The NAACP on Thursday called on President Joe Biden to halt all arms supplies to Israel “indefinitely” and pressure U.S. allies to end the war in the Gaza Strip, a reminder that Biden’s support for Israel could hurt him among black voters in the November election.
The NAACP’s call marks a rare stand by an influential civil rights group on U.S. foreign policy toward countries with small black populations, and is likely to deepen an election-year challenge for the Democratic president as he seeks to support key allies abroad and assuage unrest among his supporters at home.
The 115-year-old civil rights group said Israel has the right to defend itself after an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants left some 1,200 people dead and more than 250 taken hostage.
The NAACP called on Hamas to return the hostages and “cease all terrorist activities” and for Israel to “implement an offensive strategy consistent with international and humanitarian law.” Israel faces accusations at the International Court of Justice that it violated the Genocide Convention, charges it denies.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which has advocated for racial justice and rights for black Americans, said the United States should use its influence with Israel to bring about a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Health officials in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip say Israel’s military action has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, sparked widespread famine and forced most of the population from their homes.
“The NAACP calls on President Biden to draw a red line and indefinitely halt all weapons and artillery shipments to the State of Israel and other countries that supply arms to Hamas and other terrorist organizations. An immediate end to the violence that has claimed so many civilian lives is urgently needed,” the organization said in a statement first provided to Reuters.
The NAACP’s stance is the latest warning sign that Biden’s strong support for Israel may come at a cost among black voters at the Nov. 5 polls.
Black voters have long been a staunch Democratic base and played a key role in Biden’s victory over Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, against whom he will face off again this year. But polls show a lack of enthusiasm for Biden among black voters.
Earlier this year, a group of more than 1,000 Black pastors called on President Biden to secure a ceasefire in the crisis.
A March poll by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found that 59 percent of black Americans believe U.S. military aid to Israel should be used only for self-defense and in accordance with human rights standards.
Biden’s re-election campaign is less concerned about black voters flocking to Trump than that many of them may not turn out due to a lack of enthusiasm, a campaign official told Reuters.
Amid growing domestic pressure and international outrage, President Biden last month suspended shipments of the bombs to avoid them being used by Israel in attacks on the Gaza city of Rafah. But the suspension was limited and the United States remains Israel’s largest supplier of military aid.
Biden said Friday that Israel had offered a new ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of the hostages. He urged Hamas to agree to the new proposal, saying it was the best way to end the conflict. “Now is the time to end this war and begin the next one,” Biden said.
NAACP Leaders Plea for Moral Leadership
In an interview with Reuters, Derrick Johnson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the civilian deaths required the United States to show moral leadership and stop arms sales to Israel, which says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties and accuses Hamas of hiding its fighters and headquarters among civilians.
Johnson said one of the reasons the NAACP decided to speak out was because young black Americans were horrified by images of dead Palestinian civilians on their smartphones.
“It raises a lot of questions about why our tax dollars are being used to harm civilians,” Johnson said.
A May Reuters/Ipsos poll found Democrats are deeply divided over how Biden should handle the Gaza war and the protests against it at campuses across the country.
About 44% of Democratic voters said they were dissatisfied with Biden’s handling of the crisis, and those who said they were dissatisfied were less likely to say they would vote for him.
The conflict has also fueled anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and xenophobia in the United States, and Johnson said those sentiments would continue to grow as the fighting continues. Human rights groups have reported a global rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bigotry and anti-Semitism since October 7.
Johnson said the NAACP does not believe Biden’s support for Israel is the cause of this trend, but would like to see the U.S. more strongly promote peace by reserving its weapons.
“We believe it is the responsibility of this country to de-escalate what we are seeing and chart a path towards a peaceful resolution,” Johnson said.
