Biden and Pope ask Israel to win in Gaza without fighting
At some point, a few eyebrows are going to be raised as U.S. President Joe Biden continues to add on to his multiple identities in the hope of gaining more votes for his 2024 presidential election bid.
So far, he’s been to black churches more than many blacks, he was raised in the Puerto Rican community, he’s attended Jewish synagogue services all of his life, and now, his new identity comes in the form of sympathetic Palestinian protester as he claims: “I have been working to get Israel out of Gaza significantly.”
It was just yesterday, when he appeared at the iconic Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina – the very same congregation where nine Black congregants were killed in 2015 by White Supremacist Dylann Roof – that Biden got heckled by the usual assortment of Palestinian protesters who chimed in during the middle of his speech, as he spoke about light and darkness. It was then that one woman shouted, “If you really cared about the lives lost here (at the church), then you should honor lives lost and call for a ceasefire in Palestine.” From there, several others joined the boisterous chorus of “Ceasefire Now.”
Although the protesters were removed from the church, Biden decided to go full sympathy by stating, “I understand their passion, and I’ve been quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza.”
But rather than using his ability to distinguish the differences between light and darkness, Biden sought to be all things to all men, as he did his best to identify with Palestinian protesters, regardless of whether or not their claims are justified or even righteous. After all, he responded the same way to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib when she confronted the president on the tarmac as he arrived in Michigan, her Congressional district, in May 2021. After she told him that “he must do more to protect Palestinian lives and human rights, he stated, “I admire your intellect, I admire your passion, I admire your compassion and I admire your concern for so many other people…You’re a real fighter.”
One can only wonder if he still held the same level of admiration for Tlaib after Oct.7, when she accused him of supporting Palestinian genocide, warning him of how that would play out when election time rolls around.
In a world which seeks to define a justified war as “genocide,” Biden cannot afford to align himself with the injured side, who suffered a brutal massacre at the hands of barbaric terrorists, even though it is the right thing to do and an object lesson in uncovering darkness by bringing in the light. Because when your prospective constituents are in favor of maintaining the darkness, that’s what you have to support whether or not it lines up with your own personal beliefs.
These days, support for Israel is costly. There is a steep price to pay if you hope to aspire to the highest office in the land, and no one knows that better than Joe Biden, who has had to shift his position on a weekly basis in order to do his best to remain in the game.
Ironically, though, it doesn’t really matter how often he changes his tune when it comes to the Israel/Hamas war, because he will always be remembered for having said that Israel has a right to defend herself. The fact that he has allowed the fight to go on for as long as it has, by not demanding an immediate ceasefire, is something which has angered many in his base whose antisemitic positions are no longer being obscured.
But Biden is not the only one who must appear, at least in public, to be terribly frustrated by the ongoing battle being waged by Israeli Defense Forces against Hamas terrorists who would like nothing more than to live another day to realize their goal of taking the land 'from the river to the sea' for themselves.
Pope Francis, a formidable religious leader, who one would think would be an expert on the battle between light and darkness, believes that “a ceasefire on every front, including Lebanon” should occur.
In fact, it was during his yearly address, given at the Vatican just yesterday, that he referred to the “‘indiscriminate striking’ of civilians as a war crime that violates international humanitarian law.” Of course, careful not to accuse Israel directly of being among those who are guilty of war crimes, the pontiff condemned the events that took place on Oct. 7, calling it “an atrocious act of terrorism and extremism.” But if he truly believes his characterization of what took place on that fateful day, why would he then contradict those very strong words, condemning terrorists, by calling for an end to a war which, if waged until the end, could extinguish the darkness? It is the ultimate in undermining one’s message.
The pope called for the intervention of the international community to safeguard humanitarian law while citing the Hamas-provided numbers of Palestinians killed. Reminding us all that “civilian victims are “men and women with names and surnames who lost their lives, he goes on to stress the importance of “eliminating the ‘scourge’ of antisemitism from society.” So, how is that done, because embedded into the Gazan community are terrorists who are also civilians with first and last names. Should they be spared simply because they, too, have an identity?
The convoluted logic expressed by the pope is breathtaking. There is no elimination of the scourge of antisemitism from society without the waging of war, especially when that Jew-hatred comes in the form of barbaric murder, rape and torture – not to mention taking innocents into captivity and holding them under the most inhumane and cruel conditions known to man.
The common thread between Biden and Pope Francis is their expressed wish to see evil eradicated, but due to their great desire to be supported and admired, they are unable to articulate, in any kind of rational and moral way, just how that is done without killing the villains before they kill you. Their message is, consequently, muddled, watered down, confusing and ineffective to those who are well aware of what needs to be done in order to live in tranquility and enjoy freedom while being tolerant of others who are different, but respectful of laws and societal order.
Exiting Gaza before the job is complete, will not assure those things – not in the Middle East nor in the West, because a world where terrorism is allowed to take place with full impunity is a world where darkness has prevailed over the light that was purposely hidden by those who preferred accolades to real peace for all humanity.
A former Jerusalem elementary and middle-school principal and the granddaughter of European Jews who arrived in the US before the Holocaust. Making Aliyah in 1993, she is retired and now lives in the center of the country with her husband.