October 16, 2023
Republican leaders are yet again striving to be the most outraged.
“Joe Biden has blood on his hands.” The normally affable Tim Scott offered up this doozy, shortly after Hamas terrorists barbarically raided Israeli villages.
Desantis: we’ve been “very deferential to the Iranians, the Iranians we now know were intimately involved in orchestrating these attacks.”
“Joe Biden betrayed Israel!” Trump, unhinged, as always.
The 6 Billion for Iran. The Rhetoric of the Squad. The Universities, and their Pro-Palestian-ism.
But Biden and the Democrats didn’t do this.
Biden didn’t move the US Embassy to Jerusalem. Trump did.
Biden didn’t propose a “peace plan” that consisted of an “independent” Palestinian state split between Gaza and the West Bank, hemmed in by Israeli territory and overseen by Israeli military. Trump did.
Biden didn’t overtly support ongoing expansion of settlements into the West Bank, then attempt to ratify that expansion in a phony peace agreement. Trump did.
And Biden didn’t initiate a normalization plan that didn’t include a Palestianian solution. Trump did. The phony, soul-less Abraham accords.
The words are noble. “We, the undersigned, recognize the importance of maintaining and strengthening peace in the Middle East and around the world based on mutual understanding and coexistence, as well as respect for human dignity and freedom, including religious freedom.”
There’s more: “We seek to end radicalization and conflict to provide all children a better future.”
It all could have been expressed more concisely: “Quid Pro Quo” and “Screw Palestine.”
The UAE got F35s. Morocco was rewarded formal sovereign recognition in the West Africa. Sudan got off the terrorist list. Bahrain got protection from Iran.
And everyone benefits financially, with participating GDP estimates going up by at least .7%, Israel’s projected at 2.3%. 150,000 new jobs across the participating countries with tangible impact on unemployment. Export/Import of Israeli defense technology, with 25% of Israel’s 2022 $12.5 defense system export sales (an alltime high by 50%) coming from participating Abraham Accord countries.
And Palestine got squat. Ignored.
This was not a peace deal, the participating countries were not at War. It was an economic cooperation deal, a de facto free-trade agreement.
Clearly, the people of Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, and UAE don’t support peace with Israel. Protests in support of Palestine and Hamas have erupted across those countries, as well as other Muslim countries.
Another soul-less Trump “deal”, only this one has terrible impact. Teamed with a “Peace Plan” that suggested a fractured, disempowered Palestine, the blatant incendiary and pandering move of the Embassy, and the rhetoric, the Trump administration set the clock back in the Middle East.
Trump can’t believe any Jewish person would “vote Democratic.” Because he gave them things.
As usual, the manifestation of soul and conscience and right – within Jewish voters, and within “bought” countries that continue to support Palestine – mystifies Trump. And that’s why the Abraham Accords are the very opposite of a Peace plan, and did nothing to resolve the true problems in the Middle East, or deter further violence: it’s just another zero sum deal, another guaranteed “win” for Trump. And another reason for Palestianians to give up hope.