Despite polls, Biden aides insist Gaza campus protests will not hurt reelection bid

President Joe Biden speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 19 May 2024
Follow

Despite polls, Biden aides insist Gaza campus protests will not hurt reelection bid

  • Protests over Israel’s war in Gaza have broken out at more than 60 colleges and universities this year, disrupted Biden’s events around the country, pushed Democrats in key battleground states to vote “uncommitted” and divided the Democratic party

WASHINGTON: Several top White House aides say they are confident protests across US college campuses against Israel’s offensive in Gaza will not translate into significantly fewer votes for Joe Biden in November’s election, despite polls showing many Democrats are deeply unhappy about the US president’s policy on the war.
The White House optimism on the issue, which is shared by many in the Biden campaign, runs contrary to dire warnings from some Democratic strategists and youth organizers who warn misjudging the situation could cost Biden dearly in a tight race with Republican rival Donald Trump.
Several aides told Reuters they are advising Biden to remain above the fray, rather than directly engage with the relatively small groups of protesters on college campuses, arguing their numbers are too insignificant to harm the president’s reelection campaign.
Faced with a choice between Biden and Trump in November, many officials remain confident even Democrats who oppose US policy will choose Biden. Reuters interviewed nearly a dozen top White House officials in recent days, but only two expressed concern about the impact of the protests and Biden’s handling of the issue.
The issue returns to the spotlight Sunday, when Biden makes the commencement address at Morehouse College, over some objections by students and faculty, and a warning from the college’s president that the ceremony will stop if there are protests.
Most officials Reuters spoke to said they believe housing costs and inflation were the issues top of mind for young voters, not the war in Gaza, pointing to a recent Harvard poll that ranks Israel/Palestine 15th on a list of issues, after taxes, gun violence and jobs. Several aides refer to the protesters as “activists” rather than students.
Asked for comment on the issue, White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said Biden understands this is a painful moment for many communities and is listening. He has said too many civilians have died in the “heartbreaking” conflict and that more must be done to prevent the loss of innocent lives, Bates added.
Biden and Trump are nearly tied in national polls, and Trump has the edge in the battleground states that will decide the election, multiple recent polls show. On economic issues like inflation, Trump scores higher with voters overall than Biden.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll found Democrats deeply divided over Biden’s handling of both the war in Gaza and the US campus protests against it, with 44 percent of registered Democrats disapproving of Biden’s handling of the crisis, and 51 percent of his handling of the protests.
Young voters still favor Biden, but support has dropped significantly since 2020, polls show. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in March showed Americans aged 18-29 favored Biden over Trump by just 3 percentage points — 29 percent to 26 percent — with the rest favoring another candidate or unsure if anyone would get their vote.
Two White House officials Reuters spoke to emphasized Biden’s support among young voters is not where it was in 2020 and said they worry the administration is not taking the drop seriously enough.
With over 35,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since war began in October, US support for Israel’s government could weigh heavily on the presidential election in November, they said.
“There is almost a level of defiance when it comes to some of the president’s closest advisers on this issue,” said a senior White House official with direct knowledge of the matter, who did not wish to be named. “They think the best approach is to simply steer clear and let it pass.”

BIDEN SPEAKS CAUTIOUSLY
Protests over Israel’s war in Gaza have broken out at more than 60 colleges and universities this year, disrupted Biden’s events around the country, pushed Democrats in key battleground states to vote “uncommitted” and divided the Democratic party.
Biden, who is known for saying what he thinks, even when it’s not politically beneficial, has been cautious on the issue of protests over Gaza. He spoke in early May on the importance of following the law, while defending free speech and later on addressed the threat of antisemitism on college campuses.
Both times, he mostly avoided the issue that has sparked the protests — how young Americans feel about his support for Israel. But he also said bluntly that protests will not change his Middle East policy.
Groups organizing the protests say that a recent halt to some weapons to Israel was too little too late, and are planning fresh demonstrations, though the summer break may quieten action on campuses.
Michele Weindling, political director of the climate-focused youth group the Sunrise Movement, said “young people are incredibly disillusioned, they are angry at the way the president has treated this conflict.”
“A huge risk right now is that young voters will completely stay out of the electoral system this November, or deliberately vote against Biden out of anger,” Weindling said.
That has the potential to cost Biden dearly, given 61 percent of the more than half of Americans aged 18 to 29 that voted in the 2020 general election voted Democratic, a Tufts University research group found. The youth turnout was up 11 points from 2016.

GAZA NOT A TOP ISSUE
Republicans both overwhelmingly disapprove of the protests and Biden’s handling of the war, a Reuters/Ipsos poll published this week shows. Some Republicans have called for him to send National Guard troops on to campuses.
But until a day before Biden delivered his first speech on the protests on May 2, he remained unsure he needed to address the issue, two officials said. Biden asked his team to put together “something rudimentary,” so he could edit and change it, which he did that evening, one of the officials said.
He did not make the final decision to speak until the morning, after violence broke out on the UCLA campus, the official added.
The Harvard youth poll showing Israel/Gaza is low on youth concerns is being circulated at internal meetings at the campaign and the White House and is in line with private data the White House has seen, the first official said.
The president doesn’t speak about every issue in the news, on purpose, another White House official said. It “doesn’t always happen, no matter what kind of news it is, whether it’s the news of the day or the week or the month,” he said.

 


G20 leaders gather for deadlocked talks on climate, Middle East, Ukraine wars

Updated 7 sec ago
Follow

G20 leaders gather for deadlocked talks on climate, Middle East, Ukraine wars

  • Wars which have bitterly divided G20 members are set to feature prominently in discussions in Brazil
  • Biden will attend his last summit of world’s leading economies with China’s XI as the most influential leader

Rio de Janeiro: G20 leaders began arriving for a summit in Brazil on Monday to try reignite deadlocked climate talks and overcome their differences on the Middle East and Ukraine wars ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

US President Joe Biden will attend his last summit of the world’s leading economies, but as a lame duck leader eclipsed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the most influential leader at this year’s meeting.

Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is using his hosting duties to promote issues close to his heart, including fighting hunger and climate change and taxing the super-rich.

But the wars which have bitterly divided G20 members are also set to feature prominently in the discussions.

A Brazilian foreign ministry source said Monday that some countries wanted to renegotiate a draft summit communique.

“For Brazil and other countries the text is already finalized, but some countries want to open up some points on wars and climate,” he told AFP.

Biden’s decision Sunday to allow Ukraine to use long-range US missiles to strike targets inside Russia — a major policy shift — could prompt European allies to also review their stance.

G20 leaders are also under pressure to try rescue UN climate talks in Azerbaijan, which have stalled on the issue of greater climate finance for developing countries.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for G20 members, who account for 80 percent of global emissions, to show “leadership” to facilitate a deal.

Security is tight for the gathering, which comes days after a failed bomb attack on Brazil’s Supreme Court in Brasilia by a suspected far-right extremist, who killed himself in the process.

The get-together will cap a farewell diplomatic tour by Biden which took him to Lima for a meeting of Asia-Pacific trading partners, and then to the Amazon in the first such visit for a sitting US president.

Biden, who has looked to burnish his legacy as time runs down on his presidency, insisted in the Amazon that his climate record would survive another Trump mandate.

All eyes at the stalled COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan are on Rio to break an impasse over how to raise $1 trillion a year for developing countries to cope with global warming.

Rich countries want fast-developing economies like China and Gulf states to also put their hands in their pockets.

The meeting comes in a year marked by another grim litany of extreme weather events, including Brazil’s worst wildfire season in over a decade, fueled by a record drought blamed at least partly on climate change.

At the last G20 in India, leaders called for a tripling of renewable energy sources by the end of the decade, but without explicitly calling for an end to the use of fossil fuels.

Conspicuously absent from the summit is Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose arrest is sought by the International Criminal Court over the Ukraine war.

Lula, 79, told Brazil’s GloboNews channel on Sunday that he did not want the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to take the focus off global poverty.

“Because if not, we will not discuss other things which are more important for people that are not at war, who are poor people and invisible to the world,” he said.

The summit opens on Monday with Lula, a former steelworker who grew up in poverty, launching a “Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.”

Brazil is also pushing for higher taxes on billionaires.

Lula had faced resistance to parts of his agenda from Argentinian President Javier Milei, a libertarian Trump uber-fan who met the Republican last week at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The head of the Argentine delegation, Federico Pinedo, told AFP that Buenos Aires has raised some objections and would not “necessarily” sign the text, however. He did not elaborate.

But the Brazilian foreign ministry source on Monday downplayed the likelihood of Argentina blocking a consensus.


Why has ethnic violence escalated in India’s Manipur state again?

Updated 25 min 43 sec ago
Follow

Why has ethnic violence escalated in India’s Manipur state again?

  • On May 3, 2023, members of the Kuki and Naga tribes launched protest against extension of benefits to dominant Meiteis
  • Latest violence flared this month after 31-year-old woman from Kuki tribe was found burned to death in a village in Jiribam district

Hundreds of people defied a curfew to stage demonstrations in India’s northeastern state of Manipur over the weekend and 23 were arrested for violence as tensions between two ethnic communities flared up again.
These are the reasons behind the violence in the border state.

HOW DID THE MANIPUR VIOLENCE BEGIN?

On May 3, 2023, members of the Kuki and Naga tribes, who inhabit Manipur’s hills and are regarded as Scheduled Tribes, or India’s most disadvantaged groups, launched a protest against the possible extension of their benefits to the dominant Meiteis.
The Meitei have sought special benefits for more than a decade, but received a fillip in April last year after the Manipur High Court recommended the state government should consider the demand and set a deadline of mid-May.
Meiteis account for half of Manipur’s population and extending limited affirmative action quotas to them would mean they would get a share of education and government jobs reserved for Kukis and Nagas.
Meiteis have traditionally lived in Manipur’s more prosperous valley region that makes up 10 percent of the state’s area.
They have also had better access to employment and economic opportunities. Nagas and Kukis live in the poorly developed hill regions.
The imbalance in development that has favored the valley over the hills has been a point of contention and rivalry between the ethnic groups.

WHAT WERE THE TRIGGERS?

The groups co-existed peacefully until unrelated events in 2023 exposed old faultlines.
Manipur shares a nearly 400-km (250-mile) border with Myanmar and the coup there in 2021 pushed thousands of refugees into the Indian state.
Kukis share ethnic lineage with Myanmar’s Chin tribe and Meiteis feared they would be outnumbered by the arrival of the refugees.

WHY IS PEACE YET TO RETURN?

Both the Meiteis and Kukis are known to be flush with arms, including automatic weapons either stolen from the state police or sourced from Myanmar.
The Indian Army and federal paramilitary forces in the state cannot act independently and are legally bound to work with state police and authorities, who analysts say are also divided along ethnic lines.
Kukis also accuse Biren Singh, the chief minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state and a Meitei, of complicity in violence against them and have sought his removal. Singh denies the accusations.

WHAT IS BEHIND THE LATEST SPIRAL OF VIOLENCE?

The latest violence flared this month after a 31-year-old Kuki woman was found burned to death in a village in Jiribam district, an area that was untouched by the conflict until June.
Kuki groups blamed Meitei militants for the act.
Kukis and Meiteis have moved to separate parts elsewhere in Manipur since the clashes last year but Jiribam still has a mixed population, leading to tensions and violence.
Days after the incident, 10 armed Kuki men were killed in a gunfight with security forces after they tried to attack a police station in Jiribam district, and security forces retaliated. During this gunfight, a Meitei family of six people went missing.
On Friday, bodies of three of the six were found floating in a river, triggering angry protests in the state capital Imphal. Police said on Sunday they had arrested 23 people for ransacking and setting fire to the homes of lawmakers and ministers, in a second straight day of unrest in the area.


Emergency declared as smog in New Delhi hits highest level this year

Updated 32 min 55 sec ago
Follow

Emergency declared as smog in New Delhi hits highest level this year

  • New Delhi was the world’s most polluted city on Monday, according to IQAir
  • PM 2.5 concentration was 138.4 times higher than WHO’s recommended levels

NEW DELHI: New Delhi was in a medical emergency on Monday as toxic smog engulfing the Indian capital reached the highest level this year, prompting authorities to close schools and urge people to stay indoors.

Pollution in Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area — home to around 55 million people — reached the “severe plus” category as some areas reached an Air Quality Index score of 484, this year’s highest, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.

Delhi was ranked as the most polluted city in the world on Monday by Swiss group IQAir, with a concentration of PM 2.5, 138.4 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended levels.

“All of North India has been plunged into a medical emergency,” Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena Singh said in a press conference, adding that many cities were “reeling under severe levels of pollution.”

She said farm fires, where stubble left after harvesting rice is burnt to clear fields, were causing the extreme levels of pollution.

“Why is the (central government) not taking action against these states and implementing concrete steps? People are unable to breathe. I am getting calls from people complaining about breathing and respiratory issues,” she said.

“All of North India is paying the price for this, especially children and elderly who are struggling to breathe.”

Authorities in Delhi have directed all schools to move classes online and tightened restrictions on construction activities and vehicle movements.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president of meteorology and climate change at forecast company Skymet Weather, said people in the capital region are faced with serious health risks.

“If they are non-smokers, then they will also inhale at least 30 to 40 cigarettes per day (at these pollution levels). So, you can imagine how bad it is for our health,” he told Arab News.

“PM 2.5 is a very minute particle (that can be inhaled). It is so minute that it can go into our blood vessels also, so it is very harmful and leads to various diseases, particularly for older people and infants who have breathing problems.”

Palawat is expecting the air quality to remain at this level for at least a few more days.

“It will remain in the very poor to serious category in coming days also,” he said.


Emergency declared in New Delhi as smog hits highest level this year

Updated 18 November 2024
Follow

Emergency declared in New Delhi as smog hits highest level this year

  • New Delhi was the world’s most polluted city on Monday, according to IQAir
  • PM 2.5 concentration was 138.4 times higher than WHO’s recommended levels

New Delhi: New Delhi was in a state of ‘medical emergency’ on Monday as toxic smog engulfing the Indian capital reached the highest levels this year, prompting authorities to close schools and urge people to stay indoors.

Pollution in Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area — home to around 55 million people — reached the “severe plus” category as some areas reached an Air Quality Index score of 484, this year’s highest, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

On the AQI scale from 0 to 500, good air quality is represented by levels below 50, while levels above 300 are dangerous.

Delhi was ranked as the most polluted city in the world on Monday by Swiss group IQAir, with a concentration of PM 2.5, 138.4 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended levels.

 “All of North India has been plunged into a medical emergency,” Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena Singh said in a press conference, adding that many cities were “reeling under severe levels of pollution.”

She said farm fires, where stubble left after harvesting rice is burnt to clear fields, were causing extreme levels of pollution.

“Why is the (central government) not taking action against these states and implementing concrete steps? People are unable to breathe. I am getting calls from people complaining about breathing and respiratory issues,” she said.

“All of North India is paying the price for this, especially children and elderly who are struggling to breathe.”

Authorities in Delhi have directed all schools to move classes online and tightened restrictions on construction activities and vehicle movements.

Mahesh Palawat, vice president of meteorology and climate change at forecast company Skymet Weather, said people in the capital region are faced with serious health risks.

“If they are non-smokers, then they will also inhale at least 30 to 40 cigarettes per day (at these pollution levels). So, you can imagine how bad it is for our health,” he told Arab News.

“PM 2.5 is a very minute particle (that can be inhaled). It is so minute that it can go into our blood vessels also, so it is very harmful and leads to various diseases, particularly for older people and infants who have breathing problems.”

Palawat is expecting the air quality to remain at this level for at least a few more days.

“It will remain in the very poor to serious category in coming days also,” he said. 


Palestinian NGO to ask UK court to block F-35 parts to Israel over Gaza war

Updated 18 November 2024
Follow

Palestinian NGO to ask UK court to block F-35 parts to Israel over Gaza war

  • West Bank-based Al-Haq is taking legal action against Britain’s Department for Business and Trade at London’s High Court

LONDON: Britain is allowing parts for F-35 fighter jets to be exported to Israel despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, lawyers for a Palestinian rights group told a London court on Monday.
West Bank-based Al-Haq, which documents alleged rights violations by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, is taking legal action against Britain’s Department for Business and Trade at London’s High Court.
Israel has been accused of violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza war, with the UN Human Rights Office saying nearly 70 percent of fatalities it has verified were women and children, a report Israel rejected.
Israel says it takes care to avoid harming civilians and denies committing abuses and war crimes in the conflicts with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Al-Haq’s case comes after Britain in September suspended 30 of 350 arms export licenses, though it exempted the indirect export of F-35 parts, citing the impact on the global F-35 program.
Al-Haq argues that decision was unlawful as there is a clear risk F-35s could be used in breach of international humanitarian law.
British government lawyers said in documents for Monday’s hearing that ministers assessed Israel had committed possible breaches of international humanitarian law (IHL) in relation to humanitarian access and the treatment of detainees.
Britain also “accepts that there is clear risk that F-35 components might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of IHL,” its lawyer James Eadie said.
Eadie added that Britain had nonetheless decided that F-35 components should still be exported, quoting from advice to defense minister John Healey that suspending F-35 parts “would have a profound impact on international peace and security.”
A full hearing of Al-Haq’s legal challenge is likely to be heard early in 2025.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 43,800 people have been confirmed killed since the war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in attacks on communities in southern Israel that day, and hold dozens of some 250 hostages they took back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.