Biden in His Own Words
‘Zionist’ Biden in His Own Words: ‘My Name is Joe Biden, and Everybody Knows I Love Israel’
“I am a Zionist. You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist,” current Democratic
Presidential candidate, Joe Biden, said
in April 2007, soon before he was chosen to be Barack Obama’s running mate in
the 2008 elections.
Biden is, of course, correct, because Zionism is a political movement that
is rooted in 20th century nationalism and fascism.
Its use of religious dogmas is prompted by political expediency, not spirituality
or faith.
Unlike US President, Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders, Biden’s only serious
opponent in the Democratic primaries, Biden’s stand on Israel is rarely examined.
Trump has made his support
for Israel the cornerstone of his foreign policy agenda since his inauguration
into the White House in January 2017. The American President has basically transformed
into Israel’s political genie, granting Tel Aviv all of its wishes in complete
defiance of international law.
Sanders, on the other hand, came to represent the antithesis
of Trump’s blind and reckless support for Israel. Himself Jewish, Sanders has
promised to restore to the Palestinian people their rights and dignity, and
to play a more evenhanded role, thus ending decades of US unconditional support
and bias in favor of Israel.
But where does Biden factor into all of this?
Below is a brief examination of Biden’s record on Palestine and Israel in recent
years, with the hope that it gives the reader a glimpse of a man that many Democrats
feel is the rational alternative to the political imbalances and extremism of
the Trump administration.
August 1984: Palestinians and Arabs are to Blame
Biden’s pro-Israel legacy began much earlier than his stint as a Vice-Ppresident
or presidential candidate.
When Biden was only a Senator from Delaware, he spoke at the 1984 annual conference
of "Herut Zionists of America." Herut is the forerunner of Israel’s
right-wing Likud Party.
In his speech before the jubilant right-wing pro-Israel Zionist crowd, Biden
derided the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Arab governments, for
supposedly derailing peace in the Middle East.
Biden spoke
of "three myths (that) propel U.S. policy in the Middle East" which,
according to the American Senator, are, "the belief that Saudi Arabia can
be a broker for peace, the belief that King Hussein (of Jordan) is ready to
negotiate peace, and the belief that the Palestine Liberation Organization can
deliver a consensus for peace."
April 2007: ‘I am a Zionist’
Time only cemented Biden’s pro-Israel’s convictions, leading to his declaration
in April 2007 that he is not a mere supporter of Israel – as has become the
standard among US politicians – but is a Zionist himself.
In an interview with Shalom TV, and despite his insistence that he does not
need to be Jewish to be a Zionist, Biden labored to make connections with the
‘Jewish State’, revealing
that his son is married to a Jewish woman and that "he had participated
in a Passover Seder at their house," according to the Israeli Ynet News.
March 2013: ‘Qualitative Edge’
This commitment to Israel became better articulated when Biden took on greater
political responsibilities as the US vice-president under Obama’s administration.
At a packed AIPAC conference in March 2013, Biden elaborated on his ideological
Zionist beliefs and his president’s commitment to ‘the Jewish state of Israel’.
He said:
"It was at that table that I learned that the only way to ensure that
it could never happen again was the establishment and the existence of a secure,
Jewish state of Israel. I remember my father, a Christian, being baffled at
the debate taking place at the end of World War II .." that any country
could object to the founding of Israel on the ruins of the Palestinian homeland.
"That’s why we’ve worked so hard to make sure Israel keeps its qualitative
edge in the midst of the Great Recession. I’ve served with eight Presidents
of the United States of America, and I can assure you, unequivocally, no President
has done as much to physically secure the State of Israel as President Barack
Obama."
December 2014: ‘Moral Obligation’
In one of the most fiercely pro-Israel speeches ever given by a top US official,
Biden told the annual Saban Forum at the Brookings Institution in Washington
on December 6, 2014, that, "If there weren’t an Israel, we would have to
invent one".
In his speech, Biden added a new component to the American understanding of
its relationship with Israel, one that goes beyond political expediency or ideological
connections; a commitment that is founded on "moral obligation".
Biden said,
"We always talk about Israel from this perspective, as if we’re doing (them)
some favor. We are meeting a moral obligation. But it is so much more than a
moral obligation. It is overwhelmingly in the self-interest of the United States
of America to have a secure and democratic friend, a strategic partner like
Israel. It is no favor. It is an obligation, but also a strategic necessity."
April 2015: ‘I Love Israel’
"My name is Joe Biden, and everybody knows I love Israel," Biden
began his speech at the 67th Annual Israeli Independence Day Celebration held
in Jerusalem in April 2015.
"Sometimes we drive each other crazy," the US vice-president said
in reference to disagreements
between Israel and the US over Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s
refusal to halt construction of illegal Jewish settlements.
"But we love each other," he added. "And we protect each other.
As many of you heard me say before, were there no Israel, America would have
to invent one. We’d have to invent one because … you protect our interests
like we protect yours."
July 2019: US Embassy Stays in Jerusalem
In response to a question by the news website, AXIOS, which was presented to
the various Democratic party candidates, on whether a Democratic President would
relocate the American embassy back to Tel Aviv, the Biden campaign answered:
"Vice President Biden would not move the American embassy back to Tel
Aviv. But he would reopen our consulate in East Jerusalem to engage the Palestinians."
October 2019: Support for Israel Unconditional
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on October 31, 2019, Biden
was asked whether he agrees with the position taken by his more progressive
opponent, Bernie Sanders, regarding US financial support to Israel and Jewish
settlement.
Sanders had said that, "if elected president he would leverage billions
of dollars in US military aid to Israel to push Jerusalem to change its policies
toward the Palestinians," The Hill news website reported.
Biden’s response
was that, " .. the idea that we would draw military assistance from
Israel, on the condition that they change a specific policy, I find to be absolutely
outrageous. No, I would not condition it, and I think it’s a gigantic mistake.
And I hope some of my candidates who are running with me for the nomination
– I hope they misspoke or they were taken out of context."
March 2020: ‘Above Politics, Beyond Politics’
Biden’s fiery speech
before the pro-Israel lobby group, AIPAC, at their annual conference in March
2020, was a mere continuation of a long legacy that is predicated on his country’s
blind support for Israel.
Biden’s discourse on Israel – a mixture of confused ideological notions, religious
ideas and political interests – culminated in a call for American support for
Israel that is "above politics and beyond politics".
"Israelis wake up every morning facing an existential threat from their
neighbors’ rockets from Gaza, just like this past week .. That’s why I’ve always
been adamant that Israel must be able to defend itself. It’s not just critical
for Israeli security. I believe it’s critical for America’s security."
Palestinians "need to end the rocket attacks from Gaza," Biden also
said. "They need to accept once and for all the reality and the right of
a secure democratic and Jewish state of Israel in the Middle East."
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of The
Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is These
Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli
Prisons (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior
Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul
Zaim University (IZU). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net.
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