On Monday the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The U.S. didn’t veto it but don’t count on policy changes.
Roger Waters’s advocacy for Palestine shook the State Department briefing room, as a reporter questioned why a Biden aide has echoed the smear that Waters’s performance of “The Wall” is an example of Jew hatred, failing to see that it is in fact a denunciation of fascism akin to Charlie Chaplin’s portrayal of “the great dictator.”
State Dept spokesperson Ned Price is stepping down. He often struggled to show concern for Palestinians while making clear the U.S. would do nothing to hold Israel accountable. Here are a few of his highlights.
Yesterday in a shocking exchange at the State Department, the spokesman for Biden’s foreign policy team refused to describe Palestinians in Jenin and other areas of the West Bank as living under military occupation by Israel.
The U.S. State Department welcomed Israel’s statement on the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and Rep. Marie Newman and reporters Said Arikat and Matt Lee promptly rejected the American stance. “That’s not what accountability is, unless you guys have a different definition of it than the dictionary does,” Matt Lee mocked.
In response to an Israeli raid on Palestinian organizations, the Biden administration has finally said it doesn’t share the Israeli position that the organizations are “terrorist” groups, but it also won’t question or criticize Israeli actions.
The new Israeli government this week moved forward on plans to build 3000 more settlement units in the West Bank; and yesterday the State Department issued its strongest opposition to the plans since Joe Biden took office, calling the plans “unacceptable.” The State Department spokesperson said yesterday the U.S. “strongly” opposes the expansion of settlements.
As the death toll rises in Gaza, the Biden administration is blocking the release of a United Nations Security Council statement calling for a ceasefire.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price is asked whether Palestinians have a right to self-defense similar to Israel. You can guess the response.
The State Department briefing is turning into a forum for reporters who are impatient with the charade of a two-state solution. Said Arikat asks what the US is doing about his cousin Ahmed Erekat’s killing at an Israeli military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank last June, and the “torment” of his family because Israel won’t release Ahmed’s body.