Since 2007 when Hamas seized power in the territory after winning 2006 elections, Gaza has been subject to Israel’s air, land and sea blockade. With an entire grown-up generation confined to the fenced-in territory and 50% unemployment, limited electricity, sewerage and clean water and climbing food insecurity continue to weigh upon the Gazans – there are less than stellar chances for peace to prevail and specter of another war remains to the fore.
A yawning military and economic gap between Israel and Palestine – where former controls the best-equipped army in the Middle East along with amassing several hundred nuclear bombs and has 14 times more per capita nominal GDP compared to the latter – gives Israel a sweeping authority to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from its southern areas and then mow them down in the world’s largest “open-air prison.”
While the US fidelity to hold fast a lopsided pro-Israel policy reflects the “truth-bending grip of authoritarianism” on both countries – the UK political interference to obstruct the International Criminal Court’s investigation into Israel’s war crimes in Palestine can be linked with an entrenched Israeli influence in Britain politics.
In Ontario, the law conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. Across Canada, Muslims and other people supportive of Palestinians are systematically targeted, scholars are denied jobs for speaking on the Palestinian plight and journalists are chastised over questioning lack of Palestinian voices in the media as white nationalism and white supremacism plagues the country.
All the three countries champion international human rights of ethnic and religious minorities throughout the world. Back home, the world’s leading democracies resist condemning even the Israeli clearest violation of international law and human rights, give it “carte blanche” and punish protesters for protesting against injustice to the Palestinians.
On Israel, the US President Joe Biden – who didn’t even reprimand American ally over planned forced evictions of Palestinians from East Jerusalem and whose officials blasted Trump-era human rights – extended “unwavering support” and still backs Israeli policies of apartheid and persecution, which disproportionately killed 256 Palestinians including 66 children in comparison to 13 killings in Israel including two children.
Biden insisted a two-state solution is “the only answer” to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Yet his contrasting statements, defending Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself while calling for de-escalation, refute his commitment for peace in the Mideast. The mixed stance obfuscates his pledge to put human rights at the center of his foreign policy, demonstrates he’s following his predecessor’s unabashed pro-Israel policy and exposes strong inclination toward Israel.
After the Democrat sought implementation of a “significant de-escalation today on the path of to a ceasefire” – Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, having rebuffed the most assertive US tone saying he’s “determined to continue this operation until its goal is achieved,” further embarrassed the US president by conducting fresh airstrikes on the Gaza Strip the next day.
It wasn’t the first time Biden got insulted from Israel. Eleven years back as the US Vice President, he was treated in the similar fashion during his trip to Israel when the Israeli authorities pronounced an “incredibly frustrating” move of ratifying a large expanse of a settlement in East Jerusalem, called Ramat Shlomo.
On paper, Biden has been vocal on international human rights practices. But practically, his adviser’s cautious inquiry from Israel to provide justification for leveling the al-Jalaa tower and refusal to comment further on the horrific incident additionally reveals a bigoted administration’s approach to resolve the decades-old conflict.
Israel bombed a high-rise building in Gaza housing offices of The Associated Press, Al Jazeera and other media outlets, contending Hamas militants were hiding their military assets there. With no proof to back the allegation, Israeli attacks – despite rolling back Israel’s army chief comments that AP journalists drank coffee morning alongside Hamas electronics experts – pose serious threats to international peace since it can stoke other countries to launch and defend offensives on civilians and public structures.
Caught right in the middle of his advocacy for human rights and the US interests with its closest strategic partner – Biden is criticized for sustaining Trump’s policies and walking back on his promises from America’s relations with the Gulf nations and refugees. In Congress, the American funding to Israel has sparked debate to make sure that the US security assistance is not used for Israel’s maltreatment of Palestinian children, forced displacement and illegal annexation as the provision of billions of dollars is getting more harder to justify.
Under the Obama administration, Washington in 2016 announced a whooping military aid of $38 billion for Israel between 2018 and 2028. Even the Covid-19 in the country couldn’t chop off the bipartisan priority and Israel, despite concerns over its abysmal record on human rights, received security assistance of $3.8 billion from Trump in 2020.
The international community and left-wingers in the Democratic Party sought Biden to speak loudly on behalf of Palestinians. He rather chose to compromise his credibility and neutrality earlier by holding complicit silence and then through a guarded response on Palestinian dehumanization while sharply condemning rockets attacks on Israel.
No matter conversation in the US is changing or how quickly Israel loses a perception battle; what matters is that the US policy on Israel isn’t changing. Through recurrently blocking motions against Israeli aggression at the United Nations Security Council, throwing weight behind Israel in the recent war and allaying Israeli fears about curtailing his support – Biden has launched a charm offensive to placate Israel. Yet the US president’s bizarre strategy has exposed his global human rights campaign.
*This is one of my opinion pieces (unedited) that first appeared in "The Express Tribune":