Let’s talk about the elephant in the room of the 2024 US presidential election: Gaza.

There are, of course, overwhelming ethical reasons for President Biden to reconsider and reset his administration’s Israel-Palestine policy, not least an imminent and entirely preventable famine endangering the lives of over one million people. The International Court of Justice summarized the case against Israel in its landmark January 26 ruling, when it found it plausible that Israel’s actions in Gaza could amount to genocide, understood in accordance with the international Genocide Convention as actions intended “to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such.”

Such reasoning has thus far proved insufficient to sway President Biden, who, consistent with a position he has staked out throughout his entire political career, has insisted repeatedly that the United States must maintain its unqualified military and economic support for Israel. Where ethics and the law have failed, electorally focused movement politics is now beginning to alter the prevailing political calculus. This is evident in the decision of the United States to abstain in the March 25 UN Security Council vote demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, following three US vetoes of earlier cease-fire resolutions. However, it may be a case of too little, too late.