US President Joe Biden is alienating voters with his insistence on backing Israel\u2019s campaign of \u201cgenocide\u201d in Gaza, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter has told RT. Supporting the destruction of Gaza is \u201ca bridge too far for the American public,\u201d Ritter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pro-Palestinian protesters heckled Biden during a key campaign speech on Monday, demanding<\/a> that he pressure the Israeli government to declare an immediate ceasefire. With protests still drawing large crowds<\/a> in New York and Los Angeles, and with some of Biden\u2019s own officials resigning<\/a> over the president\u2019s \u201cblind support\u201d for Israel, a recent New York Times poll<\/a> found broad disapproval, particularly among young voters, for Biden\u2019s handling of relations with West Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s very rarely foreign policy issues that decide elections,\u201d Ritter told RT on Monday, explaining that the focus on Biden\u2019s management of the Israel-Hamas war suggests \u201cthat something else is at stake here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat\u2019s at stake here is how we define ourselves as American people,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to say we\u2019re \u2018for Ukraine\u2019 or \u2018against Russia\u2019, but with Israel and Gaza we\u2019re talking about genocide. Real genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people. Israeli forces responded by launching airstrikes on Gaza, followed by a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave a month later. The operation is ongoing, and has claimed the lives of more than 23,000 Palestinians, more than two thirds of whom have been women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. With Gaza still under a near-total siege, 40% of the enclave\u2019s population are at risk of famine and disease is rampant, the UN warned<\/a> late last month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a bridge too far for the American public,\u201d Ritter said. \u201cWe cannot support this wanton slaughter of innocent civilians. It\u2019s not a foreign policy failure, it\u2019s a failure of the American identity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This \u201ctotal lack of moral character\u201d is what is going to hurt Biden at the polls, Ritter claimed, adding that \u201cAmericans look in the mirror and don\u2019t like what they\u2019re seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n During his first trip to Israel after Hamas\u2019 attack, Biden pledged that \u201cas long as the United States stands,\u201d Israel would be given the weapons it needs \u201cto protect its people.\u201d Washington has since rushed arms and ammunition to West Jerusalem, while dismissing<\/a> allegations that Israel is using them to commit genocide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Biden is apparently aware that a sizable contingent of his voters don\u2019t share his enthusiasm for Israel. The US president has publicly rebuked Israel for its \u201cindiscriminate bombing\u201d campaign, and after his rally was interrupted on Monday, the president announced that he was \u201cquietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While a majority of young voters want the president to back a ceasefire, a majority of those aged 45 and over want Biden to commit more support to Israel\u2019s military operation, the New York Times poll found. Among all voters, 47% told the newspaper that they sympathize more strongly with Israel, while 33% said they sympathize with the Palestinians or both sides equally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n