Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has called US President Joe Biden “a very bad Palestinian” who doesn’t want to help Israel “finish the job” against Hamas in its war on Gaza. “He doesn’t want to do it. He’s become like a Palestinian – but they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one,” former president Trump said in the first presidential debate with Biden on Thursday in Atlanta, Georgia. It is pertinent to note that despite global criticism, the US has continued to supply weapons to Israel.
Meanwhile, Ayah Ziyadeh, director of American Muslims for Palestine, told Al Jazeera that the “bad Palestinian” comment “was very blatantly racist”. “Using Palestinian as a slur shows the depths of racism that exists here,” Ziyadeh said.
What happened during the debate?
While foreign policy and the Middle East were referenced numerous times during the debate, as pro-Palestinian protests were held near the venue, the suffering of Palestinians and the toll of Israel’s campaign in Gaza – which has killed more than 37,700 people since October – received little mention.
Neither Biden, who is under pressure from his Democratic base over his staunch support of ally Israel, nor Trump is “not fit to represent” Palestinian and Arab communities in the United States, Ziyadeh said.