22nd October 2023
US President Joe Biden – pledging unwavering support for Israel
The foreign policy of the United States in the Middle East was further exposed as unashamedly partisan this week with the visit of President Joe Biden to Israel. The outcome of Biden’s visit was twofold. Widely proclaimed across Western press and media was the negotiated agreement to allow a convoy of twenty aid trucks into Gaza from Egypt. The fact that this represented a mere 5% of the needs of Palestinians in Gaza was conveniently unreported.
Also flying under the media radar was the deal struck with the Israelis to further weaponise the world’s fourth largest military, by providing even more arms to Israel. Wrapped in a request to Congress to approve a further $105 billion in weaponry for Israel and Ukraine, is an allocation of $40 billion to Israel alone.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters that,
“..these conflicts can seem far away, but the outcome of these fights for democracy against terrorism and tyranny are vital to the safety and security of the American people.”
With 4,000 Palestinians already killed in the Israeli response to attacks by Hamas last week, and an imminent Israeli ground offensive, which is likely to see that number increase significantly, it is difficult to see how the ongoing massacre can be justified in the name of the American people. Maybe Sullivan meant, in the interests of US political and economic control in the region or in the interests of re-asserting US military superiority?
The US has form in this regard, with disastrous consequences in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria so it can come as no surprise that the Palestinian people are not likely to greet US declarations with open arms. Israeli ambassador to Britain, Tzipi Hotovely, provided an even more cavalier response this week in relation to the question of civilian casualties, pointed to the bombing of Dresden in WW2 to justify the fact that civilian casualties were inevitable in wars. The comparison was more apt than Hotovely may have realised, as the bombing of Dresden is widely regarded by many as a war crime.
The dangers of escalation are underlined by the warning from Iran that it may be compelled to intervene if Israel launches a ground offensive against Gaza. While the positioning of US naval assets in recent days is a clear signal to Iran to back off, the struggling Islamic dictatorship may have its own reasons for being seen to engage against Israel.
Facing a wave of protests at home, and clinging on to a diminishing support base, the Iranian theocracy may well see a foreign adventure as a means by which it can unite the population in a common cause. The extent to which the dictatorship has alienated large sections of the population however, make this a high risk strategy, and any Iranian intervention in Gaza may only precipitate foreign intervention in Iran itself, with a view to installing a more US friendly regime in Tehran.
In any event such an escalation risks the stakes being raised to an alarming level as the increasing co-operation that Iran is building with both Russia and China is unlikely see those powers sitting idly by, thus drawing more players into a potential downward spiral of Middle East conflict.
In Britain the House of Commons, at least on its front benches, has been unified in the mantra that “Israel has the right to defend itself”, with both Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and Labour leader, Kier Starmer, putting this above the rights of the Palestinian people, as enshrined in international law and UN resolutions, or indeed the rights of occupied people to resist the aggression of their occupiers.
Voices of reason, such as that of Richard Burgon MP, who echoed the call of the United Nations for a ceasefire and a negotiated process to de-escalate the conflict, were met with mutterings of ‘disgraceful’ from the Tory benches.
However, mass demonstrations in London, other European capitals, Washington and across the Arab world, in defence of Palestinian rights, have shown that the Israeli position does not enjoy universal support. Inside Israel even members of the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, are being sanctioned for speaking out against the polices of the religious fundamentalist government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ofer Cassif, an Israeli parliamentarian who warned last week that an “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians was underway at the hands of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), has been expelled from the Knesset.
That body’s Ethics Committee expelled Cassif from all sessions and meetings of the legislature for 45 days. The expulsion came in response to a series of critical interviews with the media in which Cassif criticised the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for its war against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Cassif is a leading member of the Communist Party of Israel and has represented the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) coalition in the Knesset since 2019. He is Jewish but has long been an opponent of Zionism, calling it a “racist ideology and practice which espouses Jewish supremacy.” In April 2021, he was beaten by Israeli police when protesting illegal evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
The coalition which was assembled, following last year’s elections in Israel, saw Netanyahu pledging to expand illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories and to eventually annex the West Bank. His religious fundamentalist allies in the coalition reject the establishment of any Palestinian state.
With the possibility of a pre-emptive Israeli strike against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon by no means off the table, the possibility of significant escalation still looms. Pressure upon Western governments and the Israelis to agree a ceasefire must be increased if further slaughter is to be avoided.
It will also be necessary for the international community to stop pussyfooting and take a stronger line with Israel, regarding its international responsibilities and the need for a two state solution if progress is to be made. As well as external pressure, support for opposition voices in Israel, not aligned with the current fundamentalist regime, will be vital to move toward a genuine solution which recognises the rights of both the Palestinian and the Israeli people, based upon mutual respect and peaceful co-existence.
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