By Robert Inlakesh
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump. (Design: Palestine Chronicle)
Then we have Donald Trump, who is undoubtedly the weakest US leader on this issue. Both his first and second campaigns were bankrolled by a who’s who of Zionist billionaires.
While previous American Presidents had managed to at least lightly push back against Israeli demands and those of its lobby in Washington, Donald Trump has by far been the weakest leader in US history in this regard. The recent White House Hanukkah spectacle demonstrates this clearly.
It has long been argued that the Israel Lobby and the Israeli government have maintained disproportionate influence over US politics, specifically when it comes to Middle East Policy. Sometimes, this power dynamic in Washington has blurred the lines between the US and Israeli governments, even leading to the question of whether the relationship has evolved into a tail wagging the dog scenario.
Pushing back against this view that Israel rules the White House is an example of past administrations disobeying and even clashing with the Israeli government and the Zionist Lobby. Among the Presidents that Israel experienced pushback from were the likes of Jimmy Carter, George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, and even Ronald Reagan. These figures, who were all of great use to Israel, still managed to push back on policy issues, with former President Carter later becoming a vocal critic of Israel’s apartheid policies.
Even during Bush Jnr’s administration, which launched the illegal invasion of Iraq under the pressure of the Israel Lobby and affiliated think-tanks, there are examples where the American President would at least put his foot down, even if for show.
Take, for example, the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 2004, which killed nine civilians. Bush condemned Israel for this act. In a way, this made him a more strict leader on the question of so-called “collateral damage” than President Joe Biden, who praised the assassination of Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah last year, despite Israel admitting that the strike also killed 300 civilians.
Under the Obama administration, which for its time was often dubbed one of the most pro-Israel governments in US history, he was still able to push back against the influence of the Lobby and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, by pursuing and sealing the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal. President Obama, who had pledged 30 billion dollars in aid for Israel, also abstained on a UNSC vote condemning illegal settlement expansion towards the end of his second term.
Then we have Donald Trump, who is undoubtedly the weakest US leader on this issue. Both his first and second campaigns were bankrolled by a who’s who of Zionist billionaires, the most notable being Miriam and Sheldon Adelson in his first term. In his second term, Miriam Adelson, Israel’s richest billionaire and someone who Trump acknowledges values Israel over the United States, was the then-primary bankroller of the second Trump campaign.
In a recent Hanukkah event at the White House, the American President, who usually competes for dominance in handshakes and puts on a tough-guy show for the cameras, was held by Zionist Fox News host Mark Levin and told he is the “first Jewish President”. Levin gestured towards Trump as if he were a proud father to the President.
Then came Miriam, who cites infamous Zionist lawyer Alan Dershowitz to make the argument that Trump could run for a fourth term in office and that she’d hand him another 250 million dollars if so. Donald Trump jokingly started his speech at the event by stating that it was the first time he needed to carry notes in order to remember all the things he had done for Israel.
All of this aside, we need only take a look at the kinds of policies enacted under the current government to understand the shameless weakness of the presidency. During his first term, the US President recognized occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Syrian Golan Heights, discarded the idea of Palestinian Statehood, and his administration began referring to the occupied West Bank by the Israeli name “Judea and Samaria”, all as he ignored massacres carried out against civilian protesters in Gaza. Then he launched the “Abraham Accords” to ensure Arab normalization with Israel would kill the “Arab Peace Initiative” once and for all.
This time around, the pro-Israeli pandering has reached all new heights and even extends to crackdowns on American constitutional rights; in particular, the First Amendment. Not only has the Trump administration given Israel a free hand in Gaza, but a top priority since the US leader took office has been to implement the Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther – a draconian crackdown on criticism of Israel – and has expressed his interest in “owning Gaza”.
While some could point to the so-called ceasefire to argue he is in fact restraining the Israelis, the opposite is the truth. Instead, this “peace plan” is just a roadmap to do exactly what was proposed during Trump’s first weeks in office. It entails a Board of Peace (BoP) that will rule Gaza, making the US President its de facto leader, while a multi-national invasion force called the International Stabilization Force (ISF) will be brought in to finish what Israel couldn’t achieve against the Palestinian resistance.
But what about Biden? Was he not just as culpable? Yes and no. Although this should be prefaced by saying that Joe Biden was mentally incapable of actually managing the course of the genocide, his administration was clearly backing the Israelis throughout. Donald Trump, however, went further than his predecessor and permitted the Israeli regime to starve Palestinians for three months straight. There was starvation under Biden, but it was not allowed to go anywhere near as far.
The Biden administration’s policy was truly led by figures in his administration like Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a dedicated Zionist, but also a firm believer in the doctrine formerly espoused by the Israeli Labour Party in its heyday. A very revealing speech, demonstrating the policy positions of the Biden administration, came in Blinken’s final foreign policy address at a conference hosted by the Atlantic Council.
The former Secretary of State began his speech with the usual pro-Israeli talking points and a summary of Tel Aviv’s alleged achievements. Towards the end of the speech, he then adopted a different tone and presented a more sober outlook, arguing that if Israel does not pursue a so-called two-State solution, it will lead to inevitable catastrophe, warning that relations between it and surrounding governments, like those of Egypt and Jordan, could deteriorate.
The Biden administration, while totally partisan to Israel, adopted an American-Imperialist-Zionist outlook, one that seeks to sustain the Israeli regime and not subject it to the challenges that will come with its expansionist agenda.
Trump’s regime is very different; its vision appears inseparable from that of the Likud Party and Zionist billionaire class in the United States. It is on board with the regional takeover, seeking to bring Saudi Arabia and others into this camp, where Israel rules with no opposition. The main objective in the way of implementing this vision is Iran; therefore, it must be overthrown.
Meanwhile, domestically, all criticism of Israel should be clamped down upon with an iron fist under this vision, meaning the Israelisation of the United States. In Trump’s ear are the hardliners, extremists with money and organizations to back them, as the likes of Laura Loomer, who advocates for bringing back the Jewish Defense League (JDL) terrorist group. It is a “smash their heads in” approach; deporting critics of Israel, checking people’s phones at airports, and harassing those who express any dissent, linking peace activists to “terrorist organization” networks.
The US President loves to put on a “strong man” act, yet displays precisely the opposite qualities as he is bullied around by his donors and the swamp of neo-conservatives, whom he once advocated against. It is not just the way that someone like Mark Levin can grab him and tell him how allegedly Jewish he is, treating the President like his child; it is the way he deals with foreign policy altogether. Why, for example, is Jared Kushner involved in forging Ukraine-related diplomacy? Does he possess some hidden talents everyone is unaware of?
Does this mean that the Israel Lobby and Benjamin Netanyahu dictate all policy in Washington? No. What it does show, however, is that anything Israel cares about it gets, without question. This is why the constant theatre, every few months, about totally imagined Trump-Netanyahu feuds is required, to make it appear as if the President is dictating outcomes.
A similar game was played when it came to Biden’s alleged clashes with Netanyahu, later demonstrated to be false, or even if verbal spats occurred, they never translated into orders. The public is simply being played in this regard.
President Trump has no clue about West Asia and has no independent plan for solving the ongoing regional war; this has been clear throughout all of his addresses on such issues. He displays a shocking lack of knowledge on topics related to the region, while his administration is filled with a mixture of incompetent actors and hardline pro-Israeli neo-conservatives hellbent on war.
In the past, the US did present its own strategy for West Asia. A pro-Israeli strategy, but one which clearly aligned with a broader American imperialist agenda, this can no longer be argued to be the case. On some issues, Trump puts on his “America First” hat to entertain his base, but on anything related to Israel, he is willing to endure public humiliation and please his donors like Miriam Adelson.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
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