[god I love biden](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-democrats-israel-palestinians/2021/05/18/0d78da76-b7ed-11eb-a5fe-bb49dc89a248_story.html?itid=hp-top-table-main-0430b]
Democracy Dies in Darkness
Politics Live updates Biden administration The Biden Agenda Fact Checker Congress Polling Politics Biden is increasingly at odds with other Democrats over Israel Democrats at odds over recent Israeli-Palestinian violence Some Democratic lawmakers are criticizing Israel’s actions against Hamas, while others are following President Biden in saying it has a right to defend itself. (JM Rieger/The Washington Post) By Sean Sullivan and Anne Gearan
May 18, 2021 at 4:03 p.m. CDT DEARBORN, Mich. — President Biden is increasingly coming into conflict with fellow Democrats as he resists a shift in his party toward a tougher stand on Israel and stronger support for the Palestinians, a disconnect highlighted Tuesday by Biden's visit to a region that is a center of Arab American life in the United States.
Biden traveled to the Detroit area to tour an electric vehicle plant and promote his infrastructure plan, an effort to bolster his domestic agenda at a moment of deadly conflict in the Middle East. Arab American protesters gathered at a mosque in Dearborn in advance of the visit, eager to demonstrate their anger at Biden’s approach to the conflict.
The president faced calls from at least one member of Congress to devote time during Tuesday’s trip to meeting with Arab Americans because the plant Biden visited is in an area that is 90 percent Arab American. But the White House announced no such meetings.
Story continues below advertisement
Many Democrats remain staunchly supportive of Israel and the actions it says it must take in self-defense. But as a growing number of Democrats urged a cease-fire over the past week, Biden for days refused to join them, waiting until after his third conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cautiously support such a move.
What’s behind the violence in Israel and Gaza?
The president’s top spokeswoman has repeatedly declined to say whether Israel’s military response in the Gaza Strip was appropriate to the provocation, while many Democrats have not been shy about calling it disproportionate. And Biden and his advisers have stuck to an assertion that liberal Democrats reject as insufficient, the notion that Israel has a right to defend itself.
That has led to sharp criticism of the Biden administration from some Democrats, which otherwise has been rare.
President Biden tours a Ford electric vehicle plant in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday. The factory is in an area that is 90 percent Arab American. President Biden tours a Ford electric vehicle plant in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday. The factory is in an area that is 90 percent Arab American. (Leah Millis/Reuters) Story continues below advertisement
“The president needs to tell Netanyahu to stop,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is part of a new generation of liberal Democrats. While Biden’s cease-fire comments were a marginally positive step, Khanna said, “I think it has to be much stronger.”
Khanna called on Biden to meet with Arab Americans in Michigan on Tuesday and set a deadline for Netanyahu to end his military assault in the Gaza Strip.
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), who represents Dearborn, said Arab Americans were incensed by Israeli military action near one of the holiest Muslim sites in Jerusalem last week, and that many of her constituents wanted to convey their concern to Biden.
Story continues below advertisement “I’ve lived in this community for 30 years. These are very intense, passionate and caring people, and they did not believe that in the midst of a war in the Middle East that their voices should not be heard because many of them have family there, and they are deeply concerned,” Dingell said in an interview.
Biden was greeted Tuesday by local Democrats, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D), the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress and a vocal critic of his Middle East policy. The two shook hands shortly after Biden arrived at the airport and spoke for several minutes.
In his comments at a Ford auto plant, Biden addressed Tlaib and mentioned family members she has in the Middle East. “I pray that your mom and grandmom are okay on the West Bank,” Biden said. “I’m going to do all I can to see that they are.”
Story continues below advertisement ADVERTISING
Changing Democratic attitudes have been evident across the country in recent days. Rep. Cori Bush, a freshman Missouri Democrat and Black Lives Matter activist, delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor, promising to “fight for our rights in Palestine and in Ferguson,” tying the conflict in the Middle East to battles for racial justice at home.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who in recent years has become one of the most prominent elected officials among liberal Democrats, penned a widely circulated op-ed lambasting the Democratic leadership for being too accommodating toward Israel. “Palestinian lives matter,” he wrote in the New York Times.
Even longtime Israel hawks such as Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) have shown a sensitivity to the shifting winds in their party with carefully worded comments suggesting they would not always march in lockstep with the Israeli government.
wapp digging into antisemitic tropes by saying Schumer walks in lockstep with israel. Yikes.