A major donor to US President Joe Biden has urged him to halt arms supplies to Israel, warning that the “catastrophe” of the Israel-Hamas conflict jeopardizes his re-election bid.
George Krupp, who intends to raise $2.5 million at a dinner in Boston on Tuesday, urged Biden to take the issue “off the table” by blocking military supplies to Israel.
“I think this Israel thing has been a catastrophe for him,” Krupp told the Financial Times. “I absolutely think that Biden needs to suspend arms shipments both for humanitarian and political reasons.”
The president’s position on the war has divided Democrats along religious and generational lines. In reaction to the October 7 Hamas strikes, he has expressed strong support for Israel’s right to self-defense.
He described the International Criminal Court’s appeal for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders as “outrageous” on Monday, adding, “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
However, there is rising criticism inside the party of his failure to rein in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as the death toll in the battle against Hamas has risen to more than 34,000, according to Palestinian sources.
This month, the president halted a supply of bombs to Israel due to Netanyahu’s refusal to exclude out an assault of the Gazan city of Rafah, but last week he approved a $1 billion package of military aid to Israel. In April, the United States vetoed a Security Council proposal that would have granted Palestinian state full UN membership.
There are concerns that young voters opposed to Israel’s military incursion in Gaza would abandon Biden on the issue, while pro-Israeli Democrats may gravitate to Donald Trump.
Biden’s Stance on Gaza
More than 100,000 Democrats—or 13% of the total vote—in Michigan, which has a substantial Arab-American community, voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential primary on March 15 over Biden’s stance.
Krupp, who signed a letter in March with dozens of other contributors and activists expressing alarm over “the crisis in Gaza,” told the Financial Times that Biden’s “equivocation” on the conflict is “hurting” his re-election campaign. He also stated that the president requires a clear “doctrine” that “gets Israel out of Gaza and lays out a path to a two-state solution”.
Krupp’s remarks come after Democratic megadonor Haim Saban criticized Biden’s decision to delay the transfer of heavy weapons to Israel.
“Bad, Bad, Bad, decision, on all levels, Pls reconsider,” Saban wrote in an email to senior White House officials last week. “There are more Jewish voters who care about Israel than Muslim voters who care about Hamas,” he said, drawing criticism from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other human rights groups. A Saban spokesperson declined to comment.
Biden’s attitude to Israel
Democrats seek to unify to avoid a Trump triumph. They note that the previous president advocated for a ban on Muslim immigrants in 2015. Biden has also been significantly more successful in fundraising, raising $66 million more than Trump by the end of March.
“Donald Trump’s actions against the Muslim community as president are abhorrent,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul told the Financial Times. “I support the president, how he’s handling this . . . [Israel needs] to eradicate Hamas but we also need to make sure the loss of innocent lives is mitigated.”
Patricia Gordon, a board member of the liberal, pro-Israel nonprofit J Street who has hosted a fundraiser with first lady Jill Biden, said she agreed with Biden’s attitude to Israel and was convinced that he would succeed.
“The president will always defend Israel, but recently took the difficult step to prevent the misuse of American resources in an offensive way,” Gordon stated.
However, with opinion surveys favoring Trump, Krupp and many Democrats fear that the Gaza war would tilt the scales against the president.
“I think if the election were held today, I think he’d lose,” Krupp stated.
Source: Financial Times
