Bill Clinton Justifies The Mass Killings Of Palestinians In Racist Michigan Speech
As Vice President Kamala Harris begins to make her closing arguments before the election, former President Bill Clinton decided to campaign for her by lecturing Muslim Arab American voters who oppose the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s ongoing attacks in Gaza ― going so far as to justify the massive number of Palestinian civilians killed by the military.
The 78-year-old Democrat made the stunning remarks Wednesday at a Harris campaign rally in Michigan, a crucial swing state that has one of the largest Palestinian and Arab American communities. Those communities, both in Michigan and other states, have repeatedly voiced their hesitation to vote for Harris due to her stance on Gaza policy, which is virtually unchanged from that of President Joe Biden.
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Clinton called that hesitation “a mistake.”
“I understand why young Palestinian and Arab Americans in Michigan think too many people have died, I get that,” Clinton said to the quiet crowd in Muskegon. “But if you lived in one of those kibbutzim in Israel, right next to Gaza, where the people there were the most pro-friendship with Palestine, most pro-two state solution of any of the Israeli communities … and Hamas butchered them.”
Clinton’s claim that Arab Americans “think too many people have died” is in reference to the more than 43,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel and killed 1,200 people while taking about 250 hostage. The Israeli military has also taken Palestinian civilians captive throughout its offensive, and medical experts estimate the Gaza death toll to be much higher than local officials can tally.
In response to critics pointing out the disproportionate casualties and collective punishment ― a violation of international law ― the former president said he’s “not keeping score” but that Israeli forces have to kill tens of thousands of Palestinians because they are allegedly human shields for Hamas.
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It should be noted that the Israeli military has recently been accused of using Palestinian civilians as human shields in their Gaza operations. International and U.S. law also warns against the indiscriminate killing of civilians, even if militants are allegedly embedded among them.
“What would you do if it was your family and you hadn’t done anything but support a homeland for the Palestinians? And one day they come for you and slaughter the people in your village?” Clinton said. However, this also describes what the Israeli military is currently doing to families in Gaza and the occupied West Bank ― some of whom are loved ones of the Palestinian Americans he directed his remarks to.
Clinton echoed sentiments voiced by right-wing Israelis ― such as equating all Palestinians with Hamas fighters ― that work to dehumanize occupied people so that large civilian casualties are more accepted in the public eye. The former president also argued that Israelis inhabited the land “before their faith existed,” referring to Islam ― a historically inaccurate claim framing Palestinians as just Muslims when they are, factually, a multifaith group largely descended from native Canaanites who have lived on the land for thousands of years.
“Bill Clinton’s racist and ahistorical remarks were meant to justify the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land. The Harris campaign is doing itself no favors attaching itself to that kind of hateful rhetoric,” a spokesperson for the Institute for Middle East Understanding told HuffPost.
The Harris campaign did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on Clinton’s remarks, including whether the candidate believes his comments will help her earn the votes of Muslim and Arab Americans. It’s unclear what the campaign was hoping to achieve with such a speech just days before the election, given Harris’ ongoing struggle to win the community’s trust in Michigan.
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“Rumor has it the Dems want to send Bill Clinton to Dearborn to rally the Arab vote this weekend,” Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud posted on X. “Do us a favor – stop sending surrogates who have no respect or regard for this community. You’re only inflicting more damage.”
The Biden-Harris administration has provided billions of dollars in weapons to Israel, which has used them to turn Gaza into a wasteland of rubble, sewage and corpses with hardly any health care or aid. The State Department has yet to take action on almost 500 reports it’s received claiming Israel used American weapons to cause excessive civilian harm in Gaza, according to The Washington Post on Wednesday.
Despite pro-Palestinian voters and organizations calling for Harris to support an arms embargo to Israel, she has maintained that the U.S. will continue its military and diplomatic support for the country accused at the international level of committing genocide.
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“Whether or not they end up losing Michigan, at this point Dems *deserve* to lose Michigan,” Mehdi Hasan, founder of media outlet Zeteo, posted on X. “Sheesh.”
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