ABBIE MILLER
Editor-in-Chief
The American people are currently in the midst of what many call one of the most influential elections in the nation’s history.
Between threats of dictatorship, an economy that is still recalibrating from the impacts of COVID-19 and racial tensions that are escalating at record rates, there is no doubt that this upcoming election will be one for the history books.
Amidst all of these policy concerns, war rages in the Middle East as the first anniversary passes since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
As indicated by continuous nationwide university protests in support of Palestinians, many American college students will at least partially base their vote on how the presidential candidates view this war in the Middle East.
While it remains to be seen whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will secure the presidential victory in this upcoming election, one thing is for certain: the fate of America’s relationship with foreign countries and the lives of millions of Palestinians hangs in the balance.
To understand the full extent of the genocide that continues to plague Gaza, one must first conceptualize all that is going on today using the complex history between Palestine and Israel in the past.
While the Israel/Palestine region has a long history dating back to before the birth of Christ, tensions between the Jewish and Arab populations in the area started to become especially heightened in the somewhat recent past.
The Partition Plan of 1947 divided what was known as the British Mandate of Palestine into Israeli and Palestinian territories. This preceded the first Arab-Israeli War, which resulted in victory for the Israelis and the division of the land into the State of Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Following another Israeli victory in the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel gained territorial control over land that was previously owned by the Palestinians. This included the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The various intifadas that followed culminated in repeated band-aid solutions, the deaths of countless Israelis and Palestinians and tensions that never seemed to fully dissipate.
In 1993, the Palestinian government gained control over Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas, elected in 2006 to serve as the executives of the Palestinian government, claims authority of Gaza, while the West Bank is still controlled by other members of Palestinian higher authority.
Present-day war within Gaza was precipitated in the long-term by rising tensions between the Jewish and Arab populations within the State of Israel and its neighboring Palestinian territories, and in the short-term by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack that resulted in over a thousand Israeli casualties and the taking of hundreds of hostages.
This attack from Hamas was precipitated in part to inflict terror upon Israelis and in part as a reaction to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s electoral victory in December of 2022. Among Netanyahu’s campaign goals was the prioritization of colonizing Palestinian land by building Israeli settlements in the Palestine-owned West Bank.
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, strike, Israel has responded by repeatedly bombing the Gaza Strip with the stated purpose of “dethroning and ending Hamas.” Palestinian authorities have used their military to fight back, but Israel has sustained relatively minimal damage and casualties due to its more powerful military.
Israel’s military, made even stronger with the addition of United States aid, has been responsible for the deaths of at least 41,615 Palestinians, including nearly 16,500 children, since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. In addition, more than 96,359 Palestinians have sustained injuries as a result of the bombings and starvation that has plagued the region of Gaza.
In comparison, the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has resulted in the death of 1,139 Israelis and the injury of approximately 8,730 Israelis. These statistics include the Israeli deaths and injuries that resulted from Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
The power imbalance that exists between the militaries of the State of Israel and the Palestinian authorities is something that bears substantial significance. If the military equipment of each side was equal, this conflict could be termed a “war.” But the Israeli military, coupled with billions of dollars of American-funded equipment, can inflict damages that result in Palestinian deaths at a rate that is several times larger than that of the Palestinian military.
Thus, this “war” is, in some ways, not even a war at all. It is a genocide. In order to “weed Hamas out of the civilian population they are hiding amongst,” the Israeli government has authorized the mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians who had nothing to do with the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in particular or Hamas in general.
Among the targets of the brutality are children who have not yet turned one year old, entire bloodlines that have been discontinued because every family member is no longer alive, and grieving elderly community members who have no means of escape and are forced to watch as everyone around them either starves to death or is the victim of bombings.
With the U.S. federal government continuing to spend billions of dollars to maintain its status as Israel’s top weapons supplier, this genocide has begun to seep more directly into American politics.
Coupled with the fact that the United States is often seen as a country that prides itself on stepping in during morally wrong foreign conflicts, many prospective voters of the 2024 election expect to receive answers about the exact position of the presidential candidates on the war.
The 2024 presidential debate between Kamala Harris, for the Democratic Party, and Donald Trump, for the Republican Party, showcased the divide in political stances.
When asked about the Israel-Hamas conflict, Harris responded by stating, “Israel has a right to defend itself. We would. And how it does so matters.” Harris, as the current vice president of the United States, continued to state that she had been working in conjunction with President Joe Biden to sign a ceasefire deal with Prime Minister Netanyahu that involves an end to the war in Gaza and a return of the hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Harris further mentions a two-state solution, which is the idea that Palestine and Israel can exist as separate, neighboring states that are governed by only members from their respective citizenry. While this response seemingly breaks the black-and-white mold that is characteristic of the polarized American political landscape, Harris seems to have implied her true stance on the topic by assuring voters that she will “always give Israel the ability to defend itself.”
She later commented on how she has supported Israel and the Israeli people throughout the entirety of her career and life. While Harris has yet to make a definitive statement showing support for one country over the other, I believe that her comments towards Israel may imply that she is willing to cut the Israeli government a break for the genocide that they are inflicting.
On the other hand, Trump made his opinion on the war quite apparent during the 2024 debate with President Biden. Calling Biden a “bad Palestinian,” Trump claimed that Biden should “let [Israel] go and finish the job.” It is implied that by the phrase “finish the job,” Trump means that Biden should allow Israel to kill the remainder of the Palestinian people and therefore end the war in Palestine by means of ethnic cleansing.
Trump also stated “I will protect Israel” in a Time Magazine article published this past April. It seems apparent that, while less covert about it than Harris, Trump supports Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu in its continuation of the war on Gaza, which continues to kill thousands of Palestinian civilians every month.
While Harris’ comments regarding her support for Israel are distressing, to say the least, I still believe her to be the better presidential candidate if we ever wish to see any sort of American-brokered peace within the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Comparatively, Trump’s remarks calling for the complete decimation of the entire Palestinian population give no hope to anyone who disagrees with the ongoing genocide occurring at the hands of the Israeli government. If Trump were to be elected once more, the United States would likely continue its historical pattern of neglecting foreign populations facing violence, and exacerbating the genocide of millions.
Sources:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/israeli-palestinian-conflict
https://time.com/6972022/donald-trump-transcript-2024-election