The Israel-Palestine war is causing complications for President Joe Biden, and the situation is only getting worse.
This is according to a new report from Newsweek, titled, Joe Biden's Israel Headache is Getting Worse and Worse.
What is "Biden's Israel headache?"
It is that, on the one hand, Biden wants to maintain the strong alliance between the United States and Israel, while, on the other hand, there is a significant contingent of Biden's own Democratic Party that continues to criticize Biden for doing so.
This criticism that Biden has been facing from members of his own party reached a new level last week, when U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) went so far as to accuse Biden of "having supported the genocide of the Palestinian people."
Tlaib added, "We will remember in 2024," which hints at a big part of Biden's problem - namely, the idea that if Biden does not handle this Israel-Palestine conflict correctly then he could lose a lot of support from key Democrat demographics for the 2024 presidential election.
How do the likes of Tlaib want Biden to handle the Israel-Palestine conflict? They have made it very clear that they want Biden to call for a ceasefire.
This idea of a call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine war has been heavily criticized by many, including by many members of the Democratic Party. Experts and other commentators argue that a ceasefire would only help Hamas - the group the perpetrated the Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel, precipitating the ongoing conflict - while hurting Israel.
Accordingly, Biden has steadfastly opposed such a ceasefire. But, as Newsweek points out, his language does appear to have "softened" recently.
Newsweek highlights a significant change in Biden's rhetoric regarding the Israel-Palestine situation.
Per the outlet:
In the first two weeks following the attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Biden has said "Israel has a right to defend itself—full stop," that his administration's support for Israel "is rock solid and unwavering," and that Israel "has a right and a duty to respond to these vicious attacks."
Newsweek then quotes Biden, last week, as saying such things as, "The loss of every innocent life is a tragedy," and "I can thoroughly understand the emotions, both on the Palestinian side of this argument and on the Jewish side of the argument."
What this suggests is that the criticism from pro-Palestinian Democrats, such as Tlaib, are affecting Biden. The question now is whether Biden's change of tone will cost him the votes of pro-Israel Americans.
For politicians like Biden, it is always a numbers game: the question is always, "What do I have to say to get the most support on election day?" Time will tell how well Biden navigated the Israel-Palestine conflict.
