Calls for ceasefire explode globally

In a letter addressed to Biden, several youth organizations issued a stark warning that his administration’s stance is risking millions of young voters not voting or voting third party on election day.

Signers of the letter include heads of groups like March for Our Lives, the student-led gun violence prevention group; United We Dream, which describes itself as the largest immigrant youth-led network in the U.S.; Gen Z for a Change, which was started by online influencers as a TikTok campaign for Biden; and the Sunrise Movement, the activist youth climate organization.

“We mobilized the record youth turnout in 2020 that pushed your ticket over the finish line …We have been preparing to mobilize the youth vote again as you face your re-election. We are experts in youth voting behavior who have worked tirelessly across the years to generate Generation Z and Millennial enthusiasm for civic action under a variety of circumstances,” the letter, first shared with NBC, stated.

“There is no way for a Democratic presidential nominee to win without significant youth voter enthusiasm and mobilization. Young people are a cornerstone of a winning Democratic coalition, and the vast majority of young people in this country are rightfully horrified by the atrocities committed with our tax dollars, with your support, and our nation’s military backing.”

Over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliation against Hamas so far, over 4,000 of whom were children. An additional 3,000 of the total were women and the elderly. According to a recent poll from Data for Progress, 66 percent of Americans support a ceasefire across party lines in order to prevent civilian deaths in Gaza. Despite this, the White House has not yet used the term, instead calling for "humanitarian pauses."

The groups are urging Biden to explicitly call a ceasefire, and said that not doing so will be a moral and political disaster.

“We did not spend hours upon hours knocking doors and making calls to turn out the vote so that you could support indiscriminate slaughter of civilians and violations of international law,” the letter continued. “Your legacy hangs in the balance.”