The Shift: Blinken in Israel

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited Israel and things went exactly as one might expect. There were the usual public comments about the Biden administration’s ironclad support for the country, the standard denunciations of Palestine violence paired with tepid criticisms of Israeli state violence, and (of course) some references to the two-state solution. Blinken met with Netanyahu, Abbas, and some civil society leaders. No real surprises.

However, the context of the trip makes the same old song and dance seem a bit more ridiculous. The past week has been one of the deadliest we’ve seen in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. On January 26 the Israeli army killed ten Palestinians during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp, then a 21-year-old Palestinian killed six Israeli settlers and a Ukrainian national. Since then we’ve seen the Israeli government step up raids and arrests, while settlers have attacked Palestinians across the West Bank. In the villages of Aqraba and Majdel, Israelis destroyed the olive trees of Palestinian farmers. In Turmus Ayya settlers threw stones at Palestinians, pepper sprayed them, and spray painted slogans like “Death to the Arabs” on homes.

The American Friends Service Committee’s Jehad Abusalim had an essential and sobering thread on the escalating situation. “It is crucial for everyone to understand the gravity of the current situation between the river and the sea,” he writes. “We are on the brink of witnessing events that will be unparalleled in their magnitude and ferocity. This chapter will mark the end of the post-Second Intifada period characterized by the cynical management of the occupation, disregard for Palestinians’ political rights and lives, and lack of accountability for Israel’s actions.”

“However, what is about to occur is not entirely new in nature, but rather an expansion in the scope of confrontation, the use of more aggressive tactics, and increased involvement of Palestinians, particularly the youth, against the Israeli state and settlers.”

The Secretary of State’s trip is completely disconnected from this reality. After their meeting, Blinken and Netanyahu held a press conference. “Throughout the relationship between our countries, what we come back to time and again is that it is rooted both in shared interests and in shared values,” Blinken told reporters. “That includes our support for core democratic principles and institutions, including respect for human rights, the equal administration of justice for all, the equal rights of minority groups, the rule of law, free press, a robust civil society – and the vibrancy of Israel’s civil society has been on full display of late.”

This is an incredible statement when you contemplate what’s been on display from Israel lately. A scandal-ridden leader is back in power, the most right-government in the history of the country is controlling things, and protesters are taking to the streets over draconian government reforms. 144 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in 2022, the highest number in nearly twenty years. Houses are being demolished in Masafer Yatta. Respecting robust civil societies? Israel has raided the offices of Palestinian human rights groups and they’ve moved to criminalize the important work they do. A free press? A prominent Palestinian journalist was killed by an IDF soldier last year. The government initially denied responsibility before launching an “investigation” that concluded the whole thing was a tragic accident and no one could technically be blamed. Israeli officials have already declared that they won’t cooperate with the FBI’s probe into the incident.

To the surprise of no one, the recent violence is already being used as a pretext for further horrors. Netanyahu says he will “strengthen” settlements. What’s the climate back in Washington? Politicians on both sides of the aisle put out statements on the Israelis who were killed, but there’s virtually no mention of the murdered Palestinians or the aforementioned rampages. During a briefing last week State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel refused to even publicly admit that the West Bank is illegally occupied. “There is no pressure on Israel to change its practices,” Palestinian official Ghassan Daghlas told Mondoweiss’s Mariam Barghouti recently. Again it’s the same old story. Some Democratic hand-wringing about the new Israeli leadership means absolutely nothing.

Gillibrand Interview

Last week the Times of Israel conducted an absolutely bananas interview with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). I haven’t seen much coverage of this, so I’m going to break it down a little.

Gillibrand is part of the Abraham Accords Caucus and was recently part of a bipartisan delegation that visited the participating countries. First, Gillibrand (who has often framed herself as some sort of progressive voice in congress) was asked whether settlement expansion in the West Bank should hold up the Trump-era agreements. Her answer was a firm no.

“I think you can have these negotiations about the Abraham Accords regardless of any local political issue,” she said. Ok, so Israel can steal as much Palestinian land as it wants and demolish the homes of longtime residents and that shouldn’t impair its normalization efforts with nearby countries.

Does she care that settlements are expanding? Her response to this also feels like a no: “I think Prime Minister Netanyahu has a strong hold on his government.” There used to be a time when Democrats would at least put up the facade of opposing the illegal confiscation of land on the area while doing nothing to stop it. Maybe they’ve begun skipping a step.

Is there a way to entice Abraham Accords countries to invest in Palestine? Yes, says Gillibrand. Here’s the trick: give those countries weapons of war. Those authoritarian governments will surely fund Palestinian humanitarian projects “in exchange for F-35s and other technology that they are desperate for that helps them create a regional missile defense.” This is like an Onion story.

You’ll recall that Trump was in talks to sell the UAE  50 F-35 fighter jets, but the Biden administration scrutinized that deal and it remains in limbo. There’s not a lot of differences between Biden and Trump when it comes to policy in this region, but this small improvement was seemingly a bridge too far for Gillibrand. The deplorable human rights record of Saudi Arabia has also got attention from many congressional Democrats, but Gillibrand is fine giving the country more weapons to use against Yemen. Her big sticking point on any such deal? It’s not brutally murdering journalists if that was your guess. It’s that any technology the U.S. shares doesn’t end up being given to China. Again, this feels like satire.

Gillibrand is a good symbol of something deeper. The Trump administration worked out a bunch of massive arms deals and called them “peace agreements.” The Palestinians were purposely cut out of the process. There’s no political movement to reverse any of these terrifying moves because most Democrats agree with the Trump policy.

Odds & Ends

???????? I mentioned that the State Department refused to acknowledge that the West Bank is occupied earlier. The next day they refused to admit that Israel has nuclear weapons.

????️ James North writes about an awful report in the NYT from Patrick Kingsley.

???? The Boston Globe spoke with 15 students and scholars about the Palestine exception on free speech.

???????? NPR and J Street refuse to call Neve Yaakov a settlement in occupied East Jerusalem

???? A graduate student at NYU is being investigated for vandalism for writing the f-word over “Israel” on a discarded mail services bag.

???? Jewish Currents Alex Kane interviews Palestine Legal advocacy manager Lina Assi on the Department of Education’s decision refrain from embracing the controversial IHRA working definition of antisemitism.

???? This is the ENTIRE rundown of Blinken’s recent meeting with Palestinian civil society organizations:

Blinken: So wonderful to be here. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality today and thank you to each of you for joining us today. One of the things that we set out to do with this administration is to renew and strengthen our ties with the Palestinian people. And part of that is our engagement not just at the government level, but with you, with – broadly speaking, with members of civil society, but in particular, for example, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, people who are helping to generate opportunity and a future for everyone.
So I was very eager to hear – get a chance to hear from you about what you’re doing, but also some of the challenges that you’re facing, and maybe how we can help as we’re moving forward. So thank you so much for being here today.

Participant: Thank you.

Blinken: Greatly appreciate it.

???????? The ADL (which fancies itself as a civil rights organization) has launched a propaganda war against Norway for embracing the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) movement.

???????? Those JewBelong billboards in Berkeley were tagged with graffiti again and edited to say that “anti-Zionism is anti-racism.” Jewish Voice for Peace tweeted about the incident: “As anti-Zionist Jews, we applaud the people who corrected these billboards. Like them, we refuse to let JewBelong speak for us and try to scare us into abandoning our solidarity with Palestinians. We’re proud of our anti-Zionism and our rich, dynamic Jewish culture and history. We stand with Berkeley students and everyone around the world fighting for a free Palestine.”

Stay safe out there,

Michael