Finally, the leader of the free world has decided to take some action. Citizens of Israel, beware: Joe Biden has taken off his gloves.
Even the Democratic administration’s patience has its limits. No more Mr. Nice Guy. They are no longer willing to wipe off the spit, pretending it’s rain. That’s it – National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir will not set foot on the grounds of the American Embassy.
What a revolution: Lawmakers from the racist religious party, headed by Settlements Minister Bezalel Smotrich, will not be munching on hot dogs at the Fourth of July party at the ambassador’s residence.
- Israel’s Smotrich, Ben-Gvir snubbed from U.S. Independence Day embassy event
- U.S. to stop funding academic institutions in the West Bank
- Biden: Israel can’t continue down this road; Netanyahu slams ‘pressures from abroad’
This ostensibly marginal issue reminds me of something I heard from Thomas Pickering at the end of the 1980s, toward the end of his stint as the U.S. ambassador in Israel. “The problem with you Israelis,” he said, “is that you don’t understand nuances.” What he meant was that a White House “expression of concern,” for example, following a decision to expand settlements, was received by the Israeli public with only a yawn.
It’s not certain that a similar sanction would open the eyes of the present coalition and its supporters. How many of them were shaken by reports that the U.S. government will stop financing scientific projects in institutions based in the settlements? Only one of them was: Foreign Minister Eli Cohen hinted that the Americans could go jump in a lake, clarifying that in similar cases in the past, “the government made sure to fully compensate anyone affected by such a decision.” Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distal Atbaryan has already determined that the U.S. needs Israel more than Israel needs the U.S.
Six months after the establishment of Israel’s most dangerous government ever, it’s time the Biden administration changed course. Washington must realize that it is dealing with a gang of war criminals, no less. Suffice it to read a headline in Haaretz according to which senior officials in the defense establishment accuse the government of sabotaging their efforts to contend with the ultra-nationalist criminal behavior of settlers.
Open gallery view
According to these officials, rioters do as they please, with the encouragement of cabinet members and coalition lawmakers. Furthermore, politicians are preventing security forces from sending reinforcements to the West Bank in order to prevent such crimes, as well as not allowing them to evict settlers who set up illegal outposts, demanding that security forces not interfere with the movement of equipment to these new outposts.
At the top of the pyramid of these politicians stands Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the one who gave Smotrich the fuel and Ben-Gvir the matches. The American toolbox contains more than invitations to a cocktail party. Biden possesses means that have far more impact than the withholding of support for institutions erected on occupied land.
For example, he could cancel the initiative to exempt Israelis from the need to obtain visas when traveling to the United States. Actually, Biden doesn’t need advice on how to deal with tyrannical regimes that conquer neighboring nations while undermining the foundations of democracy in their own country.
