The U.S. Position Toward Gaza War is Primarily Dictated by Long Established Foreign Policies
By: Ghassan Rubeiz / Arab America Contributing Writer
President Biden deserves a share of the blame for his bias against Palestinians, but it is the indulgent US foreign policy toward Israel which is at the root of this problem: the unconditional support for the Jewish state.
Biden misses no opportunity to assure his audience that “there is no redline for Israel” when it comes to helping “our closest ally” militarily. What Biden means, in fact, is that Israel has to stay as a regional superpower serving US and other Western interests at any cost. Our president identifies with Zionism: I am a Zionist, he says in public. Over the past five months he has not stopped reminding us that Israel “has the right to defend itself” against its enemies in trying to defeat Hamas and “prevent another October 7”, regardless of how far it goes in retaliation.
Emboldened by the US administration’s position on the conflict, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu’s war cabinet executed a ruthless military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, without taking adequate measures to protect the innocent and trapped civilians. When human rights organizations questioned Israel’s right to self defense at any cost, Biden started to change his rhetoric. But when the International Court of Justice recognized the “plausibility” of genocide in Israel’s brutal war, Biden and his team defensively accused ICJ of going too far.
It took a long time for Biden to start doing anything concrete about Israel’s indiscriminate bombing in Gaza. To show objectivity, Biden advised Israel’s leadership, particularly Netanyahu, to be considerate of civilian life in Gaza. As the death of innocent children and women kept rising in Gaza, Biden felt free to criticize Netanyahu in public. For Biden, Netanyahu’s behavior is “over the top”. Israel ignored the criticism; Netanyahu knows how strong Israel’s position is in the Congress. He knows how strong Israel’s lobby is in Washington.
Biden’s first measure to limit Israel’s aggression in the occupied territories targeted Israeli settlers in the West Bank. He initiated a scheme to sanction settlers who are harassing Palestinians on whose land they are living illegally. A few settlers have been sanctioned, but settlers’ acts of violence in the occupied territories have not subsided. Israel responded by authorizing thousands of new homes for settlers.
After months of starvation in Gaza, Biden arranged for a campaign to deliver humanitarian aid by aerial dropping (by planes) from the sky. Biden should know that aerial dropping of aid is ineffective, expensive and dangerous to recipients. Biden is delivering the minimum of aid in peculiar ways while suspending dependable funding for UNRWA, the most equipped United Nation’s agency to serve Palestinian refugees.
Biden’s latest offering for starving and dispossessed Gazans is the construction of a pier on the coast of the strip, to facilitate the maritime delivery of humanitarian aid. There are reports that Netanyahu had proposed this idea to Biden. Whoever thought this up must have known that it takes at least two months to accomplish. But children and women are dying every day from hunger and the spread of diseases. If Israel is serious and sincere about offering or facilitating sufficient aid to Gazans, it would allow delivery of such aid to the Israeli port of Ashdod, ten miles away from Gaza’s northern border.
The Arab and Muslim American communities are furious at Biden for his position on Gaza, and they have understandably threatened not to vote for him in November. But when one examines the long-established relations between Washington and Tel Aviv, it becomes clear that Biden is following the rules of the game. The president is a captive player in a well- established client-state system of foreign relations. In this sort of partnership, larger states offer support to smaller states. Small states, in return, serve the regional interests of a donor superpower. Israel is one of several Middle East countries which have a client status with America. Israel is actually the most powerful of these client-states.
This state of affairs is a legacy of the cold war. In the Arab world, the oil-rich Arab Gulf states have an informal and unusual client-state relation with the US. As a superpower, the US offers security for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman. In return, the Arab Gulf States purchase advanced US weapons, offer business opportunities, and host America’s military bases in the region.
Israel is Washington’s near proxy in the Middle East. With an atomic arsenal, a modern army, a post-industrial economy, an expanding wealth and a powerful Diaspora in the US, Israel satisfies Washington’s strategic interests in the region. Israel is the only client-state which is a recipient of massive quantities of aid, behaving arrogantly as donors often would. On the other hand, the Gulf States are the only clients which buy security with their own money. Thus in more ways than one, Gulf Arabs are donors and Washington is the recipient.
Arabs have not yet discovered the potential of their collective action. The leaders of the Arab world have not done enough to save Gaza from Israel’s ruthless campaign. Saudi Arabia is still considering normalizing relations with Israel, albeit with conditions related to Palestinian statehood. However, partnering with a state which has massacred a sizable part of an Arab community is neither timely nor natural. Such a passive position of Arab leaders sends Israel the message that its genocide in Gaza is acceptable and might be ignored when the war ends.
Biden and Netanyahu are not the only ones to blame for Gaza’s ongoing, unprecedented suffering. In a sense, politicians are instruments of their state’s foreign policy.
For Arab Americans, there is a lesson here. To contribute to America’s foreign policy, they need to be active in local, regional and international politics. Arab Americans are in a position to effect lasting change, and a clear eyed understanding of the relationship between Israel and the United States will give the best leverage.
Ghassan Rubeiz is the former Middle East Secretary of the World Council of Churches. Earlier, he taught psychology and social work in his country of birth, Lebanon, and later in the United States, where he currently lives. For the past twenty years, he has contributed to political commentary and delivered occasional public talks on peace, justice, and interfaith subjects. You can reach him at rubeizg@gmail.com
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab America. The reproduction of this article is permissible with proper credit to Arab America and the author.
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