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.

Last week the State Department refused to admit that Israel is occupying the West Bank or that the country has nuclear weapons.

Speaking from Jerusalem following a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reiterated calls for a two-state solution and promoting the normalization of relations with Israel across the Middle East. Palestinians say the visit shows the United States remains biased towards Israel.

“When the U.S. draws an equivalence between the butcher and the butchered, then it is necessarily on the side of the butcher,” Ubai Aboudi, Executive Director at Bisan Center for Research and Development, tells Mondoweiss.

A group called “JewBelong” just launched eight billboards across Berkeley. “You don’t need to go to law school to know anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” they declare, an obvious reference to Berkeley Law School where Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine developed a bylaw calling on other campus groups to to refrain from inviting Zionists speakers. Meanwhile, some of the Berkeley Law students who belong to groups that endorsed the bylaw are now being harassed by another pro-Israel group who sent mobile billboards to be parked outside their homes calling them antisemitic.

Despite pressure from pro-Israel groups, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has not embraced the controversial IHRA working definition of antisemitism.

The Biden administration has pressed forward with the military aspects of the Abraham Accords’ vision, letting it be known at the end of 2022 that Israel, as part of its new position in CENTCOM, had been elevated to “full military partner” in terms of strategizing and planning with the United States.

The move sets a dangerous precedent, which if it results in an official alliance, runs the risk of an American commitment to Israel’s defense that could easily drag the U.S. into more fighting in the Middle East, even if that’s not Washington’s intention. And it would mean that commitment happens without any kind of public debate. 

Israel is facing mass protests over the authoritarian government’s plans to override supreme court rulings so as to exonerate Netanyahu from corruption charges. But U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides praises Netanyahu as a sober leader, and he appeared to side with the government over any protesters this week, stating repeatedly that the government has a mandate from the public. He even characterized Israel’s move against the supreme court as “judicial reform.”

The U.S. Supreme Court determined that WhatsApp could proceed with its lawsuit against the Israeli spyware company NSO Group Technologies over its Pegasus hacking technology.

Last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that the Biden administration would judge incoming Israeli leaders on their actions. So far it has remained silent as the new Israeli leaders have taken proactive actions in Jerusalem, and Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians in the first week of 2023.