RAED JARRAR, rjarrar@dawnmena.org, @raedjarrar
“This is not just a failure of American foreign policy; it’s an endorsement of oppression,” said Jarrar, Advocacy Director of DAWN, Democracy for the Arab World Now, the organization founded by the late Jamal Khashoggi. “While the Biden administration heralds a new era of ‘normalization’ with some of the most notorious human rights abusers in the region, such as [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and MBS [Mohammed bin Salman], what’s being normalized are ongoing atrocities and a state of apartheid. The U.S. is bending over backwards, offering security guarantees and blank-check policies, all at the expense of Palestinian rights and freedoms.”
The Times of Israel reports: “Colombian leader slams powers for backing Ukraine, but not Palestinians.” Colombian President Gustavo Petro Urrego commented on the need to “bring an end to hypocrisy as a political practice.”
Netanyahu met with Elon Musk this week.
Antony Loewenstein, the author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World wrote online Wednesday: “’I think without Israel, there’s not a Jew in the world who’s secure,’ President Joe Biden [said] just now when talking to #Netanyahu in NYC. This statement is simply untrue as Israel and its endless occupation of #Palestine has undeniably increased insecurity for Jews across the globe.”
Loewenstein was recently featured on the IPA news release “The Palestine Laboratory: X/Twitter Reportedly Working with Israeli Surveillance Firm.”
RICHARD SILVERSTEIN, richards1052@gmail.com, @richards1052
Silverstein writes at Tikun Olam. He said today: “The U.S. is attempting to broker an extremely complex deal with Israel and Saudi Arabia. It’s reported to involve a mutual defense pact by which the U.S. would guarantee military support in case the Kingdom is attacked. The Saudis also want a nuclear arrangement offering them a nuclear reactor.
“In return, the U.S.” gets the Saudis to “normalize relations with Israel. But they also need ‘cover’ in the Arab world. …
“Even though Israel is refusing to offer them anything meaningful, that has proven unacceptable to Netanyahu’s settler coalition partners, who have threatened to bolt if Netanyahu agrees to such a deal.
“Though the Biden administration has placed a huge premium on getting the deal done, it raises huge questions about the commitments it is making to an autocratic monarchy, whose ruler has murdered opponents like dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
