The Witness Chronicles, August 21, 2024

Biden, Israel, and DNC day two

Photo by Muzammil Soorma on Unsplash

Can Joe Biden Deliver a Ceasefire in Gaza Before the Election?

It would be his most effective contribution to the campaign

There’s certainly no guarantee Biden and his State Department team can get Israel and Hamas to agree to anything. It’s really not in the interests of Hamas or Israel’s Netanyahu, who I must emphasize does not reflect the interests of the Israeli people.

And that’s a big problem, among many. Netanyahu has moved the goalposts every time anyone gets close to a deal. To many it is obvious that he is legally vulnerable without a war to pursue, just as Trump is vulnerable for the same reasons here.

And they are in cahoots because both of them benefit from a success for either of them. But a ceasefire would not be a success for Bibi.

On the Hamas side, just as they supposedly agreed to Israel’s terms, six Israeli hostages’ bodies were recovered by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) just this week. All were males which Hamas has not agreed to deliver but it is not clear they can deliver the thirty live hostages in the agreement, especially if they will only release women and children. No men or military and ex military hostages.

Frankly the hostages are the only thing, if anything means anything here, that keeps Israel from continuing their scorched earth campaign of death and destruction including intentional starvation and destruction of hospitals.

So, for Biden to bring an end, however temporary, to this endless conflict, is a Herculean effort. One obvious lever he could use is to withhold US advanced weapons systems and huge bombs from Israel. But Biden is a lifetime supporter of Israel and playing hardball with them has not been in his playbook thus far.

So, it is a horrible stalemate and in the meantime over 40,000 have died, probably a very low estimate, given the widespread famine and non-existent healthcare.

From an electoral view, the question is the young and passionate undecided or discouraged voters who have made the Palestine tragedy a one issue vote. So far, there is evidence many of them want to get engaged now that Kamala Harris is in the race.

Many of those young voters are excited about voting for her but are weighing what her policy would be on the entire conflict. It puts her in a hard place as the current policy is the policy of her administration, though it is largely seen as Biden’s baby. She has a balancing act to try and thread that needle.

Gaza and Palestine are particularly prime issues in at least one swing state, Michigan, which has a huge Muslim population including the mayor of a major city with a large majority of Middle Eastern immigrants. A reminder, only legal immigrants can vote, despite what the Trump campaign repeatedly claims.

Some observers also note that this action, bringing a ceasefire to reality, may be the only campaign action Biden can take without his presence potentially backfiring on Harris’s get out the youth and pro-Palestine voter efforts. And she needs those votes.

One more interesting dilemma presented by this election, but this is beyond just interesting because a slaughter is going on in Palestine and the majority of victims are women and children. The political ramifications pale in comparison to the scale of that tragedy.

DNC convention day two note: Two non-politicians own the room

The convention’s second night probably drove Donald Trump crazy. First, there were not one but two huge crowds for Kamala Harris, one at the convention in Chicago and one at the site of the RNC convention in Milwaukee, with Kamala live.

It was a brilliant tactical move by the Harris/Walz campaign given Donald’s obsession with crowd size. Part of their strategy is to keep him off message by giving him reason after reason to lose his marbles and go off the rails.

It was a night of great, uplifting speeches, including a keynote by Barack Obama, who was as effective as expected. But for me the two stars were not politicians, they were spouses. First, Doug Emhoff, Kamala’s husband, gave a refreshingly honest and personal speech about their relationship and his partner.

But it was Michelle Obama who rocked the room. It has been said that the Republicans’ worst nightmare was her running for President. And she certainly reinforced that fear, though she has said repeatedly that she has no interest. Nevertheless she showed the power she brings to the table, giving a masterful performance that no GOP politician can match.

If you want to see the image of a powerful woman comfortable with her power, she was it. Which was apropos given the number of exceptional women in the room. Another fact that undoubtedly drives Trump crazy. He has no concept of how to respond to the power of strong women.

It was a remarkable end to an evening that had me and my friends gleefully texting each other, so happy to be celebrating a change that feels more and more real every day.

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