The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization composed of white Americans and people of color that promotes the rights of black people. It has been established for 115 years and is extremely influential in the United States. On June 6 local time, the organization rarely expressed its position on the US foreign policy toward non-black countries, urging the Biden administration to stop all weapons shipments to Israel "indefinitely."
Reuters believes that the NAACP's sttement indicates that the Biden administration's support for Israel may hurt its own black votes. As the US election approaches in November, Biden faces increasing challenges as his stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has increasingly dissatisfied his domestic supporters.
In a statement, the NAACP urged Hamas to return the hostages and "cease all terrorist activities," while noting that Israel has the right to defend itself but must "adopt an offensive strategy that complies with international and humanitarian law."
The organization emphasized that the Biden administration should assume leadership responsibilities and believed that the United States must use its influence on Israel to promote a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The statement also called on Biden to draw a "red line" and "indefinitely stop" the delivery of all weapons and artillery to Israel.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in an interview with Reuters that the United States needs to show moral leadership and stop sending weapons to Israel because it causes civilian deaths. Johnson admitted that the NAACP decided to speak out publicly in part because young black Americans were horrified by news reports and photos of Palestinian civilian deaths circulating on social media.
"This raises many questions, including why our tax dollars are being used to harm civilians," Johnson said. "The violence has resulted in so many civilian deaths and it must stop immediately."
Johnson said that this round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict has also intensified anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and xenophobia in the United States, and these sentiments will continue to grow as the conflict continues. He said that although the organization does not believe that Biden's support for Israel is the cause of this trend, it hopes that the United States can promote peace more forcefully. "We believe... this country has a responsibility" to ease the situation.
Reuters believes that the NAACP's statement is the latest warning sign facing the Biden administration, indicating that Biden may lose the support of black voters and pay the price for his firm support for Israel in the US election on November 5. Earlier this year, a group of more than 1,000 black pastors called on Biden to promote a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The report mentioned that black Americans have long been loyal Democratic voters and played an important role in Biden's victory over Trump in 2020. The two will face off again, but polls show that black voters lack enthusiasm for Biden. A poll conducted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US think tank, in March showed that 59% of black people believed that US military aid to Israel should only be used for self-defense and in accordance with human rights standards.
In response, Biden's campaign told Reuters that the Biden team is not worried that black voters will turn to Trump, but is worried that too many black voters will withdraw from the election due to lack of enthusiasm, which will in turn affect Biden's vote share.
Since October 7 last year, this round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict has resulted in more than 36,000 deaths in the Gaza Strip and forced millions of people to flee their homes. At present, the Israeli government continues to threaten to attack the southern Gaza city of Rafah despite opposition from the international community. At the same time, the Biden administration, which has always firmly supported Israel, has been under pressure from both home and abroad to stop providing weapons and equipment to Israel.
Under dual pressure from both domestic and international parties, Biden suspended the shipment of bombs last month, but the United States remains Israel's largest military aid supplier. Biden recently proposed a "three-step" roadmap, but neither Israel nor Hamas made a clear statement, and the situation is deadlocked again.
A Reuters poll in May showed that there are serious divisions among Democrats and their supporters over the Biden administration's handling of the Gaza conflict and protests on U.S. campuses. About 44% of registered Democratic voters said they disapproved of Biden's handling of the crisis. Reuters said these disapproving voters were unlikely to say they would continue to vote for Biden.
The data on TikTok also sounded the alarm for Biden. TikTok said that the platform has 170 million users per month in the United States, most of whom are adults under the age of 30. As the election campaign begins, Trump, 77, and Biden, 81, are both using TikTok to attract young voters.
In April this year, Future Majority, a Democratic polling company, conducted a survey on TikTok users. The survey showed that young women, Latino women and black men are the main users of TikTok. Due to dissatisfaction with the Biden administration and its economic and foreign policies, they have more negative views of Biden than Trump, with the proportions being 57% and 53% respectively.
NBC believes that young Americans are already dissatisfied with Biden due to issues such as the economy and the current round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Reuters cited recent poll data to support this, which showed that Trump's support among young voters is comparable to Biden's. This result is a huge change compared to 2020, when polls showed that Biden was 24 percentage points ahead of Trump among young voters.