The US Political System is Radicalized, Not Palestinians

Hamzah Rifaat 

Source: Al Mayadeen English

What Graham and his cohorts do not understand, however, is that the Palestinians are not the ones who are radicalized but it is the entire American political system. 

Amid mounting casualty tolls, sustained bombardment, a deeply entrenched occupation and crimes against humanity, US Senator Lindsey Graham had the audacity and gall to call Palestinians ‘radicalized.’ His callous remarks sparked protests outside his residence by pro-Palestinian groups long advocating for an end to Israel’s genocide. His pro genocidal sentiment however is not an anomaly and neither is Graham in a club of one. Such sentiments are expressed and echoed by US lawmakers who are increasingly adopting anti-Palestinian rhetoric amid a sustained onslaught from the occupation forces. 

What Graham and his cohorts do not understand, however, is that the Palestinians are not the ones who are radicalized but it is the entire American political system that is radicalized with pro-Zionism proclivities. 

Here’s why:

In a social media post on X, Graham called the besieged, battered, and occupied Palestinian people the ‘most radicalized on earth who are taught to hate Jews from birth”. The veracity of these remarks is questionable. Judaism is a religion with an array of different followers and most left-wing Jews residing in the United States have shunned "Israel’s" genocide and sided with Palestinians against Netanyahu. Yet disturbingly, Graham went on to state that fixing the problem ‘will take years’. His remarks imply that occupied populations are anarchists working on an agenda to upend a dominating, occupying force where the latter is or becomes a victim. Perhaps it implies that Black South Africans who were under apartheid against a white minority government in pre-1994 South Africa were radicals and Nelson Mandela was a terrorist for resisting occupation and rebelling against the status quo. According to Graham, the innocent Palestinians under the rubble, killed or displaced “should be equated with ISIS or Al Qaeda while the terrorist”, Zionist regime of "Israel" become guardians of democracy, human rights and a rule-based world order. 

Nothing is farther from the truth. 

The bigoted, and radicalized views of Graham were also aired on the 4th of July which is American Independence Day. The timing of the remarks equates the United States as a supporter of a criminal entity which has massacred over 38,000 Palestinians. While the American public, particularly students at elite universities have called out the Biden administration’s unequivocal support for "Israel", the US political system continues to be radicalized with Zionism. As part of collective consciousness which has translated into an unabashed backing of Jewish supremacy and the state of "Israel", US lawmakers, barring a few are all pro-Zionist in their orientation. This includes Republican Representative Andy Ogles who stated that all Palestinian protestors should be killed while he walked through the halls of Congress. Also, the House of Representatives voted to advance a bill barring the US State Department from citing statistics of Palestinian deaths from the Gaza Health Ministry despite the fact that the statistics are considered reliable by international observers. 

Of those lawmakers who do support Palestine in the US Congress, they are subjected to abuse, vilification, castigation, and censure. This includes Palestinian American Representative Rashida Tlaib, and Representative from Minnesota Ilhan Omar who have been targeted for calling out Israeli genocide, and supporting Gazans while being labeled as ‘Anti-Semitic’. Tlaib personally admitted that there is significant anti-Palestine racism in the chamber and many of her colleagues do not want to acknowledge the existence of a Palestinian people. Tlaib’s assessments have been echoed but some of the Biden administration’s most strident critics who accuse US lawmakers of downplaying racism against Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians while turning a blind eye to Israeli atrocities. Such double standards and duplicity demonstrate that the US Congress will always remain pro-Zionist despite dissenting voices.  

Essentially, what views such as Lindsay Graham’s statement do is provide a blanket cover for Zionists to pass legislation which favors "Israel" such as through aid packages while muzzling out dissenting voices and depicting crimes against humanity as operations predicated on a legitimate right for the Netanyahu regime to defend itself. It builds on the arguments presented by renowned American political scientist and activist, Norman Finkelstein from his book ‘The Holocaust Industry’ where he states that the US establishment exploits the memory of the Nazi Holocaust for political capital and translates that into blanket support for "Israel". While Finkelstein has been at the receiving end of taunts, criticism, castigation and censure from pro-Israeli lobbyists and banned from entering "Israel", Lindsay Graham’s comments of Palestinian radicalization vindicate Dr. Finkelstein’s stance that the American establishment is radicalized by Zionism. 

Such radicalization stems from the very top. Recall that President Biden in October 2023 refuted the rising death toll in Gaza from the Health Ministry by claiming that the there is no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth on the number of people killed. Such refutation borders on denialism. Also, such blanket dismissals demonized the average Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian living in the United States and made them vulnerable to Islamophobic attacks. According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), 8,061 reports of anti-Muslim hate was reported in the year 2023 alone of which 50% of them were reported. 

In light of this, Senator Graham’s remarks expose the thinking of the majority of US lawmakers who are radicalized over "Israel", its occupation of Palestinian lands, and its subjugation of the Palestinian population. Such radicalization is set to continue, but what is clear is that the Palestinian population will always be the victims no matter what Graham and his cohorts say.