely face war crimes charges for the razing of Gaza. Leading genocide scholars and international law experts<\/a> have cited<\/a> the statements of Israeli officials about the aims of their operations in Gaza as potential evidence of \u201cgenocidal intent.\u201d A coalition of international lawyers representing Palestinian rights groups has already petitioned<\/a> the International Criminal Court to open a criminal inquiry and issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Such attempts at accountability should not focus solely on Israeli leaders, according to some U.S. constitutional law organizations. The U.S. is Israel\u2019s premiere bankroller and arms dealer, not to mention its political defender. There are several U.S. laws and treaties that prohibit support for, and failure to prevent, genocidal activities. Among these is the Genocide Convention Implementation Act<\/a>, signed into law in 1988. Its sponsor<\/a>? A senator named Joe Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Palestinians Sue Biden for Failing to Prevent Genocide in Gaza<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
On Monday, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed<\/a> a federal lawsuit on behalf of Palestinians in Gaza seeking to block the Biden administration from providing further military aid to Israel<\/a>. The suit names Biden, Blinken, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. \u201cThey have continued to provide both military and political support for Israel\u2019s unfolding genocidal campaign while imposing no red lines,\u201d said Katherine Gallagher, one of the lawyers who filed the case. \u201cThe United States has a clear and binding obligation to prevent, not further, genocide. They have failed in meeting their legal and moral duty to use their considerable power to end this horror. They must do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is unfathomable, given the current world order, that any meaningful legal accountability will be served on U.S. or Israeli leaders. But on a moral level, it is important to remember these legal efforts to confront the slaughter and the complicity of Biden and other Western leaders. The U.S.-enabled horrors of the past five weeks should remain a bloody, permanent stain on the fabric of Biden\u2019s political career and legacy. Among the U.S. political elite, it will simply be noted as Biden doing his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CONTACT THE AUTHOR:<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Jeremy Scahill<\/a>jeremy.scahill@\u200btheintercept.com<\/a>@jeremyscahill<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Palestinians including children at Nasser Hospital for injuries in the aftermath of Israeli attacks in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Nov. 13, 2023.\u00a0Photo: Mustafa Hassona\/Anadolu via Getty Images Biden\u2019s support for the terror bombing of Gaza continues his long history as a steadfast supporter of Israel\u2019s greatest crimes. Jeremy Scahill November… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1449],"class_list":["post-29970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-biden-legacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29970\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}