Primary Protest

Michigan had their primary last night and it looks like over 100,000 Democrats voted "uncommitted." They have a large Arab-American population and were trying to send a protest message to Biden about the Israeli war in Gaza. There are actually Democrats all over America, such as me in Texas, who want Biden to change policy on that war. It's just that Michigan has a significant concentration of such Democrats. It's certainly their right to protest that way. When I voted, I don't think there was an equivalent "uncommitted" option on my ballot, just 10 or so stupid candidates running against Biden. And it's not like any of them have better policies.

A lot of times on Daily Kos or on Wonkette, I see commenters acting like pro-Palestinian protesters are whiny babies or silly idiots demanding a pony, but that's not true at all. We want Biden to do concrete things like withhold funding and/or weapons from Israel, stop vetoing resolutions against Israel in the UN, and push for more humanitarian aid/access in Gaza. I am aware that Biden is still negotiating for a ceasefire in Gaza, and he promises that something will happen soon in March, but I'm skeptical since I heard that Israel rejected the previous ceasefire attempt, AND they are moving forward with more settlers in occupied territory. If anybody's being a whiny baby having a tantrum, it's been Israel.

There's a stereotype that the pro-Palestinian voters in America are ignorant college kids who know no history; that this is their anti-authoritarian fad to feel cool and important. But were the anti-Vietnam protesters in the 1960s a mere fad? They weren't principled in their anti-war stance? How can the anti-protest Democrats think that this is not about justice and humanitarianism? I'm not a college kid anymore, though college was where I read more about Israel's history and no longer liked it. (In middle school I liked Golda Meir and played her in a school project.) I'm not Muslim either. I'm Vietnamese, and was raised Buddhist, but I didn't understand a word of it in temple, so officially I'm unreligious and agnostic at best. Also I do believe that there is a large faction of Black Americans who sympathize with Palestinians and don't like Biden's Israel policies either. So apparently it's a coalition of lots of different people. It's not just Michigan Arab American voters who feel this way. Democrats shouldn't dismiss it as a tiny faction of spoilers like the No Labels people or the deluded Dean Philips. And Nancy Pelosi suggesting that we're Russian plants is even more insulting, saying that there aren't genuine reasons for real Americans to care about Israel decimating Gaza.

But I will state again that I will vote for Biden in November, as the alternative is unthinkable. I don't know if all the other pro-Palestinian people will, though, so maybe Biden can do something please? Hold Israel accountable instead of treating it like innocent Ukraine, merely "defending itself."