Protesters at the gates of the White House. New York Post.
Massive anti-Israel protests have broken out in Washington DC. New York Post. The crowds shouted "Allah Akbar" and "Fuck Joe Biden" as they marched. Crowds were estimated to be around 300,000, but police do not confirm those numbers. There were several incidents of property destruction but no reported violence. Protesters rocked the gate at the White House but were not able to get inside. The protest ended abruptly around 8:00 pm locally.
My Comment:
I've got mixed feelings about this. I have zero sympathy for Hamas and the "plight" of Palestinians in general. I also know that the same people that rioted in 2020 over George Floyd are the same people protesting now. It is not a good thing that they were able to get 300,000 people to support a cause that is, if anything, even stupider and less justified.
That isn't to say that I think Israel should not be criticized. I just have zero respect for the black and white thinking that says that everything Israel does is wrong and everything that Palestinians do is right. The real world doesn't work that way, and as a whole, I have much more sympathy for the Israelis due to the fact that they aren't a threat to me while radical Islam certainly is. Since Hamas is pretty indistinguishable from ISIS at this point, I don't really care too much what Israel does in Gaza, even if they are occasionally more brutal than the bleeding hearts would like. It's a morally gray conflict to be sure, but one side is a lot more darker morally than the others, with a lot of people from both sides getting caught up in the conflict.
With that being said, it's hard not to feel a bit of schadenfreude right now. The far-left Golem that the Democrats made and helped them get into office in 2020 has now pretty conclusively turned on them. I'm certainly no fan of these protesters but I'm also not a fan of Joe Biden either and if they are fighting each other that's probably a good thing for everyone else.
Biden can't possibly please everyone here. If he listens to the protesters he is going to lose lefty-Jews and a huge hunk of pro-Israel Democrats, especially among older voters. If he doesn't then he will lose Muslims and the protester useful idiots that he needed to win in 2020. And I don't see how he can continue to try and play both sides and he risks pissing off both groups if he doesn't take a side.
Most of those voters won't be voting for Donald Trump, but if they are angry enough with Joe Biden and the Democrats they may simply stay home. I tend to think that most anti-Israel people will be politically homeless pretty soon, their ideas are outside of the Overton Window on both sides of the political divide and they won't be able to get a mainstream candidate from either party to support their ideas.
I also don't think that Biden has all that much influence on Israel anymore in the first place. He was never close with Netanyahu and burned his bridges with him earlier in the year. He was able to slow Israel's offensive but I think if he does directly call for a cease fire Israel will simply ignore him. And if he does the political establishment will turn on him so quickly he won't even have time to say "President Donald Trump" before he's out of office.
Finally, I do think that these protesters are likely to find out that they actually can't get away with everything and anything. One of the few things the US government takes seriously is Islamic terrorism and they will turn on these protesters the 2nd a major terror attack happens on US soil. And given how high the threat level is right now that will probably happen sooner rather than later.
No comments:
Post a Comment