SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
zeteo
Poll Shows Backing Israel Arms Embargo Would Help Harris in 3 Swing States
"Across all three states, 80% or more of Democrats and Independents support a permanent cease-fire and 60% or more disapprove of more weapons to Israel," said the IMEU Policy Project.
Aug 15, 2024
As the official death toll from Israel's U.S.-backed assault on the Gaza Strip topped 40,000 on Thursday, new polling showed that Democratic and Independent voters in three key swing states would be more willing to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the November presidential election if she supported cutting off weapons to Israeli forces.
The poll was commissioned by the Institute for Middle Eastern Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, conducted by YouGov, and initially reported on by Zeteo. It involved hundreds of Democrats and Independents in Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
From July 25 through August 9, pollsters asked voters if and how the Democratic nominee pledging "to withhold more weapons to Israel for committing human rights abuses against Palestinian civilians" would impact their vote. In Arizona, 35% said they would be more likely to vote for her, versus 5% who said they would be less likely. The figures were similar in Georgia (39% versus 5%) and Pennsylvania (34% versus 7%).
Even bigger shares of voters said they would be more likely to support her in November if President Joe Biden—who dropped out of the race and passed the torch to Harris last month—secured a permanent cease-fire in Gaza. In Arizona, 41% said they would be more likely to vote for her, versus 2% who said they would be less likely. In both Georgia and Pennsylvania, it was 44% versus 2%.
"If the Democrats want Vice President Harris to be the strongest nominee possible going into November, then they should be demanding that President Biden stop the flow of weapons to Israel and secure a permanent cease-fire immediately."
"Across all three states, 80% or more of Democrats and Independents support a permanent cease-fire and 60% or more disapprove of more weapons to Israel," the IMEU Policy Project said in a social media thread sharing more results from the poll. "About a quarter of those surveyed across these states say the violence in Gaza will sway how they vote."
The group added that "57% of Arizonans surveyed say U.S. support for Israel has been 'too much' versus just 2% who say it has not been enough. 48% of Pennsylvanians say it has been too much versus 3% who say not enough, and 50% of Georgians say it has been too much versus 2% who say it has not been enough."
IMEU Policy Project executive director Margaret DeReus said in a statement that "this polling clearly shows that if the Democrats want Vice President Harris to be the strongest nominee possible going into November, then they should be demanding that President Biden stop the flow of weapons to Israel and secure a permanent cease-fire immediately."
"Not only are these policies popular, but they actually move voters from the 'undecided' or 'not voting' column and into the Democrats' column in the states Democrats will need to win," DeReus highlighted.
Throughout the presidential primary process, when Biden was still at the top of the ticket, a nationwide movement emerged encouraging voters to select "uncommitted" or take similar action, depending on the options for each state's ballot.
Hundreds of thousands of primary voters—including over 100,000 in the battleground state Michigan—took the opportunity to show the Biden-Harris administration that they oppose U.S. support for Israel's assault on Gaza, which the International Court of Justice is deliberating as a possible case of genocide.
The U.S. administration is involved in ongoing cease-fire negotiations—which resumed in Qatar on Thursday—but also continues to arm Israeli forces, approving roughly $20 billion in additional U.S.-made weapons for the nation's military on Tuesday.
Last week, Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh, two Michigan voters who co-founded the Uncommitted National Movement, spoke with Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The movement said that the Democratic nominee "shared her sympathies and expressed an openness to a meeting with Uncommitted leaders to discuss an arms embargo."
However, Phil Gordon, national security adviser to Harris, also said the vice president "has been very clear: she will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law."
Noting Gordon's statement from last week, Norman Solomon of RootsAction wrote in a Thursday opinion piece for Common Dreams that "if maintained, that stance will continue to be a moral catastrophe—while increasing the chances that Harris will lose" to the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump.
Solomon recalled when another wartime president bowed out of the next race and backed his vice president: In 1968, Hubert Humphrey became the nominee at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, amid protests over the Vietnam War. He ultimately lost to Republican President Richard Nixon.
While Harris has already locked up the nomination via an online process, the Illinois city is set to host the DNC again next week. Anticipating thousands of protesters denouncing "U.S. complicity with the methodical killing of so many children, women, and other civilians in Gaza," Solomon urged Harris to learn from recent polling and the example of Humphrey.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Jewish US Army Major Explains Why He Resigned Over Gaza
"I knew that as long as I stayed, I'd be contributing to this campaign that had already demonstrated basically it was going to be indiscriminately killing civilians at an industrial scale," said Harrison Mann.
Jun 05, 2024
After Harrison Mann's resignation from the U.S. military was finalized on Monday, the Jewish U.S. Army major who worked in the Defense Intelligence Agency gave a pair of interviews this week explaining his decision to resign over American support for Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.
"We saw, even from the first days of the Israeli air campaign, willingness to inflict very high civilian casualties," Mann toldCBS News chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod in a conversation that aired Tuesday.
Even before the Hamas-led October 7 attack prompted the ongoing Israeli bombardment, ground assault, and restrictions on humanitarian assistance deliveries into Gaza, the United States gave Israel billions of dollars in annual military aid. U.S. weapons and diplomatic support for the Middle East ally has increased over the past eight months, as the death toll has topped 36,500.
Journalists and human rights groups have documented Israel's use of U.S. arms to kill and injure civilians in Gaza. Asked by Axelrod whether Israeli forces were intentionally doing so, the Mann responded, "I don't know how you kill 35,000 civilians by accident."
During Mann's first televised interview, Axelrod also asked, "You felt your work was directly connected to starving children?"
The 13-year Army veteran simply said, "Yes."
U.S. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, said in an interview this week that he doesn't think Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war, contradicting conclusions by global human rights organizations and the International Criminal Court.
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action CEO Jamie Beran, whose group has historically stayed out of the decadeslong Israel-Palestine conflict, wrote in a Tuesday letter to Biden that "we, as American Jews, are sounding an alarm: U.S. support for continued violence in Gaza is putting American safety and U.S. democracy in danger."
In his CBS appearance, Mann read from his resignation letter, in which he notes his experience as a Jewish person, writing that "as the descendant of European Jews, I was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment when it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing—my grandfather refused to ever purchase products manufactured in Germany—where the paramount importance of 'never again' and the inadequacy of 'just following orders' were oft repeated."
Mann addressed his decision to make his letter public on LinkedIn last month after distributing it internally at DIA on April 16. He cited the Biden administration's May report—which critics called a "Friday news dump"—about Israeli assurances regarding the use of U.S. weapons in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
That administration's report states that although "it is reasonable to assess" that Israeli forces used U.S. arms in Gaza in manners inconsistent with their international law obligations and expresses "deep concerns" about Israel's action and inaction on humanitarian aid, American support for the Israeli war effort can continue.
Mann also appeared Wednesday on Mehdi Hasan's new show for Zeteo, the media platform that the journalist launched following the cancellation of his program at MSNBC after he aired content critical of Israel's assault on Gaza.
Jewish-American Soldier Quits Biden Administration Over Gaza: “I Feel it's Appropriate to Invoke ‘Never Again’” by Mehdi Hasan
Mehdi speaks to newly-resigned Major Harrison Mann. Plus: the forgotten genocide in Sudan.
Read on SubstackMann told Hasan that he started his resignation process in November but revealed why in April, saying that "the war in Gaza and our role in it and my contribution to that was the straw that broke the camel's back and the reason I ultimately understood I could not do this work anymore."
By November, "I knew that as long as I stayed, I'd be contributing to this campaign that had already demonstrated basically it was going to be indiscriminately killing civilians at an industrial scale," Mann said. He added that it was clear that the U.S. would continue to provide Israel with "unwavering" support.
Others who have quit their jobs over U.S. government support for the Israeli war include Lily Greenberg Call, a special assistant in the Department of the Interior and the first Jewish political appointee to resign in protest; Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American who worked as a policy adviser in the Education Department; and Stacy Gilbert, Josh Paul, Hala Rharrit, and Annelle Sheline, who all left the State Department.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Mehdi Hasan Launches Media Platform With Naomi Klein, Greta Thunberg, and More
The journalist says Zeteo will feature "hard-hitting interviews and unsparing analysis" in op-eds, podcasts, and streaming shows.
Apr 15, 2024
After a few weeks of "soft launch" mode, journalist Mehdi Hasan on Monday officially debuted his new media platform, Zeteo, and declared that "this is not a one-man band."
The former MSNBC and Peacock host—whose show was canceled in November and wrapped up in January, after his incisive criticism of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip—revealed nine of the contributors he has lined up so far, calling them "some of the biggest, boldest, and best names from media, activism, entertainment, and beyond."
They are Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Spencer Ackerman, comedian and podcaster W. Kamau Bell, Palestinian Canadian lawyer Diana Buttu, former CNBC and CNN correspondent John Harwood, foreign policy analyst Rula Jebreal, author Naomi Klein, novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, actor and activist Cynthia Nixon, and Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
"The tough interviews and knowledgeable analysis are all coming back, along with a global cast of contributors," Klein said on social media Monday. "I was honored when Mehdi asked me to be one of them, along with Rula Jebreal and Greta Thunberg and many others yet announced."
"Mehdi and I will be having a regular conversation called 'Unshocked,'" noted Klein, who authored The Shock Doctrine.
Hasan—who has also produced content for Al Jazeera, The Guardian, and The Intercept—has saidZeteo will feature "hard-hitting interviews and unsparing analysis" in a variety of forms, from op-eds and podcasts to streaming shows, beginning with "Mehdi Unfiltered."
“What else do we call this other than the deliberate dehumanization of the Palestinian people?”
I called out media bias and racism, on Gaza, and brought receipts!, in the opening monologue of my new show #MehdiUnfiltered today.
Watch/share/subscribe:https://t.co/20UUcW06TK pic.twitter.com/oHA1bfZqWK
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 15, 2024
"To keep
Zeteo's journalism independent and free of advertiser and corporate influence," Hasan explained ahead of the formal launch, "and to allow us to continue investing in the future, we have to rely on our individual paid subscribers."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular