The Struggle for the Soul of America: Israel’s Choices: Endless Conflict or Real Peace

Posted on October 12, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

On this Yom Kippur, Israel, the United States, Iran and much of the Arab world must repent and change course.

The current war between Israel and Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran is just the latest chapter in a conflict that has been going on at least since Israel was established by United Nations Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947. Under that resolution, the British protectorate of Palestine was to be divided into two states, one Jewish and the other Arab. The Arab countries surrounding Israel opposed the resolution and went to war against Israel in 1948.[1]

Israel won that war which resulted in over 700,000 Arabs being forced from their homes in the new Jewish state.[2] It has won several other armed conflicts with their Arab neighbors since then. But the Six-Day War in June 1967 was a turning point. Israel captured the West Bank during that war, and it has been under Israeli military occupation as a national security measure to this day.[3]

While six Arab countries, beginning with Egypt in 1979, have made peace with Israel[4] and normalized relations, hostilities continue with a number of others led by Iran. Backed by a huge amount of U.S. funds and armaments, Israel has been able to deter Arab assaults over the years, with the exception of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

Since then, Israel has gone on the offensive. Its goal now appears to be the complete elimination of all terrorists that threaten Israel. As a result, many thousands of innocent Arabs in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, a great many of them women and children, have been killed, plus thousands more maimed or starved to death, in Israel’s widespread attacks to wipe out its enemies.[5]

The only problem is Israel will never be able to do that militarily. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari has even admitted as much when he said that Hamas cannot be made to “disappear.”[6] The bottom line is that as long as the Palestinian people are denied their own state as promised in the 1947 U.N. resolution, the fighting will continue.

Unfortunately, the current Israeli government has no intention of agreeing to a two-state solution. It would rather continue killing thousands of innocent Arabs, leave its hostages in the hands of Hamas, have its own people live in constant fear and danger, and be isolated from the rest of the world except for the U.S. Implausibly, the American government seems helpless to do anything to stop this madness despite the fact that it supplies Israel with the means to keep this cycle of death and destruction going.

Meanwhile, 99 American doctors, nurses and other medical personnel who have volunteered in Gaza since October 7, 2023, are urging President Biden and Vice President Harris to “end this madness now.” Estimating the Gaza death toll at over 118,000, they wrote, “Every day that we continue supplying weapons and munitions to Israel is another day that women are shredded by our bombs and children are murdered by our bullets.”[7]

Consequently, they are demanding of Biden and Harris: “A ceasefire must be imposed on the warring parties by withholding military support for Israel and supporting an international arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under American law and International Humanitarian Law.”[8]

There’s practically no chance that the Biden administration would agree to this demand. It could, however, immediately halt shipments of all offensive weapons to Israel to pressure Jerusalem to agree to a ceasefire and begin negotiations for a real two-state, lasting peace. While that may not convince Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to change course, it may move the Israeli people to demand elections for a new government.

The Arab world recently made a strong offer that’s gotten little attention but could open the door to those negotiations. Two weeks ago, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi responded to Netanyahu’s claim that Israel is surrounded by those who want to destroy it. Safadi announced at the United Nations that 57 Arab and Muslim countries would unequivocally guarantee Israel’s security if Jerusalem ended the occupation and agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state.[9] Of course, the U.S. would as well.

While getting there will be very difficult, Harris should now state that as president, she would strongly support and work to implement the Arab proposal while continuing to protect Israel. On the anniversary of the October 7^th massacre, Harris affirmed that “We must work to ensure nothing like the horrors of October 7 can ever happen again.”[10] Ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state is the only way to ensure that critical goal.

Bruce Berlin

A retired, public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is a former U.S. Institute of Peace Fellow and the founder and former executive director of The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution. He is also the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America. (See breakingbigmoneysgrip.com.). Contact him at breakingbigmoneysgrip@gmail.com.

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/.

[1] https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-Israeli-wars

[2] https://mondediplo.com/1997/12/palestine

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_occupation_of_the_West_Bank#:~:text=The%20West%20Bank%2C%20including%20East,during%20the%20Six%2DDay%20War.

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_relations#:~:text=After%20several%20Arab%2DIsraeli%20wars,Morocco%20and%20Sudan)%20normalized%20relations.

[5] https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/more-women-and-children-killed-gaza-israeli-military-any-other-recent-conflict; https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/4/live-israeli-bombs-rain-down-on-lebanons-beirut-gaza-occupied-west-bank

[6] https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/20/middleeast/hagari-netanyahu-destroy-hamas-israel-intl/index.html

[7] https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/10/05/gqob-o05.html

[8] Ibid.

[9] https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-10-02/ty-article-opinion/.premium/jordans-foreign-minister-told-israelis-and-inconvenient-truth/00000192-4dc3-d2cc-a5d7-edff907e0000

[10] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/10/07/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-marking-one-year-since-hamas-october-7th-terrorist-attacks/

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Will Harris Ride a Blue Wave to Victory or Watch It Crash on the Shores of the Middle East?

Posted on October 5, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

While most of the media is reporting that this year’s election will be very close, some experts see it differently. Northwestern University data scientist Thomas Miller has crafted a model for forecasting the 2024 presidential election that, he believes, is far more reliable than the polling that’s constantly cited in the media as the best guide to the outcome on Nov. 5. Miller’s model is based on 60 years of presidential election history.[1]

In 2020, Miller called the presidential race within 12 electoral votes, and correctly posited that the Democrats would sweep both Georgia Senate seats when the polls showed the Republicans significantly ahead. Miller’s data shows the Harris-Walz ticket far in the lead and the wide Democrat advantage settling into a remarkably stable pattern. He sees the Harris-Walz team winning by 66 electoral votes over the Trump-Vance ticket.[2]

Allan Lichtman, the American University political historian renowned for accurately predicting 9 out of the 10 most recent presidential elections, also predicts Harris will win this year’s White House race.[3]

The fact that a great many prominent Republicans have endorsed Harris provides further evidence that the Democratic ticket will prevail.[4] Former conservative Congresswoman Liz Cheney is even campaigning with Harris in the swing state of Wisconsin this week.[5] As Gov. Walz said at the recent Vice-Presidential debate, “Support of democracy matters…I’m as surprised as anybody of this coalition that Kamala Harris has built, from Bernie Sanders to Dick Cheney to Taylor Swift and a whole bunch of folks in between…”[6]

But all of Harris’s promising electoral prospects could quickly be swept away by the rising threat of an expanding war in the Middle East. Israel is now exploring how to retaliate against Iran for its recent missile attack on the Jewish state, which Israel acknowledges did minimal damage.[7] While President Biden is trying to temper Prime Minister Netanyahu’s response, he has yet to take any strong steps to stop the escalation of the conflict. And Harris appears to be going along with Biden’s timid approach.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has said he would make a deal with Iran to avoid a full-blown war if he were elected.[8] Ironically, Trump killed an important nuclear deal with Iran when he was president.[9] But if Harris doesn’t break with Biden and put out her own plan for averting such a war, Trump could become the “peace candidate” and seriously damage Harris’s ability to beat him in November.

To win the presidency Harris cannot allow this to happen. She must provide a clear vision for not only preventing a larger Middle East war but also for creating real peace in the region that both Iran and Israel could accept. Harris must also recognize that the U.S. has to be firm with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. She cannot permit his efforts to escalate the conflict for political purposes deter her from taking a bold stance to achieve peace through diplomacy.[10]

First, Harris must listen to the concerns of Americans, especially in the critical battleground state of Michigan, who have family members living under U.S.-backed Israeli assaults in Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories. After repeated requests, she finally did meet with them on Friday, October 4^th. [11] But for someone who says she wants to represent all the people, why did it take her that long?[12] Hopefully, their talk helped meet the Arab-Americans’ needs and encouraged them to support Harris.

At the same time, Harris needs to call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire throughout the Middle East, not just in Gaza as she did last March.[13] Simultaneously, she must provide conditions and incentives that would induce both sides to de-escalate the conflict and move toward a Middle East peace.

Incentives for the Israelis could include:

Iran acknowledging Israel’s right to exist.
Iran agreeing to cease all support for terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iran agreeing not to engage in, encourage or support any hostilities toward Israel.
Iran agreeing to influence Hamas to release the Israeli hostages.
U.S. agreeing to supply Israel with the means to defend itself.

Incentives for Iran could include:

U.S. and Israel agreeing not to attack Iran, including its oil fields and nuclear facilities.
U.S. agreeing to help Iran build a peace economy.
U.S. agreeing to help rebuild Gaza.
Israel withdrawing completely from Gaza and agreeing to the right of Palestinians to have their own state.
U.S. halting all shipments of offensive weapons to Israel.

The ball is in Harris’s court. She must demonstrate real leadership now to convince American voters that she’s the right person to lead our country in these critical times.

Bruce Berlin

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/.

[1] https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/harris-holds-66-electoral-vote-113900118.html

[2] Ibid.

[3] https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2024/09/29/allan-lichtman-election-prediction-system-explained/75352476007/

[4] https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-republicans-endorsing-kamala-harris-trump-1960937; https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-endorsement-letter-republicans-1956304

[5] https://www.politico.com/news/2024/10/03/liz-cheney-harris-wisconsin-00182306

[6] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tim-walz-2024-vp-debate-closing-statement/

[7] https://www.euronews.com/2024/10/03/israel-says-damage-from-iranian-missile-attack-minimal-thanks-to-high-quality-defence

[8] https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/trump-suggests-he-would-make-a-deal-with-iran-if-elected-we-have-to/

[9] https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-nuclear-deal/

[10] https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrats-suspect-netanyahu-attempting-tilt-100000970.html

[11] https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5140179/kamala-harris-arab-americans-michigan

[12] https://www.commondreams.org/news/uncommitted-harris-lebanon

[13] https://www.npr.org/2024/03/04/1234822836/kamala-harris-benny-gantz-gaza-cease-fire-israel-hamas

The Struggle for the Soul of America: How Harris and the Dems Beat Trump

Posted on September 22, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

Getting out the vote is the key to winning the presidential election. If Vice President Harris can get the constituencies that strongly support her out to the polls in great numbers, she will be victorious come November. That is particularly critical in the seven battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which will determine the outcome.

Forty-one million members of the Gen-Z generation will be eligible to vote in this year’s election.[1] Young voters under the age of 35 account for roughly 29% of the national electorate.[2] Today’s young people are among the most electorally engaged in recent decades.[3] They support Harris over Trump by 50% to 34%.[4] With a 16% margin in her favor, the Harris campaign must ensure that Gen Z has a huge turnout this election.

The issues that concern young voters the most are the economy, inflation and healthcare, including access to abortion.[5] With inflation now at 2.5%, the lowest level in three years,[6] and interest rates coming down 50 basis points for the first time in four years,[7] the Democrats could produce a big youth vote that would boost their chances this November.

Another very pro-Harris group is women. Harris leads Trump among women by 13 points (48% to 35%). Women favor Harris more than men across every racial and ethnic subgroup. On the other hand, Trump leads among men by only eight points (47% to 39%).[8]

The top three issues for all women in this election are the economy, healthcare/reproductive rights and the cost of housing.[9] Vice President Harris strongly supports a woman’s right to choose. In addition, she has reframed healthcare as an economic issue. She has proposed capping out-of-pocket drug costs for everyone at $2,000 per year and insulin copays at $35 per month, enhancing Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium support, speeding up Medicare drug price negotiation, and expanding efforts to cancel medical debt.[10]

Harris has addressed women’s concerns regarding the high cost of housing by proposing the construction of 3 million new affordable homes with tax initiatives for builders who create them. She would also provide $25,000 down payment assistance for 4 million first-time homebuyers.[11] With a consumer-friendly platform like that, Harris’s support among women can only increase, and hopefully, among men as well.

Regarding Black voters, Harris has a huge lead with 82% indicating they support her.[12] Black women, in particular, have her back. They are working diligently to bring more black men on board as well.[13] In the Hispanic community, Harris is favored by Latinos in Spanish-speaking and bilingual households by nearly 60% compared to 32% for Trump. In English-dominant homes, 51% of respondents supported Harris, while Trump stood at 38%.[14] Harris is strongly courting non-white communities.[15]

Overall, following the September 10^th debate, Harris leads Trump 50% to 45%, an increase of one or two points from prior to the debate.[16] The Vice President is addressing voters’ primary concerns, and, for the most part, they like what she is offering.

Of course, there are a few issues that are not so easy for Harris and the Dems to address. Like the Israeli-Hamas War and America’s reliance on non-renewable energy, esp. oil. So far, they have not impeded her expanding campaign to any significant degree.

Every day it’s looking more like Kamala Harris will be the next president of the United States.

Bruce Berlin

A retired, public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America (See breakingbigmoneysgrip.com. https://protectthevote.net/), the founder of New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics, a former U.S. Institute of Peace fellow, and the founder and former executive director of The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution. He can be reached at breakingbigmoneysgrip@gmail.com.

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/.

[1] https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/41-million-members-gen-z-will-be-eligible-vote-2024

[2] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-economic-concerns-are-shaping-the-youth-vote-in-2024/

[3] https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/gen-z-voted-higher-rate-2022-previous-generations-their-first-midterm-election

[4] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-half-gen-z-voters-support-kamala-harris-one-third-back-donald-tru-rcna169025

[5] https://www.vox.com/2024-elections/24157594/young-voters-are-just-normies-poll-biden-economy

[6] https://www.bankrate.com/banking/federal-reserve/latest-inflation-statistics/

[7] https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/18/fed-cuts-rates-september-2024-.html

[8] https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/09/12/harris-holds-a-slight-edge-over-trump-and-its-driven-by-women-poll-finds/

[9] https://www.glamour.com/story/election-2024-the-state-of-the-union-for-women

[10] https://www.kff.org/from-drew-altman/harris-is-reframing-health-as-an-economic-issue/

[11] https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/9/18/what-housing-plans-do-us-presidential-candidates-trump-and-harris-offer

[12] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/09/harris-trump-biden-black-americans/

[13]

[14] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/harris-campaign-aims-bolster-latino-support-spending-blitz-rcna171113

[15] https://www.lemonde.fr/en/united-states/article/2024/09/19/harris-continues-to-court-minorities-after-saying-she-s-working-to-earn-the-vote-of-black-men_6726551_133.html

[16] https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4876880-harris-widens-lead-over-trump-in-post-debate-poll/

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Can Biden Achieve a Ceasefire Agreement between Israel and Hamas?

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

The Israeli people are getting more and more frustrated with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s failure to negotiate a ceasefire and bring the hostages home. With the recent deaths of six more hostages, approximately 500,000 Israelis took to the streets on Sunday in protest of Netanyahu’s resistance to a ceasefire that would free the hostages.[1] Hopefully, the Israelis will not let up until Netanyahu reverses course or is thrown out of office.

As an American Jew, I am ashamed and outraged by what Israel is doing to Gaza and its people with the robust support of American funds and weapons. Tens of thousands of innocent Gazans of all ages are being killed, maimed, or starved to death by Israel’s relentless devastating assault on Gaza.[2] It is a horrendous tragedy that just keeps getting worse.

Appallingly, the Biden administration continues to add fuel to the fire. On March 29, the administration authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel.[3] Then, in April, President Biden signed into law $14.3 billion in emergency security assistance for Israel.[4] And in August, our government authorized another $3.5 billion in military aid to Israel.[5]

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute in Washington, has a proposal that could go a long way toward ending this war. He is urging the U.S. to cut off military aid to Israel and recognize the Palestinian right to self-determination. Zogby believes this would force an internal debate in Israel and put the region on a more productive path toward peace.[6] It also might force the obstructionist Netanyahu out of office.

While it’s not likely Biden would take such a step, he could move in that direction by significantly reducing U.S. military aid to Israel, starting with cutting off offensive weapons. Such an initiative would include the proviso that further reductions would occur if Israel does not agree to a permanent ceasefire that, at the same time, brings the hostages home.

Of course, if decreased U.S. military support increases Hamas attacks on Israel, then the administration would be free to again beef up aid to its ally. But if Biden’s effort were successful, it would be a major move toward peace in the region as well as guarantee him an elevated place in modern American history as he leaves office. And, assuming Vice President Harris wins the election, she would then have some leverage to negotiate a final Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement. After all these years, what a blessing that would be!

Bruce Berlin

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-says-it-has-discovered-unidentified-bodies-gaza-2024-08-31/

[2] https://efe.com/en/latest-news/2024-09-02/war-in-gaza-death-toll-approaches-40800-after-11-months/

[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Israel_in_the_Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war#:~:text=On%209%20August%202024%2C%20the,made%20weapons%20and%20military%20equipment.

[4] https://www.ajc.org/news/what-every-american-should-know-about-us-aid-to-israel

[5] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/10/us-to-send-3-5bn-more-in-military-aid-to-israel-amid-war-on-gaza

[6] https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/how-to-end-the-war-in-gaza

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Biden Between a Rock and a Hard Place Over Aid to Israel

Posted on May 19, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

President Biden’s recent withholding of offensive weapons from Israel created a bipartisan backlash. From House Speaker Johnson and Sen. Graham on the right to Sens. Sanders and Welch on the left, a broad spectrum of Congress as well as the American public opposes Biden’s position on Israel’s war against Hamas.

At the same time, it’s not really clear what the president’s position is. While withholding offensive weapons, Biden has just announced the U.S. is supplying Israel with another $1 billion in new arms to further its war in Gaza.[1] It would seem that sending more firepower to Israel would undercut any pressure the president is putting on Israel to agree to a ceasefire.[2]

Those on the political right believe the United States should provide unconditional support to Israel in its Gaza offensive to eliminate the Hamas terrorists. The problem with that position is it will not provide the intended result. According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, an all-out Israeli offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah would provoke “anarchy” without eliminating Hamas.[3]

Blinken noted that while Israel may have some “initial success…at an incredibly high cost to civilians, but…one that is not sustainable.” He maintained that the Israelis “will be left holding the bag…because a lot of armed Hamas will be left, no matter what they do in Rafah.” Alternatively, if Hamas does “get out of Gaza…then you’re going to have a vacuum and a vacuum that’s likely to be filled by chaos, by anarchy, and ultimately by Hamas again.”[4]

Thus, it makes no sense for Biden to support unconditional aid to Israel. That would neither solve Israel’s Hamas terrorism problem nor the larger Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On the other hand, those on the left calling for an immediate ceasefire have not offered a practical roadmap for resolving the overriding issues that led to the current war as well as the previous armed clashes over the last 75 years. While a ceasefire would save many lives, mostly Gazans, without meaningful, agreed-upon steps toward a true, lasting peace, it would just give Hamas time to regroup and strike again.

Unfortunately, the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu has no interest in trying to resolve the larger issue of Palestinian self-rule in Gaza or the West Bank.[5] In fact, Netanyahu’s government does not even have a clear strategy for Gaza once the current fighting ends. The hardliners want the Israeli military to control Gaza indefinitely while the centrist faction of the Israeli leadership believes a non-Hamas, civilian government should be installed.[6]

Specifically, centrist Minister Benny Gantz has given Netanyahu an ultimatum. He is demanding that the prime minister develop a post-war strategy that must include forming a U.S.-European-Arab-Palestinian directorate in charge of civilian administration excluding Hamas in Gaza. The strategy must also include accepting the normalization deal with Saudi Arabia that the Biden administration has been working on. If Netanyahu’s cabinet does not approve such a strategy by June 8^th, Gantz and his National Unity party will withdraw from the government.[7] That could lead to the fall of Netanyahu’s government and new elections, hopefully breaking the current Israeli impasse over Gaza and the West Bank.

Sen. Sanders recently summarized the futility of the current situation when he observed: “I think at the end of the day, Hamas cannot be continuing to run Gaza and the Netanyahu government cannot continue to run Israel if we’re going to ever bring peace to that region.”[8] While President Biden likely agrees with Sen. Sanders, his actions send mixed messages and don’t appear to be helping to achieve this end.

Bruce Berlin

A retired, public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America (See breakingbigmoneysgrip.com.), the founder of New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics, a former U.S. Institute of Peace fellow, and the founder and former executive director of The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution. He can be reached at breakingbigmoneysgrip@gmail.com. Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-69013279

[2] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-administration-steps-pressure-israel-cease-fire-hostage/story?id=110030018#:~:text=Interest%20Successfully%20Added-,Biden%20administration%20steps%20up%20pressure%20on%20Israel%20over%20cease%2Dfire,could%20derail%20cease%2Dfire%20talks.&text=Emergency%20workers%20said%20at%20least,bomb%20the%20southern%20Gaza%20town.

[3] https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/05/blinken-israel-offensive-rafah-would-not-eliminate-hamas

[4] https://www.yahoo.com/news/blinken-delivers-strongest-public-rebuke-051530150.html

[5] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-rejects-international-pressure-palestinian-state-2024-02-16/

[6] https://www.yahoo.com/news/hamas-war-splits-israels-cabinet-144841073.html

[7] https://www.axios.com/2024/05/18/benny-gantz-israel-netanyahu-gaza-war

[8] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-benjamin-netanyahu-humanitarian-aid-to-gaza/#:~:text=Sanders%20called%20the%20situation%20in,is%20feeding%20the%20children%2C%20calling

The Struggle for the Soul of America: The Israeli-Hamas War Is Biden’s Vietnam

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

As a college student in the 1960s, I became so appalled at our government’s prosecution of the Vietnam War that I joined the protests against the war. On April 15, 1967, hundreds of thousands of us marched from New York’s Central Park to the United Nations on the East River in the biggest anti-war rally up until then.[1] But as the war grew, so did the protests. On November 15, 1969, the Moratorium to End the War staged an even larger demonstration in Washington.[2] I was among the protesters at the Pentagon that the police teargassed that day.

Today, as then, college students are spearheading the protest movement against America’s involvement in a costly war. And, similar to President Johnson back then, President Biden is now the primary target of the students’ wrath.

True, there are very significant differences between the two conflicts. Most importantly, no Americans are fighting and dying in Gaza today. Over 58,000 American service people lost their lives in Vietnam.[3]

On the other hand, the Administration’s unconditional support for one side is very similar in both wars. Then the United States was all in with the South Vietnamese. Today, our government fully backs Israel. At the same time, a large segment of the American Jewish community as well as Muslim Americans oppose Biden’s position, making his re-election campaign that much more difficult.

In both cases, however, resistance to our government’s handling of the war grew. By March 31, 1968, the opposition was so great that President Johnson announced he would not run for re-election that fall.[4] While President Biden does not appear to be considering withdrawing his candidacy in this year’s election, the protests on college campuses and beyond have increased, though not to the extent of the Vietnam-era demonstrations; at least, not yet.[5]

The Democrats will hold their National Convention in Chicago this coming August. Ironically, that’s the same city where the Democrats gathered in 1968 to nominate their presidential candidate, and it didn’t go well. Anti-war protesters clashed with the police on national television reminding the voters of the Dems’ responsibility for the quagmire in Vietnam.[6] The Democrats ended up losing the election to Richard Nixon. We could very well see a repeat of that tragic scenario later this year if Biden fails to take decisive action soon to stop the slaughter in Gaza.

Despite the growing protests, as well as the increasing death toll in Gaza, Biden just signed a bill providing another $26 billion for Israel’s war effort. Included in that Israeli figure is over $9 billion in humanitarian aid to Gaza.[7]

At the same time, 55% of Americans now disapprove of Israel’s military actions and only 27% approve of Biden’s handling of the Middle East conflict, according to a March Gallup poll.[8]

While the war is not one of the top concerns of the electorate, in a close election as this year’s is likely to be, Biden could lose critical swing states due to his continued support for Israel’s military aggression. Given this distinct possibility, it’s puzzling that Biden hasn’t done more to stop the slaughter of thousands of innocent Gazans, mostly women and children, and the destruction of their homeland.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently offered this path forward for Biden: stop sending Israel offensive weapons. Kristof noted, “…that would get the attention of the Israel Defense Forces very quickly.” He argued for suspending “the transfer of offensive arms to Israel, pending food actually being delivered to Gaza to end this starvation, and some indication of dialing back the more reckless side of the bombing in Gaza and then push immediately for some kind of a cease-fire and hostage release and, likewise, then try to use that for some kind of an arrangement for a Palestinian state.”[9]

Kristof explained that Biden was right to call out Hamas’s October 7^th attack on Israel as “barbaric and intolerable. But if you only care about human rights for one side in a conflict, then you don’t actually care about human rights. And if you regard the deaths of children on one side of a conflict as a tragedy, as unacceptable, but deaths of children on the other side of the conflict as regrettable, then there is something profoundly wrong not just with your geopolitics but with your moral compass.”[10] While it remains to be seen whether Biden actually gets that, we can only hope that he changes course soon before it’s too late.

However, there is something you can do here at home to try to advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians. At 11:15 a.m. on May 12, a live-streamed Joint Memorial Ceremony will be viewed at the Jean Cocteau Theater in Santa Fe as part of an international event in support of efforts to end the violence and bring freedom and justice to all in the Middle East. I hope to see you there. For more information about the Memorial, go to https://www.afcf.org/2024-joint-memorial-day-ceremony.

Bruce Berlin

[1] https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/massive-anti-war-demonstrations/

[2] https://archive.nytimes.com/learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/nov-15-1969-anti-vietnam-war-demonstration-held/#:~:text=all%20Historic%20Headlines%20%C2%BB-,On%20Nov.,and%20towns%20across%20the%20country.

[3] https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics#:~:text=April%2029%2C%202008.-,The%20Vietnam%20Conflict%20Extract%20Data%20File%20of%20the%20Defense%20Casualty,casualties%20of%20the%20Vietnam%20War.

[4] https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/lyndon-b-johnsons-decision-not-to-run-in-1968

[5] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pro-palestinian-seders-planned-new-york-other-cities-college-campuses-simmer-2024-04-23/; https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/post-reports/the-mounting-antiwar-protests-on-college-campuses/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=wp_post_reports

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention_protests

[7] https://apnews.com/article/congress-ukraine-israel-pacific-glance-0af96be97c47496f88506a21ebe1ddab#:~:text=%E2%80%94%20About%20%2426%20billion%20for%20supporting,amid%20the%20Israel%2DHamas%20war.

[8] https://news.gallup.com/poll/642695/majority-disapprove-israeli-action-gaza.aspx

[9] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/24/opinion/biden-morality-gaza-israel.html?action=click&module=audio-series-bar&region=header&pgtype=Article

[10] Ibid.

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Biden on the Brink

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

I turned on the news Friday morning to learn that Israel had bombed Iran in retaliation for the Islamic State’s missile attack on the Jewish state last weekend. Fortunately, Israel’s counterattack was measured and caused relatively little damage to Iran. Now the world waits to see if the Iranian leaders will retaliate in turn. Or, hopefully, since their losses were minor, the Iranians may be content to leave matters as is, as long as Israel does the same. Still, these two enemies have brought their mutual enmity to the brink of all-out war. No one can be happy about that.

At the same time, the Israeli-Hamas War drags on in Gaza. While President Biden urges Prime Minister Netanyahu to halt the Israeli offensive and agree to a ceasefire, again the world waits, this time, to see what Israel will do next.

Meanwhile, Congress is preparing to send more unconditional military assistance to our Middle East ally in its battle against Hamas.[1] Biden’s support for the $26 billion aid for Israel just approved by Congress this weekend is further alienating the Muslin American community from the president:

Many Muslim Americans were already furious with the Biden administration over its handling of the Israel-Hamas war, with activists organizing Democrats to vote “uncommitted” rather than support the president in some state primaries this year.[2]

Such aid only undercuts any efforts by the Biden administration to stop the fighting. What incentive does Netanyahu have to cease his offensive in Gaza if the U.S. continues supplying him with the means to keep it going? It makes no sense. Moreover, the administration’s unwillingness to get tough with Israel as more and more innocent Gazans become collateral damage or starve to death hurts Biden’s re-election campaign.

The longer this war continues, the greater the possibility of Iran and its surrogates coming to the aid of Hamas and creating a much larger regional war. As noted in Foreign Affairs:

Biden urgently needs to articulate and then implement a clear strategy to protect Palestinian civilians from bearing the brunt of Israel’s military operations, counter Iran’s corrosive war-by-proxy strategy, and blunt the capabilities of Tehran’s accomplices.[3]

The war is taking a toll on Biden’s support.[4] Less than 40% of Americans now support Israel’s actions in Gaza.[5] And only 33% now support Biden’s handling of the conflict.[6] If the war is not concluded in the next few months, the president may very well be on the brink of defeat in November. Biden could lose swing states like Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin that he won by small margins in 2020.[7] He needs to use the full force of his office to quickly step up his efforts to end the war or risk losing the presidency this fall.

Bruce Berlin

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/19/israel-ukraine-aid-house-speaker-mike-johnson/

[2] https://www.yahoo.com/news/muslim-americans-soured-biden-see-024447720.html

[3] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/irans-order-chaos-suzanne-maloney?check_logged_in=1&utm_medium=promo_email&utm_source=lo_flows&utm_campaign=registered_user_welcome&utm_term=email_1&utm_content=20240419

[4] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/israels-war-gaza-political-flashpoint-risk-bidens-coalition/story?id=108962662

[5] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/19/americans-israel-gaza-polling/

[6] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-israel-gaza-poll-cbs-news/

[7] https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/wisconsin/; https://www.yahoo.com/news/muslim-americans-soured-biden-see-024447720.html; https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/results/state/michigan

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Will History Repeat Itself?

Posted on March 8, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

In the summer of 1968, the Democratic Party held its national convention in Chicago to nominate its candidates for president and vice president. This summer, 56 years later, the Democrats will again gather in Chicago for their national convention.

Back then, the Vietnam War was raging. Thousands of our soldiers were dying in Southeast Asia and millions of Americans were marching against the war here at home.[1] Now, while no American soldiers are currently fighting in the Middle East, the United States is funding Israel’s war against Hamas. Thousands of innocent Gazans are dying, and Americans are again protesting.[2]

The anti-war demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Convention were televised across the world. As the party’s nominee, Humbert Humphry, pledged to continue the war, the protests grew outside the convention hall. The scene became bloody when the Chicago police tried to turn back the demonstrators by beating them with their clubs.[3] It most likely contributed to the Democrats losing the election to former Republican vice president Richard Nixon that fall.

Now President Biden with bipartisan support is unconditionally providing billions of dollars in aid for Israel’s merciless prosecution of the war in Gaza. Despite mounting opposition, Biden has failed to call for a permanent ceasefire. If he does not change course and stop the free flow of U.S. weapons and funds to Israel, Biden will be seriously hampered in his election campaign by his support of what some are calling Israel’s genocide in Gaza.[4]

Biden and the Democrats can ill-afford this self-inflicted wound in their effort to hold onto the White House and the Senate as well as win back the House.[5] Predictions are this will be a close election.[6] We must not let history repeat itself. Instead, we must demand that Biden and the Democrats call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire, and stop the unconditional support of Israel’s war in Gaza NOW!

Bruce Berlin

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moratorium_to_End_the_War_in_Vietnam#:~:text=The%20Moratorium%20to%20End%20the,Moratorium%20March%20in%20Washington%2C%20D.C.

[2] https://apnews.com/article/protest-gaza-israel-palestinians-london-29d5cd664c81654283344d1874691a4f

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention_protests

[4] https://www.npr.org/2024/01/26/1227078791/icj-israel-genocide-gaza-palestinians-south-africa

[5] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/28/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war-2024-election

[6] https://www.racetothewh.com/

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Biden, I Wouldn’t Bet Against Him Yet

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

Joe Biden is in the race of his life. For an old guy, he still has some pretty good legs on him. The way he’s running right now, I wouldn’t bet against him despite my warning in last week’s blog post.[1]

First, take a look at how much campaign money Biden has raised. At the end of January, his campaign had $56 million on hand. Donald Trump only had $30 million on hand. In addition, much of Trump’s funds are going to pay off legal fees while Biden’s are all going into his campaign for re-election.[2] Of course, money isn’t the only important factor in this race.

Second, Biden does not have any serious competition for the Democratic nomination. Trump, however, is still fending off a primary challenger, former Gov. Nikki Haley, which is another drain on his campaign chest.[3] While she doesn’t have any real chance of winning the Republican nomination at this point, Haley’s increasingly sharp attacks on Trump make him more objectionable and help strengthen Biden’s case for his re-election.

Just the other day, Haley “jabbed Trump for taking three days to acknowledge Navalny’s death and then for failing to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for it. She’s cast her former boss as “ weak in the knees” when it comes to Russia. She’s slammed him for criticizing NATO at a time when many in the West see Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a threat to European stability. And…, Haley unleashed some of her most pointed criticism yet of Trump’s relationship with Putin:

“Trump is siding with a dictator who kills his political opponents,” Haley said. “Trump sided with an evil man over our allies who stood with us on 9/11. Think about what that told them.”[4] Not only does this get Biden off the hook, but it labels his opponent as a supporter of evil and further illustrates Trump’s preference for Russian autocracy over American democracy.

Third, the Republicans have been trying to undermine Biden’s re-election campaign for some time by impeaching the president. But their effort just ran into a brick wall with the FBI’s arrest of their star witness, Alexander Smirnov. He was arrested on charges of providing the FBI with fraudulent information. An FBI informant for over a decade, Smirnov was further discredited after a DOJ report Tuesday indicated he was not only lying to the FBI about Biden but had “contacts with multiple foreign intelligence agencies.”[5]

Those contacts included someone who controlled “groups that are engaged in overseas assassination efforts,” as well as a “high-ranking Russian foreign intelligence service officer.”[6]

Fourth, the recent demise of the Republicans’ own border security bill due to Trump’s opposition exposes their strict immigration demands as a sham. It demonstrates their fealty to the former president is greater than their desire to fix one of our country’s most critical problems. Biden was willing to give the Republicans just about everything they wanted regarding border security in order to fix our southern border problem. Trump rejected the bill so he could still use the lack of border security as a campaign issue. Now the tables are turned, and Biden and the Dems can use it against Trump and his Congressional lackeys.[7]

Then, fifth, there’s the abortion issue. The recent Alabama Supreme Court decision ruling frozen embryos are ‘children’[8] will only increase the indignation and voter turnout of the majority pro-choice electorate which overwhelmingly favors Bien and the Dems. Calling the ruling “outrageous and unacceptable,” Biden asserted that the decision was a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.[9]

Sixth and finally, Wednesday’s Quinnipiac University poll found that 49 percent of registered voters said they support Biden, compared to 45 percent who chose Trump. Despite his age and steadfast support of Israel in its war against Hamas, Biden leads Trump by four points.[10]

Of course, there is a long way to go between now and the November election. But, right now, all things considered, I wouldn’t bet against Biden.

Bruce Berlin

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1] https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/us/politics/biden-trump-campaign-money.html

[3] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nikki-haley-announcement-2024-race-donald-trump-south-carolina/

[4] https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/22/in-south-carolina-haley-is-running-hard-on-russia-00142552

[5] https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-scramble-save-biden-impeachment-informant-1234972867/

[6] Ibid.

[7] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-kill-border-bill-sign-trumps-strength-mcconnells-waning-in-rcna137477

[8] https://www.npr.org/2024/02/21/1232742485/alabama-supreme-court-frozen-embryos-ivf-in-vitro-fertilization

[9] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-blasts-alabama-supreme-courts-outrageous-unacceptable-frozen/story?id=107454671

[10] https://news.yahoo.com/biden-holds-4-point-lead-194943812.html?.tsrc=fp_deeplink

The Struggle for the Soul of America: Biden Quietly Conditions Aid to Israel as Opposition to His Mid-East Policy Grows

Posted on February 17, 2024 by Author: Bruce Berlin

(Correction: Last week I incorrectly wrote that the Border Patrol union supports “Biden after previously twice backing Trump…” Actually, the Border Patrol union did not endorse Biden. Rather, it supported Biden’s bipartisan border security bill which the Senate recently voted down.)

In what some are calling “historic”, President Biden recently issued a presidential memorandum requiring countries receiving U.S. military aid to comply with international humanitarian and human rights laws.[1] Biden’s order gives Secretary of State Antony Blinken 45 days to obtain “credible and reliable written assurances” from all countries in active conflicts receiving our aid that they are complying with these laws.[2]

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren responded to the president’s directive, noting, “This is a sea-change in terms of how you approach U.S. military aid and its impact on civilians.”[3] The order authorizes a swift cutoff of military aid to countries, including Israel, that violate international protections of civilians. While Israeli officials were briefed on Biden’s memorandum before its pronouncement, that does not seem to have diminished Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza.[4] Hamas’s horrendous attack on Israel last October does not justify the extreme vengeance that Israel has inflicted on the people of Gaza.

Richard Haass, the former longtime head of the Council on Foreign Relations, has urged Biden to go even further in separating himself from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s blanket bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Haass has proposed that the president deliver a speech — possibly to the Knesset, the nation’s parliament — where he’d lay out his vision directly to the Israeli people.[5] In addition to ending the war in Gaza, Biden’s grand bargain would tie an accord between Israel and Saudi Arabia to substantial steps toward Palestinian statehood.[6]

The pressure on Biden to take decisive action to establish a permanent ceasefire and end the conflict is mounting. Most Democrats now disapprove of Biden’s handling of the war, including nearly three-quarters of voters under 30.[7] If he is to win re-election in the fall, the president needs to regain their support soon.

Another critical constituency that Biden needs to win back is the Arab American vote. That community feels “a bone-deep sense of betrayal” by Biden. He has “infuriated Arab Americans by resisting their demands that he call for an immediate cease-fire.” Their anger has given rise to the ‘Abandon Biden’ movement around the country, but most importantly in Michigan. With as much as 5% of the vote in Michigan, Arab Americans could prevent Biden from winning that crucial state, and possibly result in the president losing re-election.[8]

Yet another constituency dismayed with Biden’s support of Israel’s all-out attack on Gaza is the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), one of the country’s oldest and most prominent Black Christian denominations. The leaders of the AME recently called for the U.S. to end its financial aid to Israel, labeling the country’s military campaign in Gaza “mass genocide.” Some “Black clergy members said the war could weaken an already fraught relationship between Mr. Biden and Black voters, Democrats’ most loyal voting bloc.”[9]

When will Biden wake up and realize what’s at stake? While I do not doubt his concern, even anguish, over the slaughter Israel has perpetrated in Gaza, action speaks louder than words. If Biden does not soon act decisively to end America’s participation in that onslaught, he will forever be remembered as the primary accomplice to Israel’s massacre of thousands of Gazans; he will lose the presidency in November; and he may very well be held responsible for the downfall of American democracy.

Bruce Berlin

Subscribe to this blog at https://breakingbigmoneysgrip.com/my-blog-3/. Join the movement to revive our democracy. Together we can save the soul of America.

[1] https://www.wfmj.com/story/50435951/biden-order-attaches-human-rights-conditions-to-us-military-aid-easing-democratic-rift-over-israel

[2] https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/biden-outlines-new-conditions-for-us-military-aid-amid-criticism-over-support-for-israels-gaza-campaign/

[3] https://www.wfmj.com/story/50435951/biden-order-attaches-human-rights-conditions-to-us-military-aid-easing-democratic-rift-over-israel

[4] Ibid.

[5] https://news.yahoo.com/biden-urged-deliver-speech-israel-162549617.html?.tsrc=fp_deeplink

[6] https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/02/13/biden-israel-palestinian-statehood-grand-deal-middle-east-saudi-arabia-gaza-hamas/

[7] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/19/us/politics/biden-israel-gaza-poll.html

[8] https://news.yahoo.com/arab-americans-feel-bone-deep-100213072.html?.tsrc=fp_deeplink

[9] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/16/us/ame-church-us-israel-aid.html