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Rights groups and social media frequenters react to US President Joe Biden’s decision to cancel his re-election bid, saying he will be remembered by how he facilitated the Israeli regime’s ongoing war of genocide against Palestinians.

The reactions began pouring in on Monday, immediately after Biden announced in a letter on social media that he was stepping aside as a candidate for the 2024 presidential election.

The decision came following a disastrous performance at a debate also featuring arch-rival Donald Trump that raised questions concerning Biden’s capability to run another term.

Commenting on the decision, however, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action (USCPR), a rights group, said, “It was not Biden’s failed debate that showed he is unfit to lead. It was the tens of thousands of bombs he sent to kill Palestinian families.”

Biden had “repeatedly funded, armed, and backed Israel’s mass slaughter of the Palestinian people,” the USCPR said, adding, “Nothing will erase the fact that” Biden’s “legacy is – and always will be – GENOCIDE.”

Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of Drop Site, an independent news website, and a former journalist at The Intercept, an online American news organization, chimed in.

“When I read the lionizing of Biden, emphasizing his decency and heroism, all I can think of is that little girl in Gaza whose jaw was blown off and all the other Palestinian children who were dismembered, burned alive, murdered with US weapons in a war Joe Biden facilitated,” he wrote on X.

The group was referring to the United States’ sustaining and even invigorating its already unfaltering arms support for the Israeli regime during the war, which has so far killed nearly 39,000 people and wounded some 90,000 others.

Owen Jones, author and activist, likewise underlined that Biden had the blood of tens of thousands of Palestinians on his hand, calling him “A monster, who belongs in jail.”

“Israel would never have been able to raze Gaza to the ground without him,” Jones noted, adding, “…if hell exists, that man would have a first class ticket there.”

Human rights campaigner Sophie McNeill echoed the criticism, saying, “The next Democratic nominee must end their support for this criminal war.”

Bengaluru: The opposition BJP in Karnataka on Thursday (July 18) warned the Congress government in the state to be prepared for the wrath of the people if it fails to table the bill that mandates reservations for Kannadigas in the private sector in the ongoing Legislative session.

The party slammed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for taking an U-turn on the Karnataka State Employment of Local Candidates in the Industries, Factories and Other Establishments Bill, 2024, which was cleared in the Cabinet meeting on Monday and put on hold late Wednesday night after uproar by the industry.

Clarifying on the decision to hold back the bill, Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday that the draft bill intended to provide reservations for Kannadigas in private sector companies, industries, and enterprises is still in the preparation stage.

A comprehensive discussion will be held in the next Cabinet meeting to make a final decision, he said.

BJP state president B Y Vijayendra in a post on 'X' asked, "Why did you bring the bill to give employment to the kannadigas? Why did you hold it back? Why mess with the lives of Kannadigas? Do you need Kannadigas to insult?" "Let the government present the job reservation bill for Kannadigas, which has given hope to lakhs of unemployed people in rural areas who were deprived of job opportunities despite their qualifications, in the current session, or else be ready to face the anger of Kannadigas," the Shikaripura MLA said.

Vijayendra condemned the 'cowardly decision' of putting the bill on hold which 'insulted Kannada-Kannadiga-Karnataka'. The bill aims to provide employment to Kannadigas.

The BJP leader sought to know why the government, which had moved forward to address the demand of the pro-Kannada fighters, after many years of struggle to protect the employment rights of the children of this land, gave up within a day.

It seems that the lobby of the anti-Karnataka forces, which suppress the self-respect of the country, the self-esteem of the Kannadigas, has prevailed over the chief minister, forcing him to take a 'U-turn' three times within a day, Vijayendra alleged.

"Fearing the split in the INDI Alliance, Delhi's big 'hand' must have tied the hands of the chief minister, otherwise how can he take an escapist decision to sideline the bill that will improve the lives of Kannadigas?" the BJP state president said.

The people of the state will never forgive the Congress leaders if the Congress government and the chief minister held back the 'pro-Kannada bill' in an attempt to divert public attention and also mislead the investigation into the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation (KMVSTDC) and Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scams that have rocked the state, he said.

With continuing landslides in coastal and malnad areas of Karnataka, a Maruti van got stuck under the soil, near Doddatappale village, on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru national highway, in Sakleshpur taluk, on Thursday morning.

The two passengers in the car managed to escape but with minor injuries.

A landslide occurred at the same place on Wednesday, affecting vehicular movement for a while. However, the soil was removed and the route cleared for traffic.

On Thursday morning, around 100-ft tall hillock collapsed. Hence, traffic has been suspended on the national highway. Vehicles are stopped at Kandali on the outskirts of Hassan and not allowed to ply after Sakleshpur as a precautionary measure.

Vehicles are also stranded from Maranahalli to Donigal. Highway authority personnel and taluk administration officials are on the spot and measures are being taken to clear the route.

A pregnant woman was injured when the wall of the house collapsed at Kudigarahalli in Sakleshpur taluk. She has been admitted to the district hospital in Hassan.

A KSRTC bus fell into the roadside ditch near Maniganahalli in Alur taluk, as the driver lost control of the vehicle due to rain. The passengers in the bus suffered minor injuries.