New York City
CNN
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When President Joe Biden visited Virginia to commemorate Earth Day on Monday, he was joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders, a key architect of the clean energy proposals Biden was rolling out. But those weren’t the only things the Vermont independent was concerned about.
Sanders, according to people familiar with the conversation, used his rare intimate moments with Biden — a longtime Senate colleague who was once his rival in the Democratic presidential primary — to relay his concerns about the administration’s handling of administration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and to urge Biden to use newly authorized financing as leverage over Israel.
“The main message was, ‘You’re going to have it in your pocket… you’ve got to hold onto it and condition that funding,'” Faiz Shakir, a longtime Sanders adviser and executive director of More Perfect Union, told CNN. Money “can’t come in and go out immediately.”
The demands from the progressive flank of the president’s own party come as protests against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza increase in number and intensity, particularly on college campuses, where demonstrators have decried the position of “Genocide Joe.” But when it comes to the domestic politics of the situation, the president and his administration remain adamant.
This college rapid spread week Campus encampments to protest the war have increased pressure on the United States over its support for Israel. The temperature has risen on campus across the country as protests meet concern over anti-Semitic comments heard by Jewish students during some protests and clashes between demonstrators and police sent to disperse the encampments.
Columbia University, the epicenter of campus protests, has moved its classes to hybrid mode until the end of the semester as unrest reaches a fever pitch. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff spoke by telephone with two Jewish leaders on campus, a White House official said, to discuss the immediate need to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses.
Despite being just miles from Columbia and the most tense scenes of the protests, Biden will not visit campus as he holds events in the New York area on Friday. Aides never seriously considered a visit by the president to campus, recognizing that the security situation and political calculations presented too great a challenge.
President Mike Johnson, the top Republican who helped push the foreign aid package through the House of Representatives, used his visit Wednesday in part to demand that the Biden administration act to protect Jewish students . Johnson, speaking publicly during his visit, said he planned to call Biden after his visit and demand action, including a plan for possible mobilization of the National Guard.
“We need to get these campuses back in order. We cannot allow this to happen across the country,” Johnson said. “We are better than that.”
Biden, for months, has taken pro-Palestinian protests in stride — including at many of his public events — and his advisers say there are no plans to change course. A longtime politician, Biden understands that there will always be people who disagree with him, and that those people have the right to express their displeasure.
But one of those advisers acknowledged that the explicit threats aimed at Jewish students were particularly alarming.
“Protest the war as much as you want,” the adviser told CNN. “What you are not allowed to do is target Jewish students. »
Some senior advisers to the president — who are closely monitoring the growing unrest — argue that the protesters represent only a very small percentage of the student body and do not represent the views of the majority.
Recent survey conducted by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School would seem to support this view. While only 18% of voters aged 18 to 29 approved of Biden’s handling of the Middle East situation, this issue ranks at the bottom of the issues that matter most to them – with the economy being the majority at the top of the list. And the young voters surveyed sympathize in equal numbers with the Israeli and Palestinian people.
But the optics of the situation remain difficult for Biden, who this week signed into law an aid package providing $16 billion in additional military funding to Israel as protests raged. Although the White House has been dissatisfied with the way Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads war against Hamas and the volume of humanitarian aid to Gaza so far, it remains unclear whether this will have a material impact on Biden’s steadfast support for Israel thus far.
In February, Biden issued a note on national security stating that partners receiving military assistance from the United States must adhere to international humanitarian law. The White House must certify by May 8 whether Israel is in compliance. Although the administration intends to meet that deadline, officials have not reached a conclusion, CNN has learned.
In a phone call earlier this month, Biden told Netanyahu that the United States could be forced to modify its support if Israel did not take immediate steps to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. CNN reported.
If the United States concludes that Israel is obstructing aid and violating human rights laws, the White House could adopt a response that would slow military supplies, reduce monetary aid, or significantly increase military aid. public pressure exerted by the president on Netanyahu. No decisions have been made, officials said.
And while Sanders sought assurances from Biden about how he was approaching the situation, the president remained characteristically diplomatic, said Shakir, the Sanders adviser.
“The question for many progressives is: Is there accountability? He asked.
CNN’s Sam Fossum contributed to this report.
