In the United States, the image of Israel is eroding in the democratic camp

Joe Biden changed his tone Wednesday, May 19. After initially giving free rein to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the first days of the conflict between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the President of the United States told him, according to the report. White House, during a telephone interview, that“He expected a significant de-escalation [mercredi] in view of a cease-fire ».

This development arguably responds to fears that a stagnation will lead to greater Washington engagement, to which he balks, but it also comes as the Democratic Party’s long unconditional support for Israel is being called into question. His fracture on this nagging issue was evident in the House of Representatives on Thursday, May 13. Two groups of elected Democrats took the floor to defend opposing positions.

Pro-Israelis have dismissed criticism of the Israeli army’s bombing of Hamas in Gaza, which has caused many civilian casualties. “No one here should make excuses for a terrorist organization [le Hamas]. Who will sympathy go to next? The Islamic State ? Al-Qaida? Hezbollah? Even if we do not always agree on Israel’s policy, we must be very clear that nothing, nothing, justifies a terrorist organization firing rockets at our ally ”, assured a New Jersey elected official Josh Gottheimer.

While condemning the shooting by Hamas on Israeli towns, including “No one should do the test”, Mark Pocan, an elected official from Wisconsin, insisted on placing the crisis in the context of “The discrimination and disproportionate treatment that Palestinians face”. “No one should suffer the loss of life, freedom or dignity that the Palestinian people endured under Netanyahu and previous Israeli governments during the fifty years of occupation of the West Bank,” he added before Rashida Tlaib (Michigan), the only Congresswoman of Palestinian origin, invited the House to “Put an end to the apartheid system which for decades has subjected Palestinians to inhuman treatment and racism”.

Bernie Sanders’ charge against Netanyahu

Rashida Tlaib’s statements are not surprising. Her membership in the “Squad”, a quartet of elected representatives to the left of the Democratic Party, indeed places her among the intractable critics of the Hebrew State, as does her colleague from New York State Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or the independent senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders.

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