As Joe Biden and Donald Trump slog to the finish line, it is accurate to say that, in this deeply polarized time, there are profound political differences between them. On the economy, on taxes, on climate change, on health care — it does the Left no good to blur the lines between even mainstream Democrats and their Republican opponents.

But the parties both operate from one bedrock bipartisan assumption: Israel must be backed at all costs, at the expense of the dignity and lives of occupied Palestinians. If Biden has pivoted leftward on certain domestic policies, including the possible embrace of greater stimulus spending, he has given no ground to progressives on the Middle East. For Israel hawks, his presidency will not represent a significant departure from the Trump administration’s incendiary approach.

The Democratic Party’s 2020 platform is a reflection of this. As Jewish Current’s Joshua Leifer noted, the word “occupation” does not appear in the platform, which states as “ironclad” the party’s commitment to Israel’s “right to defend itself” and expresses firm opposition to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.