Biden’s Policy & Posture Towards Palestine, Iran & Israel
Among the numerous campaign promises that candidate Joe Biden made was to reopen the Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem that was closed by his predecessor, the erratic and unstable Donald Trump. The Palestinians, legitimately, saw this closure as a slap in the face, one of many that Trump happily administered in order to please then Israeli Prime Murderer, Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump was very fond of repressive dictators, so pleasing Netanyahu was typical of his behavior.
Recently, President Biden announced that the United States would, in fact, open a Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem, a move that would fulfill a campaign promise.
Not so fast, said Israel’s current Prime Minister, the racist murderer Naftali Bennett. He was clear in his opinion: “My position, and it was presented to the Americans … is that there is no place for a U.S. consulate which serves the Palestinians in Jerusalem.” In response, it is reported that this may be a hindrance to the re-establishment of the consulate.
Although he should be used to U.S. cow-towing to Israel by now, this writer is still puzzled. Why on earth would the U.S. government pay any attention at all to the Israeli position on where the Palestinian consulate will be located? Let us look at some facts:
- The U.S. give Israel $4 billion in foreign aid each year, more than it gives to all other countries combined.
- By doing so, the U.S. violates one of its own laws which states clearly that in order for a country to receive U.S. aid, it must achieve at least a basic level of adherence to human rights. There is no measure by which Israel accomplishes this.
- The U.S. protects Israel from accountability for its many war crimes and crimes against humanity by using its veto power on the United Nations’ Security Council.
- Israel continues building huge, illegal settlements on Palestinian land, which the U.S. very politely asks it to stop; Israel pays no attention.
The question that must be asked is this: Why does the U.S. bow to Israel on every possible issue? U.S. government officials are forever saying that Israel is the U.S.’s only friend in the Middle East, but one must ask, ‘with friends like that, who needs enemies?’ Also, it has been said that before the establishment of Israel, the U.S. had no enemies in the Middle East.
And what does this great friend do for the U.S.? Israel happily deposits the U.S.’s annual cheques as it ignores its wishes. It helps the U.S. be further ostracized on the world stage, showing clearly that the United States government isn’t interested in human rights or international law. There is often talk by U.S. officials of ‘shared values’ with apartheid Israel. Those ‘values’ include violations of human rights, disdain for international law, and a belief that ‘might makes right’. The U.S. government, through its police forces and judiciary, oppresses citizens of color in horrific ways. Israel does the same to Arabs, not only those who live within its borders but also those living in Palestine. Both countries, Israel and the U.S. support anti-government terrorists in Syria. These are all shared values, indeed!
In addition to delaying and possibly preventing the reestablishment of the Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem, the Israeli government is doing all it can to sabotage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Netanyahu didn’t succeed in doing so; he addressed the U.S. Congress and begged its members not to approve that agreement. After Trump came into office, he violated the agreement by withdrawing from it; re-entering it was another hallow campaign promise by candidate Biden. The U.S. president wants Iran to return to full compliance, and then, he says, the U.S. will remove the unjust and illegal sanctions. Why he thinks Iranian government officials should believe a word a U.S. president utters is beyond comprehension. But this is all that Israel wants; a return to the JCPOA would remove Israel’s reason for bombing Iran, or, as is more likely, for getting the U.S. to do its dirty work. Israel is ready, willing, and able to sacrifice as many U.S. lives as it takes to defeat Iran. And the U.S. may just go along with it.
Between 1845 and 1849, James Polk was president of the United States. He was president during the Mexican-American War. Like all wars, and perhaps especially those waged by the United States, this war was unnecessary. Historian David Pletcher said that “President Polk held the niceties of diplomacy in contempt.”1 Apparently, that attitude both predated Polk and has continued since his administration. Diplomacy today would involve U.S. officials apologizing for Trump’s behaviors and immediately re-opening the Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem. They would also apologize to Iran and drop all sanctions against that nation. Instead, U.S. government officials are bypassing the Palestinians and seeking Israeli approval to open the consulate. They are ignoring the reality that it is the U.S. that breached the JCPOA; once it did so, the agreement was null and void. To re-establish it, the U.S., not Iran, must make concessions. Israel should be no part of either equation.
U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) recently said of Biden: “Nobody elected him to be FDR (former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt), they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos.” Sadly, Biden is being ‘normal’ for U.S. presidents: ignore the will of the people, bow to any and all Israeli demands, and bring the world to the verge of world war.
This writer does not think that anybody elected Biden for those reasons, but, sadly, that is what the United States, and the world, now have.
1 Carol and Thomas Christensen, The U.S.-Mexican War, (Bay Books, 1998), 41.