Donald Trump has now named his son-in-law Jared Kushner as a senior adviser, notably on Middle East and Israel issues. Ten years ago, Kushner fired Philip Weiss from the New York Observer after Weiss started reporting on the Israeli occupation. Weiss reflects on his experience with Kushner and what it could mean for his upcoming White House role.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Netanyahu three or four times as often as to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to former State Dep’t aide David Makovsky
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gotten a “promise” from Donald Trump that he will be the second foreign leader invited to the White House, maybe early next month, says David Makovsky, who just returned to the U.S. from meetings with Netanyahu aides.
‘Netanyahu is moving us to extremes so we eventually go off a cliff into chaos’ Rep Lloyd Doggett of Texas said, in stressing Israel’s isolation in the world, and unsuccessfully opposing a Congressional resolution to attack the UN Security Council over settlements.
Senator Cory Booker and Democratic megadonor Haim Saban may have a marriage made in 2020: Both have slammed President Obama’s decision to allow a UN Security Council resolution against settlements. Booker calls it anti-Israel and joins 11 other Democrats in sponsoring a resolution hammering the UN vote, while Israeli-American Saban says it’s against the “national interest.”
Jews opposed the UN Resolution against settlements by 47-42 percent, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll. But other members of the Democratic Party coalition were for it by large margins, African Americans, Hispanics, and Religious nones. And Republicans are also against the resolution.
Norman Finkelstein says the UN resolution against settlements was very strong, making them a war crime, and Obama allowed it to pass, in a major shift from his previous stance, because he wanted a legacy on Israel/Palestine and wanted to turn the tables on Netanyahu. Now the question is what Palestinians will do to enforce the latest in a long line of historical documents damming the settlements.
Donald Trump is terrifying but there’s one big upside. Thanks to his extremism, a long-delayed reckoning is coming on Israel/Palestine. Boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) will take off as never before.
John Kerry’s closing act as secretary of state is a 72-minute speech devoted to a problem, Israeli settlements, that was removed from the Democratic Party platform just five months before. The bitter failure of the Obama administration to take on Netanyahu untill the last minute is proof of the power of the Israel lobby inside American liberalism. The Democratic Party will support justice in the Middle East only if it takes on the forces of intolerance in its own ranks. That means the Israel lobby. You can’t defeat an enemy if you can’t name it.
Israel’s vehement response to Resolution 2334 speaks volumes. It will not “exchange land for peace,” it will not help create a Palestinian state, it will not stop settlements, it will not end the occupation. And in 23 days it will get a new American administration that will sign off on the end of the idea of a Palestinian state.