Note: I challenge Israeli actions and U.S. policy toward Israel writing as a Jew, an American, a historian, a teacher, and as a progressive who believes in justice and human rights and I am not an anti-Semite.
While he claims to base foreign policy decisions on the principle “America First,” Donald Trump describes himself as a “lifelong supporter and true friend of Israel.” We should add uncritical. Among other things Trump unilaterally moved the United States Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem despite international and domestic protests. Fourteen of the fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council condemned Trump's decision, but the motion failed to pass because of a U.S. veto. Trump also praised embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his “great job” and called him “tough, smart, strong.” Of course Donald Trump also has high praise for authoritarian leaders Kim Jong-un (North Korea), Vladimir Putin (Russia), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Rodrigo Duterte (Philippines), Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey) Xi Jinping (China), and Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (Egypt).
Israel under Netanyahu, like the United States under Donald Trump, has sought alliances with brutal dictators including Netanyahu’s good “friend” Russian President Vladimir Putin, the murderous regime in Saudi Arabia, and the authoritarian dictatorship that controls Turkey.
Despite Trump’s uncritical support, there are major reasons the United States to be concerned about the behavior of the Israeli government and its leaders. Israel under Netanyahu has manipulated the United States and is not a good friend or reliable ally. In 2015, Netanyahu bypassed President Obama and addressed Congress in an effort to block U.S. efforts to denuclearize Iran in exchange for regularizing Iran’s relationship with the rest of the world. Although Iran has lived up to the agreement, Trump reinstated economic sanctions against the wishes of U.S. European allies. More recently, Israel bombed Iranian facilities in Syria in a move designed to keep U.S. troops engaged in an increasingly tense Middle East.
A United Nations Committee of Inquiry reported that in 2018 the Israeli army murdered 189 Palestinians, including 183 who were shot with live ammunition while protesting at the Israel-Gaza border. Palestinians were protesting against an Israeli economic blockade that has strangled Gaza for more than a decade. Starting in March 2018, tens of thousands marched on the Israeli border fence every Friday. Amongst the dead were 35 children, three health workers, and two journalists. Over 9,000 people were injured, including over 6,000 wounded by live ammunition. The wounded included 940 children, 39 health workers, and 39 journalists. Another 3,000 people were injured by shrapnel and rubber bullets. Four Israelis were wounded during the border protests and none were killed. The United Nation Human Rights Council also released a four-minute video that documents claims made in the report.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry dismissed the report as a product of bias and claimed “Israel responded with restrained action taken only in defense of our civilian population.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the report and accused the U.N. agency of “an obsessive hatred of Israel."
Netanyahu, who is facing criminal charges while seeking reelection, enraged Jewish leaders in the United States and Israel when he formed an alliance with a minor, openly racist, anti-Arab party known as Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power. Netanyahu promised the group control over Israel’s housing and education ministries if he and his coalition remain in power. The party’s leaders support violence against Palestinians, the expulsion of Arabs from Israel and occupied Palestinian territories, seizing holy sites in Jerusalem claimed by Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and banning intermarriage and sexual relations sex between Jews and Arabs. Rabbi Benny Lau of Jerusalem, a major figure in religious Zionism, compared the party’s ideology with Nazism. The alliance was denounced by progressive American Jewish groups including J Street, Americans for Peace Now, and the Union of Reform Judaism. It was even condemned by avidly pro-Israel groups including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) and the American Jewish Committee. Speaking for the Trump administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared the United States would not take a position on the issue. According to Pompeo, “We’re not about to get involved in, to interfere in the election of a democracy. Elections campaigns are tough. We’ll allow the Israeli people to sort this out.”
The Israeli attorney general announced last week that Netanyahu will be indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu is accused of trading official “favors” in exchange for “gifts” worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Netanyahu was bargaining for more positive media coverage. Apparently he also loves expensive cigars, Champagne and jewelry. Netanyahu’s wife is also accused of misusing $100,000 in government funds.
There are about 1.8 million Arabs living in Israel proper where they make up about 20% of the population. Last summer the Israeli parliament passed a nation-state law that “the right to exercise national self-determination” in Israel is “unique to the Jewish people,” removed Arabic as one of the country’s official languages, and declared government support for the expansion of Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas. When the law was approved, Arab members of the Israeli parliament ripped up copies and shouted, “Apartheid.” Ayman Odeh, leader of a coalition of primarily Arab parties, currently in the opposition, accused Israel of passing a “law of Jewish supremacy.”
Americans should also be concerned about Israeli influence on American politics. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, during the 2018 election cycle pro-Israel lobbyists and donors spent more than $22 million trying to influence voters and politicians to support Israel with donations to the reelection campaigns of 269 members of the House of Representatives and 57 Senators. Major recipients of pro-Israel dollars included New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez ($548,507), Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz ($352,894), and Democratic Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown ($230,342). Sheldon Adelson, the largest of the pro-Israel donors gave Republicans $82 million for their 2016 election campaigns, three times the next largest individual donor, and $250,000 to the Republican Coalition Jewish Victory Fund in 2018. Meanwhile the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is active funding trips to Israel for federal and state legislators and lobbied against the Iran nuclear deal that the Trump administration abandoned despite objections from America’s European allies.
Pro-Israel political “donations” and lobbying efforts are targeting the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement that challenges the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands on the West Bank and its blockade of Gaza. The Israeli government bars members of pro-BDS organizations from entering Israel including the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that was awarded a Nobel Peace for rescuing victims of the Nazis during World War II. American colleges are threatened with the withdrawal of donations if they allow BDS speakers on campus. The Republican controlled United States Senate passed a bill to authorize states to punish businesses that comply with Israel boycotts. Texas and other states have laws permit people being fired from their jobs because they protest Israeli policies under Benjamin Netanyahu. Anyone working for the state government or a public agency in Texas must certify that they do not “currently boycott Israel” and will not participate in a boycott while under contract.
Despite the anti-BDS campaign, a number of major American religious denominations have passed resolutions that strongly affirmed the human rights of Palestinians. Members of at least ten churches participate to some extent in the BDS movement including the Alliance of Baptists, Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Mennonite Church USA, Presbyterian Church (USA), Unitarian Universalist Association, United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church. Roman Catholic groups, the National Coalition of American Nuns and the US Dominican Palestine Coordinating Committee, are also involved. See this link for a complete list.
In March, as part of the Gaza Great March Speaking Tour-USA, Palestinian writer and refugee Ahmed Abu Artema who lives in Rafah, Gaza will tour the United States promoting the nonviolent struggle to achieve justice, freedom, and equality in Israel and Palestine. The Great March of Return is focused on the right of all Palestinian refugees worldwide to return to their homes. Artema is scheduled to speak in Berkley on March 7, in San Diego on March 9, in Santa Fe on March 12, in Brooklyn on March 14 (7 PM at the Brooklyn Friends Meeting, 110 Schermerhorn Street), in Washington DC on the 18th and 19th, and Atlanta Georgia March 21. Check the American Friends Service Committee website for updated information.
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