What people fail to understand about this situation is that the entire situation leaves everybody involved with what are essentially binary choices where everybody loses no matter which one you pick anyway.

Fact: Hamas launched an unprovoked attack on Israel, killing over 1000 people and holding over 200 hostage, some of which are still in captivity to this day.

Fact: Israel had every right to respond militarily and do everything in their power to rescue the hostages.

Fact: Israel’s response has gone well above and beyond what is proportional and necessary, and instead has focused on bombings of civilian infrastructure with little knowledge of or regard for the hostages they’re stupposed to be trying to rescue, instead focusing on a “Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out.” approach that quickly spiraled into an all out genocide that even the israelis themselves barely bother trying to hide any more.

For simplicity’s sake, and because Harris is now the nominee and Biden has dropped out, any time I refer to “Harris”, assume I’m talking about the Biden/Harris administration in general.

Harris has two options here. Support Israel, or support the people of Gaza. Whichever one she chooses, she’s going to piss the other side off. So far, the administration has tried their best to hide behind the existing political alliance between the US and Israel while sidestepping questions about the war in Gaza. This has led to where we are now, with calling Biden “Genocide Joe”, mass protests on college campuses, and a significant amount of political fallout at home. But what would have happened if Harris were to pivot and support the Palestinians instead?

There are just shy of 175,000 people of Palestinian descent living in the US. There’s 7.5 million Jews. The fact remains, whatever your personal opinion of the conflict is, there are many, many, many more people in this country who support Israel, and they are significantly more politically active, politically entrenched, and well funded. That’s just reality. Any attempt at pivoting would be portrayed by the Jewish population as a betrayal of Jews and an abandonment of Israel.

The college protests we’ve already been seeing would look like weekend picnics compared to what would happen if we stopped supporting Israel. AIPAC just got finished spending silly amounts of money to have 3/4 of “the squad” primaried for supporting Gaza. I’m not saying they’d go all Trumpy, but they absolutely would be pouring tens of millions into getting their population to vote for a no-hoper like Jill Stein which would have the side effect of Trump getting back into office through the back door.

This is Harris’ option now. Stick her fingers in her ears and scream LALALALALALALA in public over the Gaza conflict as it stands now while quietly working behind the scenes to help find a path to a ceasefire, or she could pivot on the issue and continue supporting the people of Gaza during her concession speech in November once support from the Jewish population evaporates overnight. Or having to sit and watch as President Trump essentially nuke-and-paves the entire place and turns it into the Trump Gaza Casino.

This is what people don’t get. There is no good option here. Full Stop. Whichever side she chooses, she’s going to piss the other side off. And any attempt at just taking a neutral stance would just end up pissing both sides off. Attempting to have “Genocide Joe” cancelled would just lead to the return to power of someone campaigning on “I’ll Genocide harder!”.

I know it sucks, and I know the hostages shouldn’t have to wait that long and all that. I get it. But the best (read: least shitty) option is really to wait until after the election. Get Harris into office, then pressure her into supporting whichever side you’re on in the conflict under threat of being primaried by a Democrat challenger in 2028. But these kind of “messages” that they’re not going to support Harris will only lead to the rise to power of a man who will gladly thank them by offering them a 5% discount on a VIP package at his new middle eastern casino.

I fully support Palestine. What Israel is doing is the textbook definition of a genocide. And I wish I could wake up one morning and hear the Harris administration is pulling all support from Israel and stands with Palestine. But I’m also aware of the reality of the world we live in at both a national and geopolitical level, and can acknowledge that this is the least bad option the administration can take right now, and that the “Genocide Joe” protests and the demands those protesters are making are a clear example of cutting off your own nose to spite your face, and a clear misunderstanding of what would happen if they actually got what they’re advocating for.

I promise you, with every fiber of my being and every breath in my lungs, if you are unwilling to support Harris or are planning to just stay home in protest in November, please reconsider. What you are advocating for will lead to the return to power of someone who absolutely will make the entire situation exponentially worse. Pressuring a future Harris administration with a primary challenge in 2028 is going to get you a LOT further in the long run vs. advocating for something that can only lead to the return of Trump. It is the textbook definition of a pyrrhic victory: You will lose far more than you will gain even if you “win”, and that “victory” you’d be celebrating today would be guaranteed to cost you the entire war.

Voting is transactional. It is a tool. If you’re voting without demands is just weird. These politicians are not your friends or family. There is no need for the weird parasocial element to it.

I stand with the protesters. The same thing happened to activists for police reform. They went through every channel and protested just to be used as a set piece and watch the Biden admin increase police funding, and didn’t do much of anything. Liberals always disapprove of any form of accountability or protest. You will never please them unless you’re mindlessly Blue No Matter Who.

These protests make little sense to me. I fully support the goals of the protesters. I am opposed to Israel’s actions in Gaza that are clearly aimed at a Palestinian genocide. However, I don’t see how these protests are supposed to help achieve the goal of ending the violence and suffering of the Palestinian people. In fact, if they do anything at all, they will only help Trump get elected.

These protesters should be going after every member of congress that has supported the continued shipment of weapons to Israel, republican and democrat alike, but where have they been? They should have been out supporting democrats like Jamaal Bowman who lost his primary to a moderate, pro-Israel democrat because of AIPAC. AIPAC who has spent more than $15 million dollars this season to try and unseat progressive democrats who have supported their cause. These protesters should have been out protesting AIPAC but haven’t heard a peep from them.

Now, here they are harassing the only presidential candidate on the ballot that might possibly support them if she wins, but who cannot say that now because if she does, AIPAC will drop $10s of millions of dollars to oppose her and potentially cost her the election. And that is the only thing these protests can accomplish. If protesters succeed in turning voters against Harris, where are those votes going to go? Either to a man who has stated that he fully supports Israel’s actions and that he just wants them to hurry up and get it done, or to a third party candidate who cannot possibly win but could siphon enough votes from Harris so that Trump could win anyway.

I can’t help but think that these well meaning protesters are being manipulated by the powers that be to undermine their own goals. Stop attacking democrats in general and start supporting progressives who support your cause.