Democratic lawmakers harshly criticized Republicans who denied the 2020 presidential election results. Now some of them are linked to these same election deniers via AIPAC.
Iymen Chehade says that newly-elected Illinois Congresswoman Marie Newman promised him a job but backed out of a signed contract after he criticized her positions on Israel. Chehade has filed a breach of contract lawsuit and a national-origin discrimination claim against the congresswoman. Newman’s campaign dismissed the accusations as “fallacious.”
In the latest Mondoweiss podcast, Michael Arria interviews DNC delegate Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison about the outcome of the recent U.S. elections, and what it means for Palestinian-Americans’ engagement with the U.S. political system.
If there ever was a year in recent history that was truly unforgettable, 2020 is it. In Palestine, COVID-19 did not stop the occupation, and in many cases exacerbated the devastating effects of 53 years under Israeli military rule. On top of the pandemic, we witnessed major shifts in global politics with widespread regional normalization, and the defeat of US President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, global movements for justice like Black Lives Matter, and the fight for justice in Palestine continued to transcend borders, thrusting marginalized voices into the mainstream in ways that were once unimaginable.
An Israel lobby group associated with the Democratic Party allows rightwing Israeli Yossi Klein Halevi to tell US Jews to marshal opposition to Biden on the Iran deal. “Many Israelis still harbor deep resentment toward the American Jewish community for not opposing more vigorously the Iran deal in 2015… Will the Jewish community take an active role in trying to convey to Biden that returning to the 2015 deal even with cosmetic changes would be seen by Israelis as a betrayal?”
In a shot across Biden’s bow, former Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor warns the incoming president not to restore funding to Palestinian refugee agency and not to reverse Trump’s decisions to leave UNESCO and U.N. Human Rights Council.
Joe Biden will get out from Obama’s shadow by showing he can handle Netanyahu– whom the Democratic establishment hates– and using a foreign policy team loaded with putative Zionists, Biden will let Israel know the party’s over and it’s time to get rid of Netanyahu.
Israel has a hidden motive to kill Iranian nuclear scientist: to destroy any possibility of Joe Biden renewing the Iran deal, and “cripple” his ability to make policy. But you can’t say this inside the Beltway.
For Palestinians, Biden is better than Trump, no doubt. But is he good enough? What matters now is Palestinian internal unity and developing a sound strategy different from the one the Palestinian Authority has thus far embraced and which led to multiple failures and crises.