Bill Clinton attempts to justify Israeli genocide to sway Arab vote

MUSKEGON HEIGHTS: Former United States president Bill Clinton tried to appeal to Arab American voters at a rally in Michigan on Thursday. The attempt comes in the wake of a new poll released by the Arab News Research and Studies Unit which showed Vice President Kamala Harris lagging behind Donald Trump among Arab voters.

BILL CLINTON: I’M NOT KEEPING SCORE

Former US president Bill Clinton campaigned for Harris in Michigan on Thursday, where he defended the Israeli genocide of Palestinians by justifying the responses to Hamas’ attack on October 7.

“I understand why Palestinian and Arab Americans in Michigan think too many people have died, I get that,” Clinton began, before sympathising with the families of those who died on October 7. Clinton tried to get the audience to empathise with those attacked on October 7, but seemed to leave the thought unfinished. “If you lived in one of those kibbutzim in Israel right next to Gaza where the people there were the most pro friendship with Palestine, most pro-two state solution, of any of the Israeli communities, were the ones right next to Gaza, and Hamas butchered them,” the former president trailed off.

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However, after changing the topic to the disproportionate responses that have been occurring since October 7, while ignoring the atrocities Israel committed before the Hamas attack, Clinton didn’t offer the same commiseration.

“Yeah but look how many people you’ve killed in retaliation, so how many is enough for you to kill to punish hem for the terrible things they did?” the former president said, in an attempt to point out the fault in arguments against Israel, as he went on to state that anyone in their position would have done the same.

“What would you do if it was your family and you hadn’t done anything but support a homeland for the Palestinians and one day they come for you and slaughter the people in your village?” Clinton asked rhetorically.

“You would say well you will have to forgive me, I’m not keeping score that way.”

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TRUMP VS KAMALA ON PALESTINE

The latest poll from the Arab News Research and Studies unit showed that Trump is leading 45 per cent to Kamala’s 43 per cent. While Arab American voters don’t favour either candidate over the other in regards to who would be “better for the Middle East,” they do believe that Trump would be more likely to “successfully resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Arab American’s are frustrated with Democratic Party’s continued support for Israel according Shadi Hamid, a columnist for the Washington Post. While Harris has attempted to sympathise with the plight of the Palestinian people, she quickly diverts attention when asked about the issue. Responding to a question about Palestinian deaths funded by US tax dollars, Harris stated that “far too many innocent Palestinian civilians have been killed. It’ unconscionable.” However, soon her answer diverged from the issue and devolved into criticism of Trump and his ‘fascism’.

It is moments like these in which Harris refuses to provide an answer beyond offering her sympathies for the Palestinian people, coupled with other instances, such as refusing to give any Palestinian Americans an opportunity to speak at the Democratic National Convention, that has led voters to feel ignored.

However, the latest polls revealed that voters are turning to Trump despite his pro-Israel and anti-Muslim record. Recent gestures such as inviting Muslim leaders to speak at a Michigan rally earlier this month, in which Imam Belal Alzuhairi stated that “we, as Muslims, stand with President Trump because he promises peace,” stands in stark contrast to Trump’s own statements.

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“You have a big protector in me. You don’t have a protector on the other side,” said Trump at an Israeli-American Council summit earlier in October. Harris and President Joe Biden continue to support and provide military aid to Israel. By looking at Trump’s first term, it is clear that he would do the same. For instance, the former president signed an executive order in 2019 which officially recognised Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

“The United states will always stand by [Israel’s] side,” the former president said in March 2019. In 2017, he formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, before the US embassy was officially moved there from Tel Aviv in 2018.

In regards to Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric, the former president signed an executive order in 2017 which restricted entry into the US for citizens of the Muslim majority countries of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Despite legal challenges, an updated second version was partially upheld by the Supreme Court, which excluded Iraq from the ban, but allowed entry to those that had a “bona fide relationship with any person or entity in the United States.” The third version of the travel ban which placed varying levels of restrictions on citizens from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Somalia and Yemen, was approved by the Supreme Court in December of 2017.

Biden rescinded Trump’s ‘Muslim’ ban on his inauguration day in January of 2021.

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