The United States bears a responsibility to rein in Israeli violence against Palestinians. The only real question is whether the Biden administration will use the leverage it has.
As communities across Palestine face the worst settler attacks in years, there has been a spate of pro-Israel letters and bills back in Washington, DC.
The Biden administration is concerned about Israel’s far-right government only as much as it impedes U.S. foreign policy. When it comes to the Palestinians, the U.S. simply doesn’t care.
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. However, the context of the trip makes the same old song and dance seem a bit more ridiculous.
The effort to maintain the illusion that the Abraham Accords are anything other than a military and trade agreement between an apartheid state and brutal dictatorships is facing serious obstacles. Nowhere has this been more evident than in Qatar, during the World Cup.
Mainstream voices say the Trump-Biden policy of normalizing relations between Israel and Arab monarchies so as to crush Palestinian hopes is working. “If you talk to the UAE leaders or Saudi Arabia leaders or even Egyptian leaders, they don’t want to hear now about the Palestinian issue, they don’t want to stick their fingers into this mess. Let Israel deal with it,” says Ehud Yaari an advocate for Israel at the Washington Institute.
Palestinian Americans respond with dismay to President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as his embrace of the failed policies of the past. “Through many meetings with our American administration officials we have come to the conclusion that President Biden’s policies regarding Palestinian issues resemble the destructive policies of Trump,” writes Terry Ahwal.
“Israel’s lawyer” Dennis Ross says the invasion of Ukraine has a sharp lesson for the Biden Administration – the U.S. must build a Middle East coalition to counter Russia and its regional partner, Iran.
Days before Israel announced that it is going ahead with 4,000 new settlement units, U.S. ambassador Thomas Nides — who was reportedly briefed on the plans — says “I really respect this government… they really want to do the right thing,” and he is “thrilled to work with them.” And Joe Biden is a Zionist, and so is Nides: ‘Everything I do is about strengthening a democratic Jewish state’ As for Palestinians– they should “believe in their heart that there’s still an opportunity for a two-state solution.”
We need Congress to embrace policies that uphold the basic rights of all people. Every progressive should join Rep. Jamaal Bowman in voting “no” on the Israel Relations Normalization Act.