UPDATE: I just published my first piece at TRT World on the unholy alliance between Israeli and Indian religious extremists and their US lobbies. Please read.
Pres. Biden announced two hours ago that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a “mutual, unconditional ceasefire” whose goal is to end the two weeks of slaughter in Gaza. Through the mediation of Egypt with Hamas, and the pressure of the US on Israel, the dying will stop (for now). Lest anyone breathe a sign of relief or see this as something worth celebrating–it isn’t. Though the Israeli shells will no longer kill babies in their cribs, nothing has changed fundamentally. Nothing has been resolved. The issues that existed before this mess exist after as well.
As I’ve written here, this was a war of vanity for Bibi Netanyahu. A war designed to save his political career. And it has accomplished its purpose, as the potential rival government that would have thrown him out of power failed to materialize as soon as the firing began. With a key figure, Naftali Bennett, announcing during the fighting that he had given up on forming an alternative government with the center-right leader, Yair Lapid, the Israeli leader has staunched the flow of support that was leaching away from him.
There is much to criticize in the US approach to the conflict. Pres. Biden acted true-to pro-Israel-form throughout, except for the past 36 hours or so. He defended Israel to the hilt. He showed no understanding or sympathy for the Palestinians. Even his statement today showed an amazing obtuseness:
“My administration will continue our quiet relentless diplomacy toward that end. I believe we have a genuine opportunity to make progress and I’m committed to working for it,” he added.
The emphasis here is on “quiet.” Quiet gets nothing done when it comes to Israel. Loud works, Shouting is even better. The only thing quiet has secured in this case is a temporary end to the killing. Quiet will not make progress in any substantial way, since Israel’s rejectionist positions are deeply entrenched and immovable. Nor does Biden really intend to invest the sort of political capital necessary to push that immovable object.
Biden…reaffirmed that the U.S. would work with the United Nations and others to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza and help the territory rebuild.
“We will do this in full partnership with the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, in a manner that does not permit Hamas to simply restock its military arsenal,” Biden added.
The people of Gaza need much more than ‘humanitarian assistance’ or aid to rebuild the thousands of homes Israel destroyed. Not to mention that during past wars similar promises were almost never honored. Much of the reason is that Israel refused to permit the aid to enter Gaza. It certainly will do the same this time. And it’s doubtful Biden will have the guts or desire to force the issue. So Gaza goes back to being the same basket case it has been since at least 2006, when the illegal Israeli siege began.
Even if Biden followed through and Israel permitted reconstruction, it would destroy everything we built during the next war. During war, Israel methodically destroys all buildings in Gaza constructed with foreign aid funds from the EU, Qatar, etc. And of course it will do the same again, as it does every time. Unless of course Biden makes clear that whatever we rebuilt is inviolable during warfare. But again, it will require the sort of steadfastness no president maintains in the face of Israeli obduracy.
US Policy Reduces Palestine to an Economic, Instead of a Political Issue
An added problem with Biden’s perspective is that it reduces the issue of Gaza to an economic and humanitarian one: rebuild it and you’ve fixed the problem and done a good deed, permitting yourself to assuage your guilty conscience. When in truth the problem is Gaza is political. The only way to fix what’s wrong in Gaza is by ending the Israeli siege and normalizing life there.
Passages such as this expose the cluelessness of US policy toward Gaza and Hamas:
….The Biden administration is now turning to how it can help rebuild the besieged Gaza Strip — and in turn bring pressure, through promises of financial support, on Hamas not to resume fighting.
No, you cannot buy off Hamas with financial aid. Hamas wants political power. It wants to do what it was elected to do by its people: to rule Gaza. It does not want to become what the PA has become: a sinecure for corrupt octogenarians. Further, the idea that you can stop Hamas from resisting Israeli apartheid with a few billion dollars is not only foolish, it is insulting to Palestinians. You can’t buy your way out of this.
And once again liberal Zionist media like the NY Times publish ill-informed wishful thinking from unnamed “experts” and “officials” about what Gazans believe about Hamas, of course without offering any evidence to support the claim:
Officials and experts said it was also a point of leverage with Hamas, the militant group that governs the Gaza Strip but has lost popularity among residents who criticize its authoritarian approach and poor administration.
The irony here of course is that Israel’s siege has prevented democratic elections, which might have permitted any opposition, if there was indeed any, to Hamas to coalesce. So it’s a bitter irony for these anonymous figures to claim Hamas is unpopular, and that it will have to moderate itself in order to regain popularity and reap US financial rewards. This is little more than fantasy.
But not surprising given who the reporter quotes in the next paragraph:
“In a sense, you need to put Hamas in a position where they have to choose between their rockets and the well-being of Gaza,” said Dennis B. Ross
Ah yes, that Palestine expert, Dennis Ross, here to teach us all a lesson on how to “handle” Hamas and Palestinians. Because he did it so well under the four presidents he boasts of having served, none of whom ultimately solved the conflict.
More ‘wisdom’ from Ross:
…The offer for broader reconstruction assistance should be made publicly to assure donors of consequences if Hamas resumes its rocket program. He predicted Hamas would, at least in the beginning, agree to some sort of arrangement. “Right now, the needs are so profound that they [Hamas] will go along with something,” Mr. Ross said.
I’ve got news for Ross, if you give Hamas a choice between being fat and happy, and leading the resistance to Israeli aggression, they’ll choose the latter every time. And Hamas will not disarm, not for all the gold in Fort Knox.
One final note about the speciousness of this piece is that not a single Palestinian source is quoted, nor a single progressive source offering a less pro-Israel point of view.
Another clueless aspect of US policy is putting all our eggs in the PA basket. First, the US has had no contact with the PA for four years. During that time, the Palestinians gave up on us. All of a sudden now we’re full partners? Second, the PA doesn’t run Palestine. It barely runs the West Bank and has no authority in Gaza. So how will the US have any impact there, when we refuse to recognize the elected leaders of Gaza? This sort of policy is a dead-end. And we’ve been facing that dead-end for years despite calls for a more realistic, pragmatic approach by academics, journalists and intelligence officials.
I don’t want this post to be an entirely bleak one. There are hopeful signs amidst the tragedy. The only reason Biden changed his tune and forced the issue with Netanyahu is the pressure brought by progressive House and Senate members. Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Debby Dingell, each with major Arab-American constituencies met Biden at the airport in Detroit and had a tough conversation in which they made known their displeasure. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex introduced a resolution opposing an $800-million sale of precision missiles to Israel. Today, Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a Senate version of the same measure.
Thousands of employees of Google and Apple wrote letters to their respective CEOs demanding that they support Palestinians in this struggle. These are not normal subjects for tech employees to weigh in on in such a public fashion. Gaza was becoming a huge domestic issue in a similar way that George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement became inescapable political issues. It threatened to hijack the president’s entire agenda in foreign and domestic policy.
Another change in this conflict compared to past ones, never again will Israel get a rubber stamp giving it carte blanche to act as it sees fit. In future, Americans will be looking over Israel’s shoulder and if they don’t like what they see, they will let their president know. He will ignore them at his peril.
That does not mean the power of the Israel Lobby is broken. But it does mean that it has been diminished. And the trajectory is downhill given Israel’s increasingly extremist direction which is so out of touch with American sentiment.
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A forceful commentary. Thanks. Not only do we help Israel commit these crimes in the name of Mr defense but we help pay for the material damage to keep this going until the next.The lost, 20 times that of Israelis, Biden is sorry equally for both. If suffering can be quantified by sheer numbers, we should express that, Mr. Biden. You are a decent man.
Swallow quiet diplomacy…rounding up the usual head butters.
Bravo for Sanders.
It’s more than progressives now on the case. Israel seems to be losing more with every very costly lawn mowing. This is really sad.
The people of Gaza are the big losers in this latest exchange.
Qatar is going to be reticent about providing more aid, and Israel is going to be very slow to allow funds and supplies into Gaza.
Israel had been quite liberal in allowing Qatar money in to rebuild and maintain Gaza, but Israel is not a ‘freyer’, and ordinary Gazans will pay the price.
The State of Israel has withstood another assault, to the sad dismay of her enemies who prayed for her collapse.
BTW, I am proud and powerful Black Jew and I stand with Israel.
@ Mighty: No, the people of Gaza are the winners and Israel is the loser as tonight’s blog post shows. They have won of course at the cost of great suffering. But their cause is steeped in suffering caused by Israel. That is the cost of steadfastness in pursuing it.
Bullshit. Prove it.
Richard, you keep accusing Israel of ‘defiling’ the Temple Mount, forgetting that Har Bayit is the holiest place in Judaism.
I would say that the Palestinians are defling the holy site by waving Hamas flags and turning a religious observance into a political demonstration.
“We are all Hamas, waiting for your orders commander Mohammed Deif. Hamas — shoot a rocket at Tel Aviv tonight,” they were quoted as chanting by Channel 13 news, referring to the head of the terror movement’s armed wing.”
“Earlier Friday, as tens of thousands gathered for afternoon Ramadan prayers, some worshipers waved flags of the Hamas terror group and reportedly called for attacks on Israel.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-burst-into-temple-mount-compound-as-hundreds-riot-after-ramadan-prayers/
Sounds like incitement to riot to me, just the sort of provocation you’d expect the police to stop.
Richard. Would you feel the same way if a mob brought a Confederate flag to a Black church or waved a Nazi flag in front of a synagogue?
@ Mighty: THe Temple Mount is so holy that the most learned rabbis have for centuries prohibited Jews from entering it. Only the current group of Judeo-Nazi fanatics have ignored centuries of halachic rulings to defile it (yes, most Orthodox Jews believe that entering the Temple Mount defiles it).
Israelis do not consider Al Aqsa the same as the Temple Mount. If they did, they would not defile it. That is what permits Border Police to defile it.
It is you Israelis (if you are one) who has turned this into a religious conflict. So don’t come to me whining about Palestinian worshippers waving Hamas flags on the Temple Mount. If you Judeo Nazis hadn’t introduced Jewish supremacy into the matter none of this would have happened.
You analogies are stupid. If a Muslim waved a Hamas flag in front of a mosque (which is what Palestinians are doing) I’d think nothing of it. Jews plant Israeli flags in front of synagogues daily. I find it blasphemous and a defilement of Judaism to equate nationalism with religion, but there you have it. Those are proper analogies. Yours are gornisht.
Richard. Tell us about your experience visiting the Temple Mount. What did you see? Where did you go? Of course you know that the Temple Mount is a large area and that the Holy Temple took up a small space on this Herodian construct.
“…most learned rabbis have for centuries prohibited Jews from entering…“.
If you know so much about halakha (Jewish religious law), than please explain how it came to pass that none other than the Rambam (Maimonides) entered the Har Bayit to pray?
http://www.jewishmag.com/169mag/rambam_temple_mount/rambam_temple_mount.htm
My point was that politicizing religion is defilement, no matter who does it. Palestinian demonstrators just incited a riot on the Temple Mount, and so did Ariel Sharon. Both acts deserve condemnation.
@ Mighty Fraud: I don’t consider a source called “Jewish Magazine” to be credible. Nor do I consider an event that may or may not have happened 1000 years ago to be terribly relevant to today. The fact is that Orthodox Jews for centuries have refused to enter any part of the Temple Mount including the entire Haram al Sharif.
As for mixing politics and religion, I’m afraid every religion in the world has done this. Today, evangelical Christians poison American politics. Jewish settlers exploit religion for the sake of political power over Palestinians. Almost every synagogue in America has an American and Israel flag, often on the Bima to accompany worship services.
So don’t tell me about the sins of waving a Hamas flag over a mosque.
The riot was entirely incited by Border Police. Palestinians responded in kind. They defended their holy site, which is what any Jew would do to the Kotel if it was similar threatened.
You are done in this thread.
Perhaps you might consider this a more reliable source.
ttps://ww w.me forum.org/3556/temple-mount#_ftn51″ rel=”nofollow ugc”>https://www.meforum.org/3556/temple-mount#_ftn51
Or not.
@ Rev. Washington: Middle East Forum? A reliable source? Are you out of your mind? Don’t even post a link to that garbage site.
US and Israel have paid a heavy political price across the global community. Egypt and Qatar were involved in 11 days of negotiations between the two warring parties Israel and Hamas. The US has no standing left with the Palestinian people as a whole. We saw the Palestinian people united behind Hamas, but mostly due to the egregious attacks by the Jewish State on Sheikh Jarrah and the Al Aqsa Mosque. This became a rallying cry across the Islamic world of nearly 2,000,000,000 souls. The international pressure was build up by Jordan, Turkey, Kuwait, Morocco and Pakistan taking the lead. Even China used the position by Joe Biden to unwind global criticism in treatment of the Uygurs Muslims in their fight for independence.
Blinken flew into Europe for the Arctic Council and was hit by universal criticism for the biased position of the White House on the Palestinian issue. Yes the Israeli flag was flown over state buildings in Austria (Vienna) and Hungary (Budapest) and perhaps the Czech Republic. The main North Atlantic allies and Security Council members plus Germany vented unsalted criticism. Biden was pulled into an issue that had no priority for him. To buy off Europe and the Germans, in an unprecedented manner, Blinken suddenly waived some key sanctions on finishing the crucial Nord Stream II pipeline. This has upset locals in Washington DC and on the Russian frontier – Baltic States, Poland and Ukraine.
Due to the stalemate in the UNSC past 10 days because Joe Biden threatened to use his veto in protecting key ally Israel, the protests across Europe and Muslims in key ally nations threatened to grow and destabilize society. See Bidens visit to Dearborn Michigan where he encountered 40,000 Palestinian flags. What happened in the mix cities inside the Jewish State would have been a universal protest of great proportion. The criticism of so many nations at the meeting of the UNGA irritated Israel in making some very blunt statements about the Institute of the United Nations, key founder of the homeland for Jews in 1948.
A key nation on the Arabian peninsula came with harsh criticism on Israel. The pressure of Europe on the relation with Joe Biden during his term in office and the upheaval of society in many nations with the Muslim community would lead to extremism in the next decade. In the end it was not about Netanyahu or Hamas, but indeed a clash of civilization make a threat. A new Pew poll shows a generational gap in Jewish diaspora in the US and importance of Israel. The under 30s it’s just below a majority at 48%. For the older generation it’s at 67%.
To illustrate above analysis, the call with president Sisi after a deal was struck was the first conversation Biden had with the key Egyptian leader. Egypt kept close contact with Turkey, Qatar and its big sponsor Saudi Arabia. Not much has changed since 2009, 2012 or 2014. I missed a mention of the Dahiya doctrine from the 2006 atrocities in Beirut and has become a repeated act of war crimes by Israel.
[comment deleted: I don’t debate or discuss the comment rules. I make them, you follow them. Don’t like them? You know where you can go?]
If Biden had the courage (so disappointing, he should know) he would now pay for this destruction out of our support to Israel, support which has all along been helping this game.Then our support should conditional on an end to this conflict.We pay for this game twice at least in material damage and again in credibility. People elsewhere are catching on more and more, the young especially.
Palestinian lives matter.
The difference in the losses, life, material/infrastructure,the ongoing lack of equality, human rights and daily suffering of one side versus the relative normality of the other is plain to see even from afar.The cry, ironic, of the existential threat these aimless rockets pose to Israel is part of the continuing game.Israel’s right to “defend”,supported by Biden (and LOAC) here is eliding the causes, the right of a people to rise up against oppression.These are separate rights that people can judge, and they are, as we wait for some painfully slow collective international response.
Israel’s ostensibly <a href=“https://www.jpost.com/opinion/israels-hasbara-cant-combat-jew-hatred-opinion-668708”>poor public-diplomacy performance</a> is currently a topic of heated debate.
Astute failure of hasbara blame laid at de doorstep of PMO of Netanyahu handling of diplomacy.
IMO simply defending the indefensible.
Hi Richard,
I’ll start by saying I’m an Israeli jew, very much to the left side of the political map.
I read your blog regularly, and I appreciate your sources and scoops which turn out to be true in many cases.
This isn’t about this specific post, it is more of a general impression I have from your site and content.
We are all entitled to our opinions and perspectives of things and events. It seems to me that one thing you really strive for is for Palestinains to live freely and securely in their own sovereign state. I do too, and I am doing, and have done everything in my legal power to do so in my years of adult life: I’m voting for left-wing, peace-promoting parties (sometimes Jewish ones, sometimes Arab ones like Hadash/Ra’am), I regularly go to demonstrations and events promoting peace and opposing the continuing occupation, and I have been volunteering and donating to organizations like Anahnu and Zochrot to support the Palestinian struggle for freedom.
I’m truly lost as to why you believe that your approach is promoting the Palestinian cause: your content and views are extreme, they are completely one-sided, and mostly black-and-white in their conclusions. You talk a lot about Judeo-nazis such as Ben-Gvir and his friends, and indeed they are an extreme, dark, and racist group of people who should be silenced and jailed for their racist war-mongering crimes. But I honestly don’t understand how extremism on the other side of the map is helpful?
The only way to resolve this century-long situation would take both sides, what extremism does is only get each side more trenched in its position: it’s not like if the world and the US would spits Israel out this conflict would somehow be magically resolved, it won’t, it would probably only get uglier.
As much as I hate Ben-Gvir, Marzel, Ben-Ari, and the rest of the extreme right racists in Israel, I also hate Hamas: they want to kill me, no matter what I do. They are just as fanatics and war-mongering as the other ones. Justifying their violence is just as bad as justifying any other violence.
In the years I’ve been reading your blog, it sure feels like you couldn’t care less if I or my daughters would die if it served the Palestinian cause – I don’t know that this is the case, but it sure feels like by reading your content.
I’d really love to see some content talking about the people, and politicians (yes, they exist) who really want to end it all and let the Palestinians build their future alongside the Israeli state. Help more people see a way to change and not just bring more hate and trenching.
@ changer: Sorry, bud. All your protestations about your purported “leftism” doesn’t amount to s*t here. You can claim till the cows come home whatever you want. But the proof is in the other nonsense you peddle.
You are one in a long line of commenter whose comments begin something like this: “I’m an Israeli leftist, but…” We’ve seen it all before, bud. You’re nothing new. Do tell Hasbara Central to devise some new intros. These are tired.
If you believe my views are “extreme” then you haven’t a clue what Israelis, Palestinians and the rest of the world have been saying for years.
As for “the Palestinian cause,” who died and gave you permission to speak for Palestinians about what’s in their best interest?
You are a normalize. A liberal Zionist at best. Your time is over. You are irrelevant.
So you liken my “extremism” to That of Ben Gvir. You are either a bad-faith liar or just plain stupid. Or both. Make that deeply offensive analogy again here and you’ll be banned.
Oh and I Dare you to prove you’ve ever had anything to do with Zochrot. Prove it.
First, I did not mean to offend you or compare you to Ben-Gvir, the point I was trying to make is that I see your POV as extreme. Not because it is blind or senseless, but because its justice and ideology triumphs practicality and compassion.
I am not Hasbara, that’s just conspirative and dismissive.
I believe sayings like “Your time is over. You are irrelevant.” speak directly to the points I made in my original comment: if I have opinions that aren’t in line with yours I don’t matter, I’m worthless and disposable. It really startles me when it comes from someone who obviously cares about people, equality, and justice.
No one died and gave me permission to speak for Palestinians, that goes for both of us. I don’t speak “for” them, neither “for” Israelis, or Jews, nor whoever. I speak for myself. As someone who lives here and was born into a reality that they wish to change. I might be a “Liberal Zionist at best” (I don’t think I am) I hope that still grants me the right to live and not be murdered by someone who’s family and people suffered because of my nation.
I’ve been actively supporting Zochrot for more than 15 years now. I gave legal help for the objection of the construction of a new neighborhood in Yahood (over the remains of Al-Yahoodia). I gave legal help for the lawsuit of Kakal over their refusal to provide photographs for an exhibition of late 40’s history.
I’ve also donated more than 40K nis to Zochrot over the years. I’m not going to prove it – you can choose to not believe.
While I don’t see everything eye to eye with them (I still believe a 2-state solution with the right of return is the best solution), I think Zochrot is a great example of trying to make a change through positive means (education) that would get people to think and hopefully make a change. I don’t think your approach is as productive, to say the least.