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Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have grown more powerful and more focused since they began in October, even scoring some policy concessions from President Biden, who fears protesters’ wrath at the voting booth in November.
United in anger, hundreds of thousands of protesters have marched in the streets of America and elsewhere to condemn Israel’s military assault on the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’ sneak attack in October. The protesters also have strongly rebuked Mr. Biden and his support for Israel’s military offensive, accusing him of supporting genocide because he refuses to call for a blanket cease-fire.
The protesters have increased their efforts, with demonstrations breaking out closer to the president’s protective bubble.
• In San Francisco last month, demonstrators marched inside Mr. Biden’s hotel chanting, “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide; we charge you with genocide.” They marched throughout the property, down hallways and past rooms, chanting and singing.
• Last week, protesters blocked Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol, causing Mr. Biden to be nearly 30 minutes late for his State of the Union address. They locked arms across the road and spread a banner across an intersection.
• Roughly 50 pro-Palestinian activists were arrested last month for demonstrating inside New York’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza as Mr. Biden arrived for an interview with Seth Meyers.
“We have gotten more focused in terms of specific targets because we are disrespectfully ignored by key people whose attention we are trying to get. We have to go to their doorstep. We have to be explicitly visible,” said Wassim Kanaan, chairman of the New Jersey chapter of American Muslims for Palestine.
Mr. Kanaan said his group has organized hundreds of protests since October with the goal of having at least four a week and sometimes two on the weekend.
Efforts to rattle the president aren’t limited to protests. Demonstrators have signaled their displeasure with Mr. Biden’s Middle East policies by voting “uncommitted” in several Democratic Party primaries. Uncommitted accounted for 29% of the vote in Hawaii, 19% in Minnesota, 13% in Michigan and roughly 7% in Washington state.
Evidence shows the movement is pushing the administration to address the situation in Gaza more forcefully.
Mr. Biden spent months seeking a “pause” in the fighting between Israel and Hamas. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says the war has killed nearly 30,000 Palestinians. Roughly 1,200 Israelis were killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 sneak attack.
Last month, Mr. Biden shifted his rhetoric to demand a six-week “temporary cease-fire.”
In November, Mr. Biden told reporters he would like “a pause” in the fighting so Hamas could release its hostages. In late February, Mr. Biden said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he feels “very strongly” about the need for a “temporary cease-fire.”
The language change inches him slightly closer to critics within his own party and young liberals who have demanded a permanent cease-fire and have threatened to withhold their votes in November.
Vice President Kamala Harris bolstered Mr. Biden’s calls for a six-week cease-fire with a forceful plea of her own. She said Israel had “no excuses” for not doing more to increase aid to the Palestinians. Her words were sharper and more urgent than any so far from the president, even as he began to publicly criticize Mr. Netanyahu.
The administration rejected three United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a humanitarian cease-fire but recently proposed a resolution that included the word “cease-fire.”
Mr. Biden used his massive State of the Union platform to announce he was using the U.S. military to build a pier on the Mediterranean Sea to enable food and other aid to reach Gaza.
“The overall [pro-Palestinian] movement is starting to influence administration policy,” said David Cortright, a University of Notre Dame professor who has authored books on protest movements. “They didn’t use the word cease-fire. Now you have the vice president talking about it. The administration was slow to catch on, but the word has entered its lexicon.”
White House officials deny that the protests have influenced Mr. Biden’s view. They say the rhetoric shift is in response to the president’s efforts to persuade Israel and Hamas to reach a deal. They believe stopping the fighting for at least six weeks could lead to a longer cease-fire.
Mr. Kanaan, speaking in his own capacity and not as part of his movement, said Mr. Biden’s efforts are “too little, too late” to win the support of Palestinian advocates. He said the president is still refusing to call for a permanent cease-fire or halt the sale of weapons to Israel.
“Joe Biden sees the writing on the wall. He’s lost the young progressives,” he said. “His legacy is that of supporting genocide. He can’t do anything to escape that. He dug his hole.”
Mr. Kanaan said he understands that withholding a vote from Mr. Biden could hand the election to former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican Party nominee who is a more fervent supporter of Israel.
“Donald Trump is a horrible person. So is Joe Biden. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. We have each other in the movement, and all we need is each other,” he said, again emphasizing that he was speaking only for himself.
Young voters and Arab Americans represent a significant portion of the Democratic Party base. Both groups went heavily for Mr. Biden in 2020, but their frustration with his unwavering support for Israel could keep them away from the polls in November.
A YouGov/The Economist poll released Thursday found that 50% of those who voted for Mr. Biden in 2020 say Israel is committing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, compared with just 12% who voted for Mr. Trump in 2020.
Mr. Cortright says he expects the protesters will keep the heat up on Mr. Biden through the election.
“Movements don’t recognize when they are having success,” he said. “They haven’t gotten their big demand for a permanent cease-fire, but a number of things have happened in a clear direction toward what the protesters have been demanding. I would advise them to keep up the pressure but recognize that it is working and to do more of the same.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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