By Iqbal Jassat

While Biden is battling to retain his political office, student protests across US universities demanding sanctions and divestments, have added to his woes.

Is US President Joe Biden between a rock and a hard place due to his role in Israel’s slaughter of thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians in what global consensus accepts is a genocide in the besieged Gaza?

And its not by accident that he’s got himself in a tangle with pro-Palestinian protesters and anti-Israel pressure groups.

A dominant narrative doing the rounds in mainstream American media points to the irony that in all the time Biden facilitated Benjamin Netanyahu’s horrific massacres, he was supported by everyone who loves Israel.

Now that he has placed a pause on arms shipments to Israel he has become an object of hate and vehemently despised by the same constituency.

The love/hate paradigm is typical of ardent Zionists who believe that America’s domestic and foreign policy in support of Israel must remain iron clad, without any conditions. Even if it is in open defiance and violation of International Law, as is the case.

The current controversy is due to a White House decision to delay the transfer of 2,000 and 500-pound bombs over concerns that the Israeli army could use them in densely populated Rafah as it has in other parts of Gaza. And the threat that more arms shipments would be frozen if Israel launched a planned offensive in the Strip’s southernmost city.

The suspension of arms and the expectation that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to deliver a report to Congress that will be highly critical of Israel, has resulted in a huge firestorm.

To understand the level of vindictive blackmail Biden faces,
Democratic billionaire donor Haim Saban sent an angry email to him over his Rafah warning.

“Let’s not forget that there are more Jewish voters who care about Israel, than Muslim voters that care about Hamas,” he wrote.

Also “Hamas ❤️ Biden,” tweeted Israel’s fascist security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“The US is threatening not to give us precise missiles,” declared Israeli MK and Likud Official Tali Gottlieb. “Oh yeah? Well, I got news for the US. We have imprecise missiles. I’ll use it. I’ll just collapse ten..buildings. That’s what I’ll do.”

However, Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) Executive Director Stefanie Fox, holds views diametrically opposed to Zionism’s irrational fan club.

“Biden’s statement is as necessary as it is overdue. The U.S. already bears responsibility for months of catastrophic devastation: The nearly 40,000 Palestinians that the Israeli military has killed, the two million Palestinians being intentionally brought to the brink of famine, the decimation of all universities and almost every hospital in Gaza. Today’s statement shows that Biden can no longer ignore the will of the majority of Americans who want a permanent ceasefire, release of all hostages, and an end to US complicity in Israeli war crimes.

“The Netanyahu regime and President Biden alike have positioned this ongoing genocide as a benefit to Jewish life and safety, and for months tens of thousands of American Jews have called out: Not in our names!”

Those courageous enough to have opposed Biden’s funding and arming, make a coherent argument in line with objective findings of human rights organizations.

They argue that Biden’s halt of weapons is an admission of guilt. In other words he knows that the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) he has supplied via an arms bridge corridor have and continues to kill Palestinians.

While Biden is battling to retain his political office, student protests across US universities demanding sanctions and divestments, have added to his woes.

He is well aware that not only Americans but masses across the world hold him responsible for the carnage in Gaza. The message resounding across western capitals as indeed at college campuses is loud and clear: Biden is complicit!

Even if he sticks to his guns, no pun intended, Biden’s culpability makes him a candidate for prosecution at the International Criminal Court as a war criminal. That is if the ICC grows a backbone by refusing to be bullied and performs its duty without fear or favor.

Reports indicate that the Biden administration has since October 7 despatched billions in weapons to Israel. A blank cheque to Netanyahu and his criminal gang of warlords to use as they please.

Whatever cat and mouse game Biden is playing, the reality is that Rafah has been overrun by Netanyahu’s ground forces. The densely-populated area has been sealed off with all border crossings including the main artery to Egypt shut down.

Bombs continue to rain down on the population while massacres and assaults on the few hospitals in Rafah have intensified.

So while Biden desperately tries to untangle his administration from the knots he willingly and consciously allowed Netanyahu to tie him in, the horror of genocide facing Palestinians in Gaza, will haunt him.

– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com