Biden’s Refusal to Push Israel for a Ceasefire Killed Tens of Thousands of Palestinians | Palestine Policy Roundup 01.21.25
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “The slaughter in Gaza continues. At least 46,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children. The full toll could be higher: one peer-reviewed study estimates as many as 64,000 dead. No more bombs for Netanyahu. We must end this moral outrage.”
Sen. Peter Welch: “Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a U.S.-Turkish citizen, was killed by Israeli forces while attending a peaceful protest in the West Bank. There's no evidence to suggest that she was a threat. I'm leading my colleagues in demanding answers from the State Department.”
Rep. Ilhan Omar: “The announcement of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas is welcome news…However, an urgent need remains: we must permanently end the genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, humanitarian aid needs to increase exponentially to avoid continued suffering, and work toward a just and lasting peace and self-determination for the Palestinian people.”
Rep. Joaquin Castro: “For many months, human rights monitors have provided serious and credible reports that Israeli military forces operating under the direction of Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government have also committed war crimes…They too should be held accountable. I hope that the clarity that a ceasefire offers will enable a full accounting of the toll of this war and the actions of the Israeli government so there can be justice.”
Rep. Chuy Garcia: "...I will only feel true relief when the bombs stop falling for good, when every last hostage and political prisoner is released, and when humanitarian aid flows freely into Gaza - in other words, when a lasting, comprehensive ceasefire deal is reached.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
🏛️ ANTI-PALESTINIAN TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NOMINEES FACE SENATE CONFIRMATION HEARINGS
The Senate began its confirmation hearings for the incoming Trump administration’s cabinet nominees last week. Many of the nominees have records of anti-Palestinian sentiments and support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth has a well-documented record of anti-Palestinian sentiments and justification for Israeli apartheid that are a core part of his Crusades-focused agenda. In his book, Hegseth credits Israel's illegal apartheid wall and Israeli forces with killing and subjugating Palestinians whom he characterizes as enemies of a joint American and Israeli crusade. Hegseth’s invocation of the Crusades ignores their massacres of both Jews and Muslims and instead casts the US and Israel as partners in a religious war that will further the oppression of the Palestinian people.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio attacked the International Criminal Court for seeking accountability for Israel’s alleged crimes of genocide in Gaza and promised to roll back sanctions placed on Israeli settlers and settler organizations responsible for the killing of Palestinians in the West Bank. At the onset of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Rubio justified Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on civilians and rejected a diplomatic stop to the killing.
Ambassador to Israel nominee Mike Huckabee also has a long record of anti-Palestinian racism. Huckabee has repeatedly and wrongly asserted that there is no such thing as a Palestinian. He also refuses to refer to the occupied West Bank by its name and has refused to recognize the territory as occupied by Israel. He also suggested that a Palestinian state could only exist outside of historic Palestinian lands, effectively endorsing permanent Israeli control over Palestinian land under Israeli military rule.
With these nominees and others, the Trump administration is promising to continue its evisceration of international law as it concerns Palestinian rights as part of its extremist MAGA agenda. Senators should continue to scrutinize the records of these nominees and should ask about the anti-Palestinian records of those who have yet to face their confirmation hearings.
IN THE NEWS
☑️ POLL: KAMALA HARRIS LOST VOTERS OVER REFUSAL TO BREAK WITH BIDEN’S SUPPORT FOR GENOCIDE IN GAZA
A poll conducted by IMEU Policy Project and YouGov found that Vice President Kamala Harris lost voters over the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Ending Israel’s violence in Gaza was the top issue that was most important to deciding the votes of those who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 but did not vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, accounting for nearly 30% of voters lost to the Democratic nominee between the two campaigns.
In the 6 battleground states that flipped from Biden to Trump, 20% of former Biden voters named Gaza as their top reason for not voting for Harris in November. In Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin, more than 30% of Biden 2020 voters named his support for genocide in Gaza and Vice President Kamala Harris’ failure to break with Biden on the issue as the top issue deciding their vote.
By a 3-to-1 margin, Biden 2020 voters who did not vote for Harris indicated that had she promised to withhold weapons to Israel they would have been more likely to vote for her. These results are similar to a pre-election poll published by IMEU Policy Project which also found that Harris would have gained far more voters in battleground states than she would have lost had she promised to withhold weapons to Israel.
As the Democratic Party looks to reset its strategy and seeks future leaders, the voters they lost in 2024 say they would prefer to support officials who have opposed sending more weapons to Israel. 56% of Biden 2020 voters indicated that they would prefer a candidate who voted to withhold weapons to Israel.
These voters also overwhelmingly want to see super PAC dark money out of Democratic primaries. 68% say they support banning super PACs from spending unlimited amounts of money in Democratic primaries. 60% say they would be more likely to support a candidate who rejects super PAC donations.
This poll should impart clear lessons to Democratic Party leadership. Before the election, poll after poll demonstrated that Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris were hemorrhaging support from key parts of the Democratic voter base–such as Black voters– because of Biden’s support for Israel’s genocide. Democratic Party leadership must heed the call of the party’s base if it is to learn the lessons of this presidential election and mount opposition to the extremist MAGA agenda.
💣 60 MINUTES FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS US COMPLICITY IN ISRAEL’S GENOCIDE IN GAZA
A segment recently broadcast by 60 Minutes provided even more evidence of US complicity in Israel’s genocide. The segment featured interviews with former Biden administration officials who either resigned in protest of the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza or those who have spoken out against the policy since their resignations.
Most strikingly, the segment also features footage captured by CBS News inside Gaza that shows ammunition casings littering streets and being used in makeshift infrastructure–possibly to replace the very infrastructure destroyed by Israel with these shells. The casings have the letters “USA” and “DOD” stamped on their sides, demonstrating the centrality of US-supplied weapons to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Josh Paul, a former official in the State Department Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, revealed in the segment that during the early days of Israel’s assault on Gaza, weapons transfers to Israel were expedited according to orders from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden themselves. Hala Rharrit, a former diplomat stationed in Dubai before she resigned, revealed that her superiors eventually refused to accept her reports of the widespread and graphic evidence of US complicity in Israeli genocide.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
⚠️ CEASEFIRE DEAL REACHED, BUT BIDEN HAD THE POWER TO GET A DEAL ALL ALONG
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and captive exchange deal that will stop Israel’s assault on Gaza at least temporarily. The deal, which President Biden himself described as essentially the same proposal he made in May 2024, provides for a period of 42 days during which Israel will release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 Israeli captives.
More than 10,000 Palestinians, many of whom were arbitrarily arrested by Israeli authorities without charge, are held in Israeli prisons. This number does not include Palestinians detained by Israeli forces during its assault on Gaza.
Israel will also allow 600 trucks of aid to enter Gaza every day. Before the beginning of Israel’s assault on Gaza, 500 trucks of aid entered Gaza every day. Displaced Palestinians in Gaza will also be able to return to their homes across the occupied territory, although Israel has damaged or destroyed nearly all Palestinian homes.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Randa Sameeh, a Palestinian who was displaced to Nuseirat, spoke to Al Jazeera about the ceasefire: “I can’t believe that this nightmare of more than a year is finally coming to an end. We have lost so many people, we’ve lost everything…We need a lot of rest. As soon as the truce begins, I will go to the cemetery to visit my brother and family members. We buried them in Deir el-Balah cemetery without proper graves. We will build them new graves and write their names on them.”
📺 WATCH: Palestinians across Gaza reacted with jubilation at the announcement of the ceasefire.
📺 WATCH: Journalist Anas Al-Sharif, a correspondent in Gaza for Al Jazeera Arabic, removed his helmet and flak jacket as he reported on the ceasefire. Hundreds of Palestinian journalists have been targeted and killed by Israeli forces during Israel’s assault on Gaza.
While celebrations broke out across Gaza upon the announcement of a ceasefire, it was not immediately put into effect. In the hours after the announcement was made, Israeli forces killed 80 Palestinians across Gaza, including more than 30 in Gaza City. 18 of the Palestinians killed in Gaza CIty were killed by a strike on a house.
As Biden said, this deal is the same as his proposal that he publicly announced in May 2024 save for a few appendices that do not significantly alter it. While he may characterize himself as such, President Biden is not a peacemaker. Over the last 15 months of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Biden has supplied Israel with nearly every weapon it has used on Palestinians in the occupied territory and signed into law appropriations of more than $18 billion in weapons to Israel.
Biden’s unstinting support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza directly contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians. President Biden repeatedly refused to use his significant leverage to push Israel to accept a ceasefire. The Biden administration repeatedly flouted US law and his own administration’s policies to continue to provide weapons to Israel despite numerous attacks on civilians, clear obstruction of humanitarian aid, and violations of international law.
President Biden could have picked up the phone on day one of Israel’s genocide in Gaza or on any day thereafter and pressured Israel to agree to a ceasefire. He could have complied with US laws, such as Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, and cut off the flow of weapons to Israel in response to its obstruction of aid into Gaza and attacks on civilians. At every turn, he instead chose to support this genocide.
Photo: Anas-Mohammed, via Shutterstock (Stock Photo ID: 2419344055).