Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered near the White House in Washington on Saturday to express their anger at Joe Biden and his policies, which they describe as too conciliatory towards Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
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Chanting “from (Washington) to Palestine, we are the red line,” demonstrators held a long banner bearing the names of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army after eight months of conflict.
AFP
The American president is under heavy criticism in the United States, from people who consider that he is not doing enough to influence the Israeli government and the way it carries out its campaign in Gaza.
Joe Biden has offered unconditional support to Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, but estimated in March that a major offensive in Rafah was “a red line” that should not be crossed.
However, in the wake of a deadly strike in May on this town in the south of the Gaza Strip, the White House declared that this “red line” had not been crossed.
“I no longer believe anything Joe Biden says,” said Zaid Mahdawi, a 25-year-old protester from the neighboring state of Virginia, whose parents are Palestinian.
AFP
“This “red line” in his rhetoric is nonsense,” he adds to AFP, denouncing the “hypocrisy and cowardice” according to him of the American president.
Tala McKinney, a 25-year-old caregiver, said she hopes the conflict ends soon, “but clearly our president is not living up to his words.”
The demonstrators, mostly dressed in red clothes, held Palestinian flags and signs reading “Biden’s red line was a lie”, or “bombing children is not self-defense”.
AFP
A few months before the presidential election which will pit him against his rival and Republican predecessor Donald Trump, Joe Biden is under pressure to secure the support of Muslim and young electorates, traditionally aligned with the Democratic Party.
“It’s very disappointing to have a president who doesn’t keep his word,” Tala McKinney said. She says she will vote neither for Donald Trump nor for Joe Biden in November, but rather for a third candidate.
