Palestine sharply polarizes American public: Axios

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Axios
5 Nov 2023 06:42
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A university professor says that Palestine is by far the most vehemently divisive foreign policy issue in the United States.

With the U.S Capitol n the background thousands of protesters rally during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Freedom Plaza in Washington, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023 (AP)

A recent report by Axios shows that Palestine, especially in light of the Israeli war against Gaza, has become a deeply divisive topic among Americans. Anti-zionist discourse has grown increasingly amplified, especially on college campuses, getting wrongfully framed as anti-semitic, while Zionist-sympathizers have resorted to Islamophobic bigotry.

The report raises concern that the division over this issue is roiling American society and has the potential to reshape US politics.

“Most foreign policy issues do not generate these kinds of strong feelings in the US,” says Guy Ziv, a professor at American University’s School of International Service. “There has always been a disproportionate interest in this issue.”

He explains that social media has exacerbated the divisions with the increasingly amplified anti-zionist discourse and the Islamophobic counter-discourse.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says it received 774 complaints about Islamophobic incidents between Oct. 7 and Oct. 24, the report cites. Meanwhile, 213 cases of alleged "anti-semitism" were recorded over the same period.

A pro-Palestinian protestor is seen covering a statue of #US founding father Benjamin Franklin with a Palestinian keffiyeh during mass demonstrations in #Washington, DC. #Palestine pic.twitter.com/cBc6kyk5AT
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 5, 2023

Severe measures are being taken against those vocal with support for Palestine and condemnation of "Israel": ranging from getting doxxed to getting suspended to losing jobs.

Yesterday, former US President Barack Obama said “nobody’s hands are clean” amid the Israeli war on Gaza.

“[I]f you want to solve the problem, then, you have to take in the whole truth,” Obama said in a Pod Save America podcast clip posted to X on Saturday.

“And you then have to admit nobody’s hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree,” the former president continued. “I look at this and I think back, ‘What could I have done during my presidency, to move this forward?’ as hard as I tried. I’ve got the scars to prove it.”

"I carried a decapitated body with my own hands."

This is how this Palestinian child described the scene after an Israeli airstrike hit a UN-run school sheltering displaced Palestinians at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern #Gaza.

The Israeli bombing killed 15 people and… pic.twitter.com/bEv87PfOxO
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) November 5, 2023

In his statement, Obama both condemned Hamas and extended sympathy toward the innocent civilians in Gaza, adding “What Hamas did was horrific, and there’s no justification for it. And what is also true is that the occupation and what’s happening to Palestinians is unbearable."