It’s O.K. in the Democratic Party to critique white supremacy in the U.S. but dare to bring up Jewish supremacy in Israel and cite apartheid reports and you will get railroaded as a supposed antisemite. Aided by megadonor Haim Saban, the Israel lobby group AIPAC has raised nearly $16 million in three months to take on Democratic candidates who might “undermine” the relationship with Israel.
It’s clear that the Biden administration isn’t going to roll back a lot of Trump era policies in Israel/Palestine.
“$600 for you, $500,000,000 to Israel.” When the COVID-19 relief bill in the Congress began circulating many commentators, including in the mainstream, have jumped on the fact that the massive legislation is bundled alongside other appropriations that include $500 million in military aid to Israel.
Mike Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about US foreign policymaking, when Russia and Israel sought to interfere. Press accounts of his pardon only mention the Russian interference. Though Israel has had far more influence over US policymaking.
The deals with the UAE and Bahrain show Israel’s economic power and favor in Washington–and expose its persecution of Palestinians in the name of “the one and only Jewish state,” as Netanyahu describes his country.
Guccifer 2.0, the Russian account said to have hacked Democratic emails in 2016, was registered with an Israeli phone number, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence reported last month, just one of many instances that Israelis appeared to help Russia interfere in U.S. election. But the new cold war is with Russia, so US media ignore the Israeli connection.
The UAE deal with Israel under which it gets F-35s from the US may set off bids from other Arab countries for U.S. favor. “Each one has their own pet project, what they would get for normalizing,” says Nimrod Novik. Morocco wants its occupation of Western Sahara accepted. Sudan wants off the U.S. terror list.
The first commercial Israeli flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi took off Monday morning, signifying the latest step in Israeli-UAE normalization efforts. Jared Kushner said the flight meant, “peace and prosperity are possible in this region,” but for Palestinians, it signified the opposite. Instead, it serves as a reminder of the “betrayal” of their cause by the UAE, and their painful history since the Nakba.
The Israel-UAE deal stems from the colossal failure of Trump-Netanyahu’s “Peace plan.” They could not get annexation off the ground. Annexation actually brought on the possibility of sanctions from Europe, and global isolation, and Israel found an exit ramp from the failed plan by dragging a quiet Arab partner into the light, Sam Bahour says.
The Israel-UAE deal is an exchange of veils. Israel’s Apartheid is veiled again, in return for the veil on UAE Israeli cooperation being removed. And the UAE sells out its commitment to Palestinian freedom.