Can Michigan primaries influence US policy on 'Israel'?: WSJ
5 Min Read
A WSJ report says that criticism from the Democratic "left", led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, have influenced Biden's stance on "Israel".
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An official ballot drop box is seen at the Warren City Hall, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Warren, Mich (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
A report by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday detailed that the Michigan primary may be serving as a strategic platform for the "Democratic left", led by Representative Rashida Tlaib, to push for a change in US President Biden's policy towards "Israel" amid the war on Gaza.
Tlaib has been effectively leading a campaign aimed at Biden's pro-Israeli stance by asking Democrats to vote "uncommitted."
"It is also important to create a voting bloc," Tlaib said in a video posted on X, "something that is a bullhorn, to say, 'Enough is enough. We don’t want a country that supports wars and bombs and destruction. We want to support life. We want to stand up for every single life killed in Gaza."
A statement from @RashidaTlaib on voting uncommitted in Michigan today. pic.twitter.com/xOfOcYTFQn
— #ListenToMichigan (@Listen2michigan) February 27, 2024
According to the report, the "left" hopes that if enough Democrats vote "uncommitted," it will potentially force a change in the White House's pro-Israeli policy. So far, several polls have shown Trump ahead of Biden in Michigan. In 2020, Biden won against Trump by only three percentage points.
The report notes uncertainty regarding the potential impact of the "Tlaib-left-wing threat" in the context of the November election, particularly if the choice boils down to a contest between Biden and Trump. It questions whether Democrats would be willing to take the risk of re-electing the Republican candidate, Trump, despite the discontent voiced by the "left-wing" Democrats led by Tlaib.
But WSJ also suggests that threats and criticisms from the "left-wing" faction within the Democratic Party have begun to influence Biden's foreign policy decisions regarding "Israel."
In the first weeks that followed the war on Gaza, Biden initially expressed strong support for "Israel's" actions. However, as the scale of the genocide progressed and criticism of Biden's stance on "Israel" has intensified domestically, he has become more critical of "Israel's" actions.
Read more: Michigan Democrats sound alarm over Biden's stance on Gaza: Politico
On February 9, he called "Israel's" military actions as "over the top" and expressed opposition to Israeli plans to invade the city of Rafah. Moreover, the Biden administration reversed a former Trump administration policy on Israeli settlements a week ago by declaring Zionist settlements in occupied territories as illegal.
Although the White House has still not joined the calls for a ceasefire, it remains actively engaged in pushing for a pause in the fighting, which according to the report, may develop into a ceasefire after several weeks.
In sum, the report says that recent actions by Biden suggest that his administration is working to appease his "left-wing" critics. But there are concerns that if Biden gives in too much to the "left", it may give leverage to resistance forces like the Palestinian resistance and the Iranian army, as seen by the "left's" push for a ceasefire that would leave Palestinian fighters "alive and free to rebuild their terror state."
"The suffering in Gaza is terrible, but the main cause is Hamas's use of civilians as human shields," the report says.
Beyond Narrow-Minded Labels
It is clear that such a narrow understanding of what resistance movements are and what they fight for fails to capture the actual scope of the issue.
The reason why Palestinian "terrorists" are engaged in a war against "Israel" is due to the obvious fact that they are under the occupation of an apartheid regime that has been imposing a brutal and inhumane blockade on the Strip for decades.
The apartheid nature of the regime is evidenced not only by the scale of brutality inflicted on the civilians of Gaza but also by the regime's refusal to abide by court orders issued by the ICJ to prevent harm to civilian lives.
With upcoming plans to invade the overcrowded city of Rafah, things promise to worsen in the near future.
Read more: Resistance factions confront, deter IOF across Gaza
Moreover, there is no such thing as a "left" or a "leftist Democrat" in the United States because the country's foreign policy is inherently wired to expand via means of militarism and wars of encroachment.
Given the imperialist nature of US capitalism, US foreign policy is an inherently aggressive policy and is virtually impossible to change unless contradictions within the US' own social fabric come to a breaking point.
Therefore, demonizing a supposed "left" within the Democratic Party is futile because there is no such thing as a leftist movement to begin with.
Nevertheless, suspicions of a possible secession of the Texas state due to the migration crisis suggest that things are soon about to take a turn in the US, for if such an event comes to occur, US internal unity will be in upheaval and may eventually lead to a crumbling of US foreign policy.
