(And not the good sort of Black.)
The immediate need in Israel-Palestine, right now, is to remove Benjamin Netanyahu from power, and stop the genocide in Gaza. Afterwards, there may be time to think of solutions. – Justice in Israel-Palestine, Dec 3, 2023
But this has not been done. On Christmas day, The Jerusalem Post published an opinion piece (in English) by Joel Roskin, an Israeli geologist and geographer entitled, “Why moving to the Sinai peninsula is the solution for Gaza’s Palestinians” arguing, apparently in perfect seriousness, for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the removal of its people to Sinai, in some sort of warped echo of the Trail of Tears. This is completely insane. The Egyptians will not accept it, the people of Gaza will not accept it, the entire Islamic world would rise up in anger and much of Europe and the USA in revulsion. Prof Roskin is not a political scientist or historian, and he is well out of his field. The editors of the Post apparently set him up to be a lightning rod for the world’s hatred.
The day before, Israel assassinated Iranian general and military advisor Sayyed Mousavi in Syria. The Iranian government has vowed revenge.
The day after, the Murdoch-controlled Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu titled “Our Three Prerequisites for Peace.” Those prerequisites? “We must destroy Hamas, demilitarize Gaza and deradicalize the whole of Palestinian society.” In other words, subjugate the Palestinians (not only the Palestinians of Gaza) entirely. There is, of course, no way that is possible without genocide.
On the same day, Israel assaulted refugee camps in Gaza.
WHAT DOES BENJAMIN NETANYAHU THINK HE IS DOING?
(Aside from staying out of jail.) Does he want Zionism to go down in history with the great and horrible fanatical movements? Who is he talking to? Not Israelis – he’d be publishing in Hebrew. Perhaps US Christians and Islamophobes, but even for many of them, the brutality he advocates is likely to be too much. Does he expect the world to endorse his brutal war? It does not. Perhaps he is trying to undermine President Biden in favor of Trump, who might – might! – support Israel’s genocidal war and certainly is an Islamophobe. But Trump is notorious for betrayal and ignominious surrender, and cannot be relied on to provide whatever it is Netanyahu wants.
President Biden has publicly opposed this from the beginning (while continuing to sell weapons to Israel.) Israel has a huge munitions industry of its own – may even be a nuclear power1. Israel probably does not need the weapons the USA provides – they are perhaps for diplomatic signalling and the profit of the US munitions industry. What Israel does need from the USA is diplomatic support and naval defense, which so far Biden has continued to extend. Biden is being slammed for supporting genocide, but I don’t think he is; he seems to be working hard to prevent genocide without abandoning an ally. The brief pause in hostilities was his work.
Maybe it is time for the USA to pull back some of its support. I am not sitting in President Biden’s chair; I don’t have access to the intelligence he has or his extensive foreign policy experience. But it is difficult for this dilettante political science bird to see how this can end well.
It has never been publicly confirmed. US intelligence would know, so President Biden knows. ↩︎
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