There’s something pretty big brewing in the Biden campaign...
On Wednesday, a group of Biden campaign staffers published an open letter on Medium urging Joe Biden to establish a "permanent ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas.
"We write to you as the current staff of your re-election campaign,” the letter begins. "As we work to mobilize voters to cast their ballots for you in 2024, we must take a moment to acknowledge our tremendous grief, and the grief shared by countless other Americans, toward the violence occurring in Gaza."
The staffers continued by saying they joined the campaign believing they shared the same values as Joe Biden, but his administration’s response "to Israel’s indiscriminate bombing in Gaza has been fundamentally antithetical to those values" and said his stance could cost him the 2024 election.
Related: Is Biden Caving to Pro-Hamas Left?
And that’s when the demands came in. The Biden staffers demanded that Biden publicly call for a ceasefire and use financial and diplomatic leverage to achieve it. They also demanded that he advocate for deescalation, ending unconditional military aid to Israel, investigating Israel for human rights violations, and "take concrete steps to end the conditions of apartheid, occupation, and ethnic cleansing that are the root causes of this conflict."
Even though they eventually gave a perfunctory condemnation of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, you can hear the blatant antisemitism between the lines. The only thing missing from the letter was the slogan, "from the river to the sea!"
But here’s where the letter really gets interesting:.
The majority of Democrats support an end to Israel’s military campaign. Americans, especially young Americans, feel extraordinarily passionate about this issue. In fact, 72% of voters under 30 — a key Democratic voting bloc — disapprove of your handling of the conflict in Gaza.
Biden for President staff have seen volunteers quit in droves, and people who have voted blue for decades feel uncertain about doing so for the first time ever, because of this conflict. It is not enough to merely be the alternative to Donald Trump. The campaign has to shift the feeling in the pits of voters’ stomachs, the same feeling that weighs on us every day as we fight for your reelection. The only way to do that is to call for a ceasefire.
Now, before we go any further, I’d like to get it out of the way that Joe Biden hasn’t actually been a good friend to Israel. Anyone who’s been paying attention to what he’s said in done over the past few months knows that. Nevertheless, his public support of Israel over Hamas has undoubtedly hurt his poll numbers among Democratic voters. After expressing unwavering support for Israel after the Hamas attack, Gallup saw a double-digit decline in support from his base. His approval ratings also hit all-time lows in various polls, mostly due to bipartisan disapproval of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
Related: Joe Biden Is No Friend to Israel
So, he’s lost support from his party, administration officials have quit, and campaign staffers are threatening an exodus over the Israel-Hamas war issue. That’s a rather big matzo ball for him to swallow. And these staffers know their threat is something he can’t ignore. This is, without a doubt, blackmail. They are telling Joe Biden to change his policy toward Israel or risk a campaign implosion and sacrifice his reelection.
Make no mistake about it: these leftist antisemites mean business, and they are already hurting his campaign. His numbers are so bad right now that he really can't afford for things to get any worse.
Will Biden cave? I wouldn't put it past him. And Israel will pay the price for it.
