What has Israel’s relentless assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah revealed about the U.S.? That Joe Biden, has no red line, no pink line, no line whatsoever when it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu.
This week on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’, Mehdi begins the show with a condemnation of the lack of condemnation for Israel’s deadly airstrikes in Rafah. A decapitated toddler, a massacre of Palestinians in tents, and a complete rejection of an order from the top U.N. court demanding Israel halt its operations in Rafah – none of it led to the U.S. saying much at all.
“We live in a world where non-existent images of imaginary beheaded Israeli children can help launch a genocidal war,” says Mehdi, in his opening monologue, “but actual images of real-life beheaded Palestinian children don’t force the entire world to bring an immediate halt to that war.”
Also on the show…
Ambassador Husam Zomlot, the current head of the Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom and a member of Fatah spoke with Mehdi about the role of the U.S. in this decades-old conflict, saying it’s “not about Trump or Biden.”
“So far, the U.S. has failed miserably to bring itself to the level of an honest mediator, of a leading force in our international relations,” Zomlot says. “The US has remained, whether Democratic administrations or Republican administrations, has remained completely and utterly biased.”
Zomlot also talked about Nikki Haley signing Israeli artillery shells destined for Gaza, recent recognition of Palestinian statehood by three countries, and what the future of governance in Gaza could look like.
Biden and Black voters…
Recent polling shows Black voters are much less interested in Biden and the Democrats in 2024 than they were in 2020. From feeling that the president hasn’t done enough to earn their vote to complaints over the U.S.’s handling of Gaza, the reasons vary – and some Black voters are even turning to Donald Trump.
So, does Biden have a chance in November if he loses Black voters? Has he taken them for granted? And how big of a role exactly is Gaza playing in Black disillusionment? Don Calloway, a former Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives and now a Democratic Party strategist, and Pastor Michael McBride, a founder of Black Church PAC and the lead pastor of the Way church in Berkeley, California joined Mehdi for this debate.
“People do believe that the president and this administration, and by extension, the Democratic Party, has lost its way on this issue [Gaza],” McBride argues. “We believe there has to be a course correction.”
Calloway pushed back. “Black voters do not have and have never had the luxury of being single-issue voters. So, do we care about Palestine? Absolutely… Do we vote against Joe Biden and the interests of Palestine against reproductive freedom? Probably not.”
To hear McBride’s response and more of this exchange, watch the debate above.
Be sure to let us know what you think of the full show and who you think we should have on next.
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