Only third of Americans agree to Biden's response to war on Gaza: Poll
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With Republican respondents, 51% of disapprove and only 28% approve, while Democrats stand further divided on the issue.
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President Joe Biden delivers remarks on funding for Ukraine from the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Dec. 6, 2023. (AP)
According to a Pew Research Center poll released Friday, only a third of Americans approve of the Biden administration's reaction to the war on Gaza.
With Republicans, 51% of respondents disapprove while only 28% approve. Democrats, meanwhile, stand further divided: 44% approve, 33% disapprove, and 22% are undecided.
The Israeli bombardment of Gaza and the US backing of such aggression has been the biggest foreign policy challenge for the current administration, followed by the Ukraine war.
In late November, a Quinnipiac survey indicated that younger voters had a much higher pro-Palestine stance than older voters, warning the Democratic Party could lose their support.
Respondents under 30 were the most critical of Biden of all age groups, with only 19% approving of the White House reaction and 46% disapproving. Overall, older generations were less unfavorable in the poll.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre expressed Friday that “we don’t govern by polls” and defended the administration’s outreach to young voters. She said Biden’s record on climate policy and student loan forgiveness shows “how seriously we take what young people are going through.”
Jean-Pierre also reiterated support for the Israeli occupation "defending itself" but expressed that "obviously we do not want to see innocent lives taken, you know, taken in Gaza as well.”
White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby claims that the US is doing more than "any other nation" to aid civilians in Gaza and continues to claim that they have pressured "Israel" to be "cautious" in how it bombs Gaza.
Biden's patience with Netanyahu is running out: Ex-Israeli diplomat
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to bring out disagreements with the United States administration to the public, the former Israeli Consul General in New York City Alon Pinkas wrote for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The former Israeli diplomat said individuals close to US President Joe Biden are aware of Netanyahu's attempts to intertwine his fate with "Israel's", as he works on surfacing the crisis with the Biden administration to save himself from internal issues that plague his political career.
Pinkas said the US President's patience with Netanyahu is running out, adding that Washington believes that extending the occupation's military activities in the Gaza Strip for another two months will not change the equation. He said the US asserts that Hamas' capabilities can only be appropriated via political means rather than military means.
He said that "Israel's" inability to look past "the cannon barrel and the missile" will definitely lead to a strategic regional turning point of unintended consequences. The diplomat said Netanyahu's attempts to drag the US into a broader regional war "is too transparent."
