Biden softens stance on Gaza. Could it decide who wins NC in 2024 election?
President Joe Biden came to Raleigh last week to talk about health care. But his brief visit perhaps said more about Middle Eastern policy.
As Biden touted Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and talked about the anxiety of the uninsured, a heckler cried out from the back: “What about health care in Gaza?”
“Hospitals in Gaza are being bombed!” screamed another protester in the invitation-only crowd at Chavis Community Center in southeast Raleigh.
The Democratic president called for patience as police ejected them. “They have a point: We need to get a lot more care into Gaza,” Biden said, drawing a standing ovation from some in the crowd.
The interruption lasted less than a minute, but it was illustrative of a months-long distraction nagging at Biden’s efforts to win North Carolina and other battleground states in the upcoming presidential election.
As the Israel-Hamas conflict drags on, the president is trying to strike a delicate balance between standing firmly behind Israel, the U.S.’s top ally in the Middle East, while also placating supporters who think the U.S. should do more to help Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire — and all without upsetting voters aligned with Israel, and without disrupting the economy.
In recent weeks Biden has proposed building a makeshift port in Gaza to bring in emergency aid. Vice President Kamala Harris called for a temporary cease-fire. And the U.S. abstained from a United Nations Security Council vote this week that allowed the UN to issue its first cease-fire demand in Gaza — a move that prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accuse the U.S. of “retreating” from a “principled position.”
But at the same time, the U.S. continues sending Israel billions of dollars a year in military aid, a policy dating back decades no matter which party has been in charge in Washington. The Council of Foreign Relations reported this year that about 15% of Israel’s entire defense budget comes from the U.S. On Friday the Biden administration authorized a new Israel arms package containing 2,300 bombs, a week after authorizing a deal for 25 new fighter jets.
How or if Biden continues to adjust could be one deciding factor in whether he or former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, wins North Carolina — a state seen by both parties as critical to controlling the White House.
A recent WRAL News poll found Trump with a 50%-to-45% lead over Biden in North Carolina as the two hurtle toward the Nov. 5 general election. Five percent of voters were undecided.
In 2020, Biden lost North Carolina to Trump by fewer than 75,000 votes. It was the only swing state Trump won that year. But issues such as the Israel-Hamas conflict and the economy appear to be weighing on Biden’s efforts to close the gap.
In March, about 88,000 Democratic primary voters in North Carolina voted “no preference” amid a national anti-Biden push led by progressive and pro-Palestinian activists. Biden won, but with only 87% of the vote — even though he was the only presidential candidate on Democratic ballot. At the same time, it was also less than the 20% of North Carolina Democrats who cast similar protests votes in the 2012 primary elections against the last incumbent Democratic politician, Barack Obama.
"The president believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans," Biden campaign spokeswoman Lauren Hitt told WRAL. "He shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He's working tirelessly to that end."
Some wavering Biden supporters say those protest votes in the primary weren't just symbolic — that unless something drastic changes, Biden won’t get their votes in November.
Abdullah Khadra, an imam at the Medina Quran and Youth Center in Raleigh, sees Biden as complicit in Israel’s U.S.-backed bombing that has killed tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza since October.
Khadra encouraged others in the Raleigh-area Muslim community to vote against Trump in 2020. But now he’s encouraging them to vote against Biden. “I’m telling my people not to vote for genocide,” Khadra said Tuesday as roughly 100 pro-Palestinian protesters chanted and held signs criticizing the president during Biden’s Raleigh visit.
If Biden wants to win their votes, Khadra said, the president needs to cut off America’s military aid to Israel or find a way to end the war.
“Maybe then, and only then, would some people change their minds and vote for him,” said Khadra, who wore a black-and-white keffiyeh, which has become symbolic of Palestinian nationalism. “Not because he did a good job. He already funded a genocide. But because Trump might be worse. That’s the only reason.”
Trump banned people from half a dozen majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. when he was president, a policy Biden ended once he took office. Trump has said that if reelected this year he will bring back that ban and further expand it, prevent any refugees from Gaza from entering the U.S., and deport any immigrants deemed to hold pro-Hamas views.
Biden’s shifting Israel policy
The Oct. 7 Hamas attacks killed 1,139 people, mostly civilians, according to the Israeli government. Israel’s counteroffensive into Gaza has since killed at least 33,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The death toll includes more than 13,000 children. At least 597 Israeli soldiers have also died in the fighting or from accidents.
The Biden administration’s official stance is that Israel is not committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. There’s a formal international inquiry into whether a genocide is underway, which U.S. National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby has called “meritless, counterproductive, completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”
Jeff Bierer, who leads the state Democratic Party’s Jewish caucus, said he supports Biden.
“Jewish North Carolinians know that President Biden and Democrats in North Carolina are committed to creating a country where our rights are protected, our democracy is secure, and our communities are safe from prejudice and hate, including antisemitism,” he said. “North Carolinians will be voting for the only candidate that is working to protect our freedom and keep our communities safe, and that’s President Biden.”
But as Biden tries to balance America’s decades-long policy of support for Israel with growing public frustration at the heavy civilian death toll in Gaza, he faces criticism from Trump. After Biden’s speech in Raleigh Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Biden’s foreign policy worries voters.
“There's also tremendous fear in North Carolina, and in every state across this country right now, as we look at what's happening overseas with the chaos, the war, the unnecessary bloodshed that has been led in large part because of Joe Biden's weakness and his appeasement, poor foreign policy strategy,” she said, pointing not just to the Israel-Hamas war but also Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden has been a strong supporter of sending U.S. military aid to Ukraine, which Trump has criticized. Hungary's pro-Russian leader Viktor Orban said Trump assured him that the U.S. would cut funding to Ukraine if Trump is elected, Reuters reported. Orban’s comments followed a meeting between the Hungarian prime minister and Trump in Florida in March.
‘The Jewish people will survive’
Biden’s dilemma over the Israel-Hamas conflict is reflected by a broader divide in the state Democratic Party.
Earlier this year the party was beset by internal battles over a push to create a new Jewish caucus, due in part to allegations that some activists leading the push had made Islamophobic statements. The state party’s executive committee eventually voted to approve the Jewish caucus, after an initial vote to reject it drew local and national headlines.
And when the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a resolution three days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, it passed unanimously — but about one in every four Democrats chose to skip the vote in protest. The resolution not only expressed sympathy for victims of the violence but also called on America to fully support any reaction from Israel.
“The Jewish people will survive," Sen. Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, said during a similar debate in the state Senate. Grafstein is one of three state or national lawmakers in North Carolina who are Jewish; all are Democrats. There are also two Muslim state lawmakers, both Democratic as well.
In the months since, pro-Palestinian protesters and activists have pressured local politicians who sit on town councils to call for a ceasefire in the Middle East — a topic not usually under the purview of the officials who approve bike lanes and festival permits.
Those protesters tend to skew younger. Young Democrats, seen as crucial to Biden’s reelection strategy, are particularly sympathetic to Gaza. Biden is struggling to win their votes. The WRAL News poll showed Biden winning just 42% support from likely voters between the ages of 18 and 34. A Gallup poll released Wednesday showed plummeting support for Israel among voters in that same age bracket, diving to 38% from 64% last year.
“If indeed younger voters are lackluster in their support due to the Gaza situation, that will certainly eat into a viable voting block for Democrats,” said Michael Bitzer, a Catawba University political scientist. “But this recent shift in the Biden administration to really push Israel to tamp things down, and the push for aid to Gaza, may help to calm things.”
But it might not help Biden win over moderate Republicans skeptical of Trump. While the issue of who to support in the ongoing conflict is divisive among Democrats, the Republican Party doesn’t face similar division — yet.
About 64% of Republicans support Israel’s military efforts, according to a Gallup poll released this week. That’s down from 71% in November. But most Americans hold the opposite view: Just 36% of Americans support Israel’s counterattack, down from 50% in November.
Crucially, the Israeli military campaign now faces increasing disapproval — 60% — from political independents, Gallup found. That’s important because independent voters decide elections in North Carolina, where more people are unaffiliated than are registered with either major political party.
Israel a focus in governor's race
North Carolina’s Jewish and Muslim communities are both small — each make up 1% or less of the state population according to Pew Research Center. But this issue transcends politics and faith. Not all American Jews support the current Israeli government, and not all supporters of Israel are Jewish. Likewise, Muslims aren’t the only ones who are pro-Palestinian.
The race for North Carolina governor — which could be affected by turnout for presidential candidates — illustrates how complicated the issue can get.
The Democratic nominee for governor, Attorney General Josh Stein, is Jewish. He stood and applauded Tuesday after Biden said more care was needed in Gaza.
His Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, has previously endorsed antisemitic conspiracy theories and appeared to question the accuracy of reports about the Holocaust. But he recently took a trip to Israel, paid for by a conservative Christian group, and used a brief stint last year as acting governor to declare a week of solidarity with Israel following the Hamas attack.
For many Muslim voters, however, the focus is less on state politics and more on national politics.
Samira Haddad was one of the protesters who interrupted Biden in Raleigh. After being kicked out of the speech, she said she was glad Biden responded kindly — but that he needs to go further.
“He said we need to get more aid into Gaza, but that’s not the point here,” she told WRAL News. “We need to stop sending weapons to Israel. We need to stop bombing Gaza. We cannot send weapons and at the same time send care to the people in Gaza. How does that make sense to anyone?”
Mohammad Odeh, who grew up in Gaza but now lives in North Carolina, says U.S. dollars would be better spent locally than supporting Israel.
Standing near the Chavis Community Center as Biden spoke Tuesday — in a lower-income part of Raleigh — Odeh gestured around.
“Look across the street,” he said. “Look at the needy people here. Invest this money here for us.”
WRAL News Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie, WRAL News State Government Reporter Paul Specht, WRAL State Government Editor Jack Hagel, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
