The incoming Biden administration has found the one Trump policy it wants to continue — normalization deals with Israel.
Netanyahu knows that expanding settlements “early” in the Biden administration is “red flag” so he’ll hold off to avoid a “confrontation,” says David Harris of the American Jewish Committee. But he would not avoid that confrontation if Biden has any thought of returning to the Iran deal, predicts the Israel lobbyist.
Many Palestinians living under occupation are outraged by the the recent normalization deals between Israel and Arab nations, but are finding very little direction from their leaders on how to fight this latest affront to their freedom struggle.
Trump’s normalization deals have fundamentally altered the political landscape. But Palestinians and their allies can still use grassroots power to strategically counter this new reality.
Angry that foreign policy isn’t in the last debate, Donald Trump believes his record, including Israel normalization deals and breaking the Iran deal, are a political asset. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris appear to agree, avoiding the topic entirely.
Nearly 70 percent of Palestinians say US policy will be the same or worse under a President Biden, and just 21 percent think he will improve matters. A new survey shows widespread rejection of Israel’s normalization deals, 90 percent calling the Gulf States’ recognition “betrayal,” “abandonment,” “insult” or “sadness,” while only 1 percent used words like “joy.”
Even as UAE clamps down on a poet, its ambassador celebrates tyranny to pro-Israel group. Yousef Al Otaiba: “People always think we don’t pay attention to public opinion inside the Emirates because we are not a democracy, and it’s actually quite the opposite. Because we’re not a democracy we have to be very in tune with what our people want and what the Street feel.”
Want to know why Joe Biden won’t say a critical word about Israel? Haim Saban, who just raised $4.5 million for Biden, repeatedly praised the “Jared [Kushner] plan” for peace in the Middle East today for being “outside the box.” Saban was at White House for the UAE/Israel/Bahrain deal announcement Sept. 15.
Donald Trump is pushing Israel as a wedge issue with Democrats, and it seems to be working slightly, with Trump’s Jewish support up to 30 percent. But Haim Saban is all-in for Biden, and some Democratic congresspeople in swing districts are running to Trump’s right on Israel.
The international community forgets the Palestinians: The Trump peace plan left out that there was an illegal Israeli occupation, and the UAE/Bahrain normalization agreement leaves it an Israeli domestic issue.