There is no reason for Biden to kowtow to students

In my last column, I wrote about the paradox President Joe Biden has created for himself — promising “ironclad” support for Israel while simultaneously pausing shipment of offensive arms.

I said he was going wobbly on Israel. Certainly one of the reasons is domestic politics.

He told a reporter at the end of a press conference that student protests were not having an effect on him, but his actions say they are.

And that is his dreadful misreading of the situation.

Because — due to overcoverage on TV — it seems like a lot of students have engaged in the protests, when in fact it is a tiny sliver of students on campus, joined by “activists” who are not students.

The students’ demand to  “Free Palestine” — which never has been free — reminds me of Oscar Wilde’s description of fox hunting: “The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.”

A recent poll of college students showed the Mideast ranks dead last, 9th of 9, of subjects they care about. 

One way Biden sees the Israel problem is as a youth problem, and an electoral problem. Even though most youth are not in college.

Traditionally, election day turnout among the young is the lowest of any generation. It is far more productive for politicians to campaign in old age homes than on college campuses. That is just a fact.

It is also a fact that young Americans do not agree with his support for Israel largely because of the civilian deaths, and their profound ignorance of the decades-old roots of the problem.

It is as if they view the atomic bombing of Japan without knowledge of Japan’s invasion of and mass murders in China and Korea, plus its Dec. 7 sneak attack on  Pearl Harbor, killing 2,403 military U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians.

The Japanese attack on the U.S. was followed by Germany’s declaration of war, which led to as many as 600,000 German civilian casualties, and about 1 million Japanese civilians were killed by U.S. air raids, including those killed by the A-bombs. Those deaths were far more disproportionate than the regrettable deaths of Gazan civilians, noted New York University professor Scott Galloway. No one is saying it was right, but it was war and it is offered for context and perspective.

Biden’s policy contains a contradiction: He wants Hamas dethroned, but is telling Israel not to push into Rafah, Hamas’ last stronghold. The man who botched the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan wants to micromanage Israeli actions.

As The New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman told Michael Smerconish on his Saturday CNN show, “You are not morally serious” if you condemn only Israel without mentioning Oct. 7, and not demanding the return of the hostages and demanding a “one state” solution from the river to the sea. And Friedman is no fan of Israel Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, whom he calls a “sinister” figure.

Despite ignorance of these facts, young voters — rightfully horrified by the deaths of civilians, and wrongfully worried that U.S. forces will be drawn into war — suggest that Biden won with the youth vote in 2020 and will lose without it in 2024. 

Not so fast.

Biden won with the help of many self-interest groups in 2020, such as African-Americans, Hispanics, and suburban women.

The Gen Z vote generally turns out to vote in numbers that are disproportionately small, while Baby Boomers and older turn out in numbers that are disproportionately high. And those older voters are the ones with the strongest support of Israel, and who might balk at the contradiction of a president who issues our ally “ironclad” support while withholding arms.

In 2020, voters under 30 were just 15% of all voters, and Gen Z were just 8% of all voters, according to Pew Research.

What does this mean?

Most youth are not deeply concerned with the Mideast, and they are a tiny slice of the electorate.

Biden caters to them at the cost of reducing support from their numerous and active-voting elders.

Better to be seen as shouting keep off my lawn than to be changing diapers of the young, uninformed, and civically listless.