As election season kicks into gear, the Democratic Party seems desperate due to their blatant support for the genocide in Gaza. Biden has a very low approval rating, losing more and more voters each day as the genocide intensifies. If the presidential election took place today, it is unlikely he would win.
In response, the Democrats have ramped up their hypocrisy, acting like they suddenly support a ceasefire and more humanitarian aid getting into Gaza. But in fact, they have supported Israel every step of the way, as it has slaughtered Palestinians, blocked aid from getting in, and destroyed so much of Gaza.
Just before “Super Tuesday,” when many states were holding their presidential primaries, Vice President Kamala Harris gave a speech and claimed she supported an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. In reality, all Harris called for was a temporary 6-week pause to Israel’s bombing, and she blamed Hamas as the only reason a ceasefire hasn’t happened yet.
This is not a call for a ceasefire at all. Harris’s words mean nothing when the U.S. and Israel are the ones solely responsible for the immense bombing that has taken place in Gaza. It means nothing to call for a ceasefire as the U.S. continues to provide Israel with the very weapons used to carry out this massacre.
In his State of the Union speech, Biden also said a few words about the catastrophe in Gaza. He even boasted about the pathetic amount of aid the U.S. airdropped last week in Gaza, and said the U.S. military would be building a temporary pier to allow larger shipments of aid to Gaza by boat.
His empty words have nothing to do with the interests of Palestinians. Biden is a hypocrite desperate for votes, and willing to say anything to get them. For the past six months, his administration has given total support to Israel as they have massacred Palestinians, destroyed hospitals and vital infrastructure, all while they denied nearly all aid into Gaza, allowing children and babies to starve. If the U.S. was serious about letting aid in, they could have done it months ago.
As they talk about sympathy for the Palestinian people, the Biden administration has actively participated in this genocide by providing hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Israel since Oct. 7. They have even tried to hide the actual amount of aid by breaking the shipments into smaller ones, so they don’t have to report it to Congress or the public.
While the Democrats have shown no limit to their hypocrisy in order to increase Biden’s chances of reelection, the Republican Party and a Trump presidency offer no alternative to this carnage. Trump has openly supported the most right-wing Zionist forces in Israel, and, like Biden, he fully endorses the genocidal actions of Israel. In a recent television interview about Israel’s war on Gaza, Trump voiced his support for the genocide and said that the Israeli military needs to “finish the problem” in Gaza.
Biden and Trump are not the same, but they defend the same system, and neither candidate nor party can offer any solutions to the problems we face. Both exist to defend U.S. economic and military domination around the world. Both Biden and Trump have openly supported anti-immigrant policies at the southern border. Under either party, we see a consistent attack on our futures, with increasing inequality, and a relentless destruction of the climate.
No matter which party is in power, the lives of Palestinians, and the lives of working people at home and abroad will continue to be treated as expendable. We cannot depend on the ballot box to defend our own interests. We do all the work to make society run, and we can also use that power to not only oppose this genocide, but to get rid of this whole system of exploitation.
