By Alireza Akbari
Following Biden’s exit, mainly due to physical and mental health concerns, Vice President Kamala Harris emerged as the frontrunner owing to her close ties with the sitting president.
Thereafter Harris quickly secured endorsements from influential party figures, including members of Congress, state-level Democratic leaders, and former president Barack Obama.
Democratic Party conducted a formal virtual roll call vote to officially nominate her on August 1 and the Democratic National Committee finally confirmed her as the official nominee on August 5.
As Harris entered the race against Republican nominee Donald Trump, public attention focused on their overt and unabashed support for the Israeli regime and its genocidal war on Gaza.
Both presidential candidates tried to outdo each other during televised debates to project themselves as the "bigger" supporter of the occupying regime in order to appease the powerful Zionist lobby.
Throughout her election campaign, Harris consistently affirmed Israel's right to “defend itself,” a position that elicited significant backlash from pro-Palestinian activists across the country.
Criticism erupted across social media platforms and in street demonstrations, where activists called for a boycott of the election and the candidates in the fray, describing both of them as "warmongers."
During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 25, 2024, Harris underscored her unwavering support for the Tel Aviv regime, stating that “Israel's right to self-defense” is paramount.
Just weeks later, she reiterated her support for the Tel Aviv regime during her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago even while the overwhelming public opinion in her country remained firmly against the ongoing war on Gaza and Lebanon.
“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself,” Harris declared, reinforcing her alignment with the Tel Aviv regime.
However, Harris faced backlash for her pro-Israel positions during her Jazz Fundraiser at Le Poisson Rouge on October 20. The event took a dramatic turn when a pro-Palestinian activist stood up and shouted, “Kamala is jazz for genocide. The US sends $27 billion to Israel. 27 billion to burn Palestinians alive.”
According to a recent report titled by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, Biden and Harris have provided $17.9 billion in military aid to Israel since Oct. 7, 2023.
The US administration, under Biden and Harris, has provided lethal weapons to the Israeli regime that have been used to murder civilians in Gaza and Lebanon and destroy the infrastructure.
On the other side, Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, was officially nominated as the Republican candidate on July 18, 2024, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Trump, known for his close dalliance with Israeli regime leaders, maintained his position as the Israeli regime's "protector," a role he embraced during his previous term from 2017 to 2021 too.
"You have a significant protector in me," Trump declared during a speech at the Israeli-American Council summit in Washington in September 2024, demonstrating his support for the Gaza genocide.
In a gathering on October 7, 2024—marking a year since the onset of the Israeli genocidal campaign in Gaza, Trump pitched himself as a guardian angel of the child-murdering regime in Tel Aviv.
"If we don't win this election, there is a tremendous consequence for everything," he said. “The October 7 attack would never have happened if I were president."
Throughout his campaign, Trump consistently reiterated his support for Israel while criticizing Harris's approach. He suggested that Jewish voters had "no excuse" for supporting her.
Both pro-war candidates went to extreme lengths to portray themselves as supporters of the regime.
It has been argued that Trump's strong pro-Israel stance could potentially grant Netanyahu greater latitude in continuing his genocidal offensives in both Gaza and Lebanon. And it's true.
However, the support for the Israeli regime is not a new phenomenon in American electoral politics. Trump and Harris are not isolated cases. US presidents have always been on the side of genocide, massacres and holocausts.
Biden, Harris' master for four years, proudly declared himself a "Zionist" and greenlighted substantial arms supplies to the Israeli regime, especially after the events of October 7 last year.
His key actions included authorizing over 100 arms transfers and seeking $14.3 billion in aid for Israel, a request that Congress ultimately approved in April 2024.
Biden administration consistently vetoed UN Security Council resolutions calling for a truce in Gaza and expedited weapons deliveries despite massive anti-war demonstrations sweeping US campuses.
Before Biden, Trump assassinated top anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani, supported a Saudi-led war on Yemen that resulted in significant civilian casualties, and backed Israeli aggression.
He also earned notoriety for dropping "The Mother of All Bombs" in Afghanistan—the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat—and implemented strict sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran, illustrating a continuation of Washington’s aggressive and hegemonic foreign policy.
Obama, who was elected as the 44th president on November 4, 2008, was also an advocate of war and militarism. His administration expanded the use of drone warfare and orchestrated a regime change against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and turned Africa's most prosperous nation into an open-air slave market.
He spent over a billion dollars on efforts to change the democratically-elected government in Syria, including funding and training Western mercenaries that aligned with Al-Qaeda.
By the time he left office, the US was conducting bombing operations in seven countries simultaneously, including Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia.
Elected as the 43rd US President on November 7, 2000, George W. Bush initiated a 20-year occupation of Afghanistan and led the United States into the invasion of Iraq based on inaccurate claims about weapons of mass destruction.
His administration oversaw a widespread global torture program and laid the foundation for the modern surveillance state that persists today. He was, like others, a staunch supporter of the Zionist regime.
Bill Clinton, who served as the 42nd President after being elected on November 3, 1992, implemented severe sanctions against Iraq that are estimated to have resulted in the deaths of around 1 million people, including approximately half a million children under five.
Clinton administration bombed pharmaceutical plants in Sudan and conducted airstrikes in Yugoslavia.
George H.W. Bush, the 41st President elected on November 8, 1988, had previously served as CIA director during the "Dirty Wars" in Central America, where the US government funded, trained, and armed far-right death squads that killed and tortured hundreds of thousands.
He oversaw the first Gulf War and invaded Panama, resulting in the deposition of President Manuel Noriega. Bush's excuse was that Noriega was wanted to stand trial for drug trafficking charges -- crimes Noriega committed while on the CIA payroll.
Ronald Reagan, the 40th President elected on November 4, 1980, supported fascist death squads in Nicaragua to overthrow the Sandinista government, facilitated a genocide of the Maya people in Guatemala, and enabled Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons against both Iraqis and Iranians.
Notably, in 1986, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found Reagan guilty of what amounted to international terrorism.
Jimmy Carter, elected as the 39th President on November 2, 1976, participated in violent interventions, arming and supporting an Indonesian genocide against East Timor that led to 250,000 deaths.
Carter's government also backed various military dictatorships across Latin America and provided support to Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
Alireza Akbari is a Tehran-based journalist.
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