“What’s happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that,” Biden said at a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House.
I can’t tell if he’s pandering or trying to lose the election
Biden stressed his belief that Israel was the victim dating back to the Oct. 7 attack
Yes, we are not disputing that. Israel definitely was the victim at the time. But that doesn’t mean they’re allowed to kill so many innocent people that we now have lost the count
I got cut off by a minivan one time so I guess Biden is saying I have carde blanc to run every minivan I see off the road.
carte blanche*
Bone Apple Tea.
Parley View Fwansay?
Yeah, that’s the French I was looking for!
If you need a mnemonic, Cate Blanchett might work
I don’t think I could afford keeping her around just to remind me though.
I mean, we had a phenomenal ratio for 9/11 and Iraqi Freedom & Afghanistan.
Israel has never been a victim. And occupier much like a colonist cannot be a victim. It isn’t self defense when people fight back against their occupier. Rather it is the occupier continuing to oppress. We should however bring justice to those innocent civilians who were killed.
Original article: https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-whats-happening-gaza-is-not-genocide-2024-05-20/
It’s pretty clear to me Biden’s trying to thread the needle on this in a gruesome way. The argument seems to follow the form of: civilian deaths are collateral damage, this is unfortunate but this is war and they are not purposely being targeted and so this is not genocide.
However that almost willfully ignores the denial and blocking of aid to the same affected civilians, which is a deliberate action that despite the cover story being to prevent it reaching Hamas, falls entirely flat as regardless, it results in direct suffering and death of the civilians. I say almost because some small efforts have been made to push back against the denial of aid, but as is evident to anyone monitoring the situation, these efforts are all far too small to address the widespread suffering and death of the Gazan people.
This whole semantics game around genocide is simply disgusting. You know those in government know exactly what people mean when they’re calling it that, they want an end to the killing and an end to the deaths of civilians, whether from military strikes or denial of aid.
It’s like he can’t even do the bare minimum of keeping his mouth shut.
Him or Trump. Both of them would probably be more popular if they just shut the fuck up once in a while.
One day I want to see someone get elected based simply on the fact that they just don’t say anything. Like, Mr. Bean their way to the presidency.
That would be Calvin Coolidge, aka “Silent Cal.” Supposedly, he was once bet that he could be made to say three words, and he replied, “you lose.”
That said, he’s not an especially highly-rated president.
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Explain then what killing people by coordinated starving, displacement, and exposing to unhealthy and life-threatening situations by the IDF is in your opinion.
The IDF said stop resisting. All they had to do was behave and comply and none of this would have happened. It was self defense. Israel felt threatened. Well, what were they wearing? Am I doing it right?
Don’t forget: The perps had traces of drugs in their systems.
-1 points
I’m shocked that this needs a /s, wow
Those are just premeditated accidental killings. It’s very different.
Yeah, Americans should brace for a Trump dictatorship after this statement.
And even more kowtowing and pandering.
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Remember, it’s only genocide if it originates from occupied Poland. Otherwise, it’s just sparkling mass extermination.
Diet Genocide
Genocide Lite. Genocish. Genocisn’t.
My preferred flavor would be Zero Genocide.
Nah, it’s only genocide if it’s carried with the intent to target the whole ethnic group, including civilians. Something that if the IDF really wanted, would’ve meant 100 times the casualties.
That’s what they’re doing by starving the entire population.
A thing which isn’t happening, considering there’s food in Gaza…
Maybe in the start of the war when there was a blockade, but that’s an order from the israeli government and they’re getting an arrest warrant for it.
That’s great consider telling the IPC about it their website must be full of mistakes. Glad you cleared up this myth that israel is committing Genocide with a statement from the incredibly trustworthy israeli army.
Whole or in part. Read the definition.
I wasn’t clear. Apologies.
I meant whole as in both terrorists and civilians. And they’re not doing that, they’re targeting Hamas. If they’d target civilians, then x100 the casualties.
And we reject your rejection, now what mother fucker?
it’s a shame that the other option is even more pro israel :/
What? Siding with IC and stating Ben is a war criminal is pro Isreal?
Mind passing some of that shit you’re smoking to me
They’re referring to Trump and Republicans as the US election alternative
What about RFK? He’s crazy but also probably the first ‘good person’ to run for office since Obama, and unlike Obama might actually follow through on his antiwar promises.
He’s insane in too many ways and unreliable on anything he promises. That makes him a better fit for Trump supporters. But they’re too locked in to switch. If Kennedy had half a brain left he would have realized he’s going to help Trump get elected.
He’s currently taking voters from both sides of the line. More from Trump. You’re imposing a false dichotomy and making shit up with little to no logical backing, which if you had half a brain left, you wouldn’t do…
He’s not the “good person” you think he is. He’s just another mediocre Kennedy coasting on the privilege of his family.
This is an alternative?
Do you feel he is reading this? Do you feel better now?
Is anyone “important” on Lemmy?
No but I always saw this as a forum to debate, not yell into the void. Vent though.
It’s like he wants young people and liberals to not vote for his dumb ass.
It’s more like he knows liberals and young people have to vote for him or they’ll get a fascist instead.
I’m fairly sure many people will just not go to the polls. I think he’s banking on a very risky and stupid idea here.
Literally the same play that cost them the election the last time with Clinton.
There are many people under the age of 25 who do not fully understand what happened on January 6. They are being inundated with news of genocide and how Biden is directly responsible. They do not fully understand what the first Trump presidency was. Only politics junkies seem to understand the threat of project 2025 and plan 47.
We have an entire generation who hate Biden and didn’t see the threat of Trump.
@GroundedGator @febra I hate to say it but this is literally Biden’s fault. He is completely undermining his own credibility with the whole Gaza situation and for no good reason
Assuming that’s correct; instead of pretending they’ll somehow magically all start understanding the “Trump threat” in the next 6 months, maybe Biden and the Dems should start actually giving them what they want. It’s not even a big ask. Just don’t do genocide. And definitely don’t do genocide and then say it’s not actual genocide. No one gives a fuck what you call it. Anyone with a conscience can see it’s wrong.
Anything short of giving young people whatever it takes to get them to show up for Biden is basically supporting Trump for president.
True up to a point. Youth at least are very fickle and very demoralized already with the lack of opportunities to be financially screwed.
Kinda looks like they’re getting a fascist either way - it’s kinda hard to make the case that somebody who supports with gifts of weapons and ammo a violent genocidal fascist movement activelly murdering civilians, including tens of thousands of childrens (some of which activelly targetted by snipers and using precision bombs) and activelly targetting medical personnel and journalists, isn’t himself a genocidal fascist, no matter what else he says: after all, even Hitler had a good side (he liked dogs) but that didn’t make him any less a genocidal fascist.
They’ll get a hard core fascist with Trump. With Biden they’ll get a fascist-lite. None of the offensive parts of fascism. Just the corruption and special interests dictating policy parts.
The US administration is so corrupt that it is hard to get anything useful done. Even if it is something that has been obvious for decades.
Tell me you don’t know what fascism is without telling me what fascism is.
It’s when a leader supports Genocide and smacks down any dissent with violence.
Biden is actively threatening the ICC with sanctions and people say he’s not a fascist lmao.
Tell me you don’t know what fascism is without telling me what fascism is.
They’ll find out
We’ll find out
FTFY
Thank you for fixing that for me, we were all so confused
More like he wants average middle aged swing state voters to vote for him, since those are the only people that really matter and they are typically pro Israel.
Okay but seriously who’s out there, wringing their hands, trying to figure out if they’ll vote Trump or Biden? No one. If you’re voting for Trump, there is absolutely nothing Biden (or Trump for that matter) could do to change your mind. All those centrist neolibs in the swing states are going to vote for Biden regardless, because there’s no one else for them to vote for. The true “undecided voters” are undecided between showing up and just not showing up. And shit like this just pushes them closer to the not showing up position. Every time Biden panders to his already locked in centrist base, instead of trying to get progressives to show up for him, it should be considered a willful attempt to get Trump elected.
It’s like “young people and liberals” aren’t a monolith and many of them are simply wrong as to the facts and have been tricked by foreign manipulators.
Its not genocide because its not from the Atroci region of sub saharan Africa or the Geno region of Central and Eastern Europe.
It’s actually sparkling murder induced relocation of an indigenous people, based solely on their ethnic identity, specifically to bring about the destruction of said ethnic group.
I hope that clears everything up.
Okay, if it makes you feel better, we can call it premeditated mass-murder instead.
Sparkling ethnic cleaning
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/SantaCruz-Spegazzini-CaidaAnimation.gif
The neoliberal colonialist stranglehold world order is collapsing so fast it is making my head spin.
The centrist, austerity minded democrats who have enjoyed power in the US for the last couple of decades are absolutely self immolating, they look like utter absolute murderous clowns when they claim with a straight face that the Palestinian Genocide is not a Genocide.
Make no mistake this is a turning point, no matter what happens in this election, this kind of democrat who supports whatever Israel does because… well because… to the point of pretending an ongoing genocide being done with your weapons and fighter jets doesn’t exist is toast.
No matter what happens in this election, the kind of mainstream media that is towing the line Israel by giving them complete diplomatic and narrative immunity towards being the bad guys when Israel is committing a genocide against the Palestinians every day as we speak… it is detonating the strangehold of conservative, ideologically bereft centrist who have been trying to manage the global status quo without actually conceding to progressive changes to it.
The critical change here is that milquetoast democrats used to be globally regarded as at least somewhat rationale and ethically minded compared to the dumpster that is american conservatism, but this genocide is thoroughly proving to the world that most centrist democrats are just the good cop to the bad cop republicans, and if push comes to shove a good cop has no problem filling in for the role of bad cop when they perceive it will retain their violent power.
I really don’t think the rich and powerful who controlling basically everything in the US have any idea how deep a majority of US citizen’s revulsion over the pointlessness of the Iraq war has burrowed into their psyche. They really don’t get it, they think we are just going to roll over and accept US imperialism/military industrial complex as “just the way it is honey” like our parents did but we are FAR stronger and more politically aware than our parents were and FARRRRRRR more jaded in a way that makes us suspect of the basic legitimacy of the military industrial complex at every turn we have to interact with it.
While I don’t disagree with what you’re saying, holy FUCK, you need to learn how to break up your thoughts with a period. You have 5 paragraphs and 6 periods.
That’s a symptom.
Oh. I get it.
He’s pregnant.
I’m pregnant with a podcast,
Run!
That’s very funny. I wish I could take credit for that joke but I was talking about schizophrenia.
I take this as a valid critique of myself and the way I write sentences like contestants on those shopping blitz game shows where you get a limited time but you can keep whatever fits in your cart if you make it back to the finish line in time.
The metaphor is imperfect because I (clearly) don’t have a timer.
Which Democrats want austerity??? This isn’t the UK.
Errrr…. you realize the US is one of richest nations that has ever existed and yet ~95% of people living in it are one or two crises away from collapsing?
There are homeless everywhere and if anything centrist democrats are giddy to criminalize the state of being without a home. Biden was an instrumental part of the crime bills that came to define some of the most vivid failures of neoliberalism. Kamala Harris has a similar history. Have these politicians evolved and changed? Yes of course but that isn’t my point.
My point is that is it really disputable at this point that modern centrist leftwing political groups in the US, UK and similar political environments are as associated with austerity policies as rightwing politicians? There are degrees of difference, but it is a contrast of magnitude not of ethics of attitude.
There are no left wing political groups in the US. Closest thing we’ve got is a centrist named Bernie who has no political party supporting him, and a ‘squad’ of Democrats pretending to be progressive while they support culturally conservative politics, virulent ethno-nationalism, and violently ignorant theocracy in other countries.
So, how much and for how long does one need to support a genocidal fascist movement actively murdering civilians including tens of thousands of children, before it’s fair to describe such a person as a genocidal fascist himself?
Oh, well it’s totally okay then. /s
He’s might be technically right so far, since most of the population is still standing, but depending on where things go next this line could be remembered along with “peace in our time”.
You don’t need to be successful to have committed the crime.
Technically is doing a lot of work here, that was the point.
That being said, requirement for success varies by crime (murder charges are only used if it works), and success usually has to be reasonably forseeable in the cases where it isn’t. Genocide would definitely be in the latter category, and as it is it will be very hard for ZA’s lawyers to prove to the ICJ that Israel has attempted to kill all Palestinians in Gaza, given that only a fraction are actually dead, and Israel could do it very easily if they committed to it.
IANAL
You should go read what the UN has to say about genocide. You are wrong. The idea that you have to kill most or all of a group to be guilty of genocide is the biggest misconception there is about it. The entire idea is to prevent it from starting and if it does start, stop it before it gets to the proportions of the Holocaust. At any rate the ICJ just today ordered Israel to halt it’s offensive; allow official access for UN war crimes investigators; and let in all of the aid it’s holding at the borders. Netanyahu immediately refused all three orders.
How much more clear does it need to be?
Edit to add - Just because I can’t not. Attempted Murder is the crime they charge for trying to murder someone. So no you don’t get away just because you failed. And Israel is a lot closer to succeeding than it is failing.
Yeah, attempted murder is a different charge. That was, again, the point.
Technically is doing a lot of work here, that was the point.
^ You’re responding to something other than what I said, so I’ll just repost this.
The UN has written a lot about genocide, at various different levels with different levels of authority. Not all of it matches, and the only thing that’s definitely included is trying to remove a group one of the 5 ways listed.
At any rate the ICJ just today ordered Israel to halt it’s offensive; allow official access for UN war crimes investigators; and let in all of the aid it’s holding at the borders. Netanyahu immediately refused all three orders.
Yep, although that wasn’t a ruling on the charge of genocide itself.
Who cares what the specific charge is? Attempting the crime is still illegal. That’s the point. And those 5 ways are the definitions of Genocide.
Lawyers, judges, fact checkers. I’m not the first two, but I like to play at the third.
If you’re going by the Geneva convention and not something from the Lemkin school of thought, it’s easier to talk about. There’s an effort to create conditions of life which will kill Palestinians, and limited success, but calculated to destroy in whole or part is the sticky bit, since the body count is still low compared to the population. I don’t know, it’s like a drunk that beat someone severely. Was it a poor attempt to kill, or just a successful attempt to maim? The standard of proof required is usually beyond reasonable doubt.
If you were to put using starvation as a weapon or collective punishment to them, there wouldn’t be much doubt, but those are (slightly) lesser charges. Just like you could indict the drunk for aggravated assault or similar fairly plausibly.
How is a man made famine not calculated to destroy them at least in part? This isn’t a case of aid just having trouble. Israel refuses to let the vast majority of it into Gaza.
I beg to differ.