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The screenshot of a Trump supporter holding an Israeli flag during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2020. From Laleh Khalili's Twitter feed.

Racist Capitol Hill rioters brandished Israeli flags for a reason, because they admire Jewish supremacy as a guiding principle in that country. Democratic Party supporters of “Jewish democracy” who call for diversity in U.S. politics are living a contradiction that gets more glaring by the minute.

Palestinians gather as Israeli forces demolish the house of Rasmi Abu Aram in Khirber Ar-Rakeez and the house of Hatem Makhamra in Khirbet at-Tuwani, November 25, 2020. (Photo: Mosab Shawer/APA Images)

Yumna Patel interviews Rasmi Abu Aram, the father of Harun Abu Aram who was shot by Israeli forces on New Year’s Day as he attempted to protect a neighbor’s house from demolition. “My son Harun is so young, he’s only 24. He had his whole life ahead of him, and now he might die because the soldiers had nothing better to do than shoot him over a generator,” Abu Aram tells Mondoweiss.

Israel’s shooting of a 24-year-old Palestinian who was trying to hold on to a generator used in construction in occupied territories has been viewed globally. It increases pressure on Americans to shut off the spigot of aid. One thing will stop Israel from ethnic cleansing of West Bank that requires shooting Palestinians: US pressure. But US press and liberal Zionists come up short.

Palestinian children, clad in masks and face-shields due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, play inside their kindergarten, in Gaza City on November 23, 2020. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour/APA Images)

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.

Liberal Zionists’ moral problem is that they are so wed to “the right of the Jewish people to a state” they seek to discredit any real program to pressure Israel for Palestinian rights. Liberal Zionists could maintain this contradiction when fighting Trump seemed more important to Americans than fighting rightwing Israel; but they have now lost this figleaf, and there is an urgent need for real action, not lip service, on Palestinian rightslessness.