By Abbey Makoe
AFTER decades of US foreign policy of “blind loyalty” towards Israel, the chickens are finally coming home to roost, epitomized by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s growing defiance and sheer arrogance.
America’s Commander-in-Chief in the form of President Joe Biden has been left red-faced by the antics of the Jewish leader who is also known as “Bibi”.
The two leaders, once closely connected like a nail and a finger, are currently struggling to conceal their utter disdain for each other. According to the US President, bilateral relations between the two traditional allies remain “iron-clad”.
But he’s not telling the truth, and the evidence is becoming very public by the day. Only last week, the US media revealed that the Biden administration had “paused” a shipment of military supplies to Tel Aviv. The rare stance was precipitated by the growing defiance of PM Netanyahu and his War Cabinet which is dominated by right-wingers hell-bent to complete the genocide in Gaza.
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Although initially kept under wraps, the move was later confirmed by President Biden himself in a media interview. But that is one part of the story. Here’s more: For the first time in contemporary history, America’s supply of lethal weapons to Israel has become conditional.
As the world waits with bated breath for the land invasion of the Rafah by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), President Biden has announced that he would halt military supplies to Israel if the Rafah operation goes ahead.
The international community has decried Israel’s expressed intentions to launch a land invasion of Rafah on the border with Egypt.
The area, originally home to a population of only 250,000, has seen an extraordinary jump in numbers as Israel had previously ordered a multitude of Palestinians to relocate in makeshift tents there.
Now, after being displaced multiple times, powerless civilians totalling just over 1.5 million have been ordered by Israel to move – again. The UN and all international human rights organizations say “There is no safe place in Gaza”.
Almost everywhere, the Gaza Strip lies in ruins. In the last seven months since Israel launched its military operation in Gaza, the IDF has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, almost half of the victims being children. More than 10,000 women are also part of the casualties.
Residential buildings, hospitals, schools, factories, community centres, universities and UN refugee camps have been bombed mercilessly and only heaps of rubble bear evidence of Israel’s reign of terror that continues unabated.
And, as the international condemnation of Israel’s war on Gaza continues, the UN has been left hamstrung and completely powerless to intervene. Several attempts by the international community at the UN Security Council to pass a resolution demanding a ceasefire had been thwarted by America’s veto power.
The EU, the staunch ally of the allies, has only been able to raise a few questions about Israel’s genocide but, as expected, that is where it all ends. The UK, another staunch traditional ally of the US, is typically only mimicking Washington’s public posture towards Israel.
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Like the US, the rest of the Western governments are caught up between a rock and a hard place. Israel is a debilitating conundrum for everyone across the West yet only Washington can decide on what needs to be done, and what may not be done against Israel and its arrogant PM.
For example, only after the US imposed travel sanctions on a few Israeli settlers regarded as the ring-leaders in the reign of terror against Palestinians in the occupied territories did the allies follow suit.
I have previously argued, and I reiterate that when it comes to Israel, in particular, the foreign policy of the rest of the West can be described as “monkey-see, monkey-do”. By their actions, they can be judged. They act typically only in tandem with Big Brother in Washington.
But as the genocide mission continues unhindered, the chief protector of Israel, “genocide Joe” as President Biden is mocked, is beginning to feel the heat of the growing public discontentment at home.
The coordinated uprising by the university students at more than one hundred US campuses has triggered fresh domestic debate over the policy of “blind loyalty” towards Israel.
Additionally, the reaction of the lawmakers from all sides of the US political spectrum reveals the deep depths of commitment to the “iron-clad” bilateral relations that are rapidly becoming strained. Recently, some Congressmen and women penned a letter in which they warned the International Criminal Court against issuing, as widely expected, a warrant of arrest for PM Netanyahu.
The fierce criticism of the students’ protests through encampments by President Biden and the US Congress has also resulted in threats to university Vice-Chancellors to act against the students or face withholding of funding.
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Throughout more than 30 states, the US police have been seen attacking protesting students as if they were foreign invaders. But the protests have since spread globally to places in Europe, Japan and Australia, among others. The sudden uprising by the university students has revealed the ideological dichotomy between the old guard and the new generation of young thinkers.
Thanks to the advent of social media and global technological development, the evil of Israel cannot be hidden from the public glare any longer. Neither can the IDF’s cruel cold-blooded indiscriminate killing of Palestinians be watered down by a lopsided mainstream media that was once the only source of news coverage.
In Sweden, a large group of protesters turned up at the semi-finals of the Eurovision contest, demanding the expulsion of Israeli participation.
Protesters across Scandinavia decried what they called “hypocrisy” and “double standards” of the Europeans.
They questioned why Israel was not being kicked out of the competition whilst Russia and Belarus were expelled following the outbreak of the Ukraine war. Sanctions were also imposed on Russia, and yet no action has been taken against the state of Israel for its very public genocide in Gaza.
This week, as Hamas accepted the terms of the ceasefire proposed by both Egypt and Qatar, Israel rejected the terms of the deal and continued with its shelling and bombardment of Rafah, killing dozens of men, women and children daily.
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Many geopolitical experts believe that PM Netanyahu is only interested in prolonging the war, as any return of peace would turn attention to his unwanted stay in office. Therefore, by all accounts the ground invasion of Rafah and threats of what the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres refers to as a “human catastrophe” appears inevitable.
As the world watches and does nothing, history will hopefully record the current events accurately and properly. The Palestinian lives do not matter to President Biden, Rishi Sunak, Olaf Scholz, Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron, et al. Although no foreign force can threaten their power or their rule, the US University students show us that rebellion from within will certainly make their stay in office extremely uncomfortable as long as they insulate Israel from international scrutiny.
After all, that is the essence of democracy. The governance by the majority is through the will of the majority. As things stand, President Biden and his allies represent the will of the minority amidst their “iron-clad” relations with Israel. The significant number of young Jewish students in the US who are part of the protests also bear testimony to the mischievous and fallacious allegations of anti-Semitism whenever Bibi and Israel are condemned for their extinction of the Palestinians.
In the end, President Biden will be embarrassed more and more as PM Netanyahu publicly ignores his counsel, and concerns, over the looming mass killing of displaced Gazans in Rafah. This week’s statement by PM Netanyahu in response to Washington’s warning that weapons supply will be “paused” if Rafah is invaded was telling. He said if it comes to a push, Israel will not mind to “stand-alone”.
That’s the cheek of a spoiled brat. In my view, Netanyahu is a dangerous man. He is like the Biblical Samson. He wants to go down with the pillars of the temple.
