Diplomatic niceties aside, the much-anticipated visit by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to Washington was a political fiasco.
US President, Donald Trump, despite clearly attempting to act ‘presidential’, appeared confused, ignorant and at times meek, yet hardly gave Netanyahu what he was seeking.
The Trump-Netanyahu White House Press Conference on Wednesday, February 15, was rife with “contradictions, political sloganeering and more than a few disagreements that were elegantly shoved aside,” wrote Barack Ravid in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz.
However, despite Netanyahu attempting to conduct himself with his usual pompous confidence, he is an embattled leader. He is being investigated by police for three criminal offences, including bribery and corruption. One of the charges, ‘File 3000’, is by far the most serious for it involves cronyism with a staggering price tag measured in millions of dollars.
Netanyahu is trapped, trying to appease his government coalition of right-wing and ultra-nationalist zealots to prevent a coup by Naftali Bennett, the colonist ideologue, extremist Education Minister and head of the Jewish Home Party. In the process, he is taking his country to the edge of a precipice.
Israel’s far-right are more emboldened than ever, no longer requiring Netanyahu’s help and popularity among the right — popularity that is dwindling anyway. They do not want to talk about states, peace deals, compromises or slowing down and curbing the construction of illegal colonies. They feel they have the political capital, funds and military power to do as they please.
Netanyahu has sustained his career at the helm of Israeli politics for many years through a clever balancing act, teetering between empty words and sinister deeds. He is a master at weathering Israel’s destructive political storms.
However, his luck is likely to run out soon, with the right having grown more extreme and his corruption scandals not being shoved under the rug anymore.
His visit to the White House was thus intended to win him some desperately needed political capital. But, can Trump — known for his verbal contradictions — be a reliable ally?
The US President can hardly be taken seriously. He says much and does little. His words, often offensive, carry no substance, and it is nearly impossible to summarise his political outlook about important issues, since he has none.
Donald Trump is not merely a raving man, but quite a dangerous one as well. His unpredictability must also be worrying for Israel which expects from its American benefactors complete clarity and consistency in terms of its political support.
At 70-years-old, Trump is simply incapable of being the stalwart, pro-Zionist ideologue in a way that suits Israeli interests well. A case in point is the White House Press Conference on the day of Netanyahu’s visit.
The trip was scheduled immediately after Trump’s inauguration on January 20, and is considered the Trump Presidency’s answer to what Israel incorrectly perceived as a hostile US administration under former president, Barack Obama.
Obama had granted Israel $38 billion (Dh139.57 billion) over the course of ten years, estimated to be the most generous aid package in US history. He also supported all Israeli wars against Palestinians throughout his presidency, and unfailingly defended Israel before the international community, at the United Nations and at every global forum in which Israel was justifiably criticised.
But Israel expects blind support. It needs a US administration that is as loyal as the US Congress, always singing Israeli praises, degrading Palestinians, dismissing international law, issuing calls to stop funding the UN for daring demand accountability from Israel, feeding Israeli ‘security’ phobias with countless millions and absolute political backing, demonising Iran, undermining Arabs and chorusing the various Israeli lines and talking points fed to them by Tel Aviv and the fifth column lobbyists in Washington.
Trump is striving to be that very messiah that Israel’s army of right-wing extremists have been calling and praying for. But the man cannot help it, no matter how hard he tries.
“Looking at two-state or one-state, I like the one that both parties like. I’m very happy with the one both parties like. I can live with either one,” Trump said in an answer to a journalist’s question. It was his way of telling Israel that the US will no longer impose solutions, as he pushed the ‘one-state solution’ idea to the very top of the discussion. This is not at all what Israel wanted or expected.
Trump spoke of a peace deal that will include other countries in the region and ‘surprise’ everyone. Netanyahu cares little for such rhetoric. He wants to carry on with his fearmongering of ‘radical Islam’, nuclear Iran, and juxtapose ‘democratic Israel’ with ‘non-democratic Arabs’. He wants to preserve a state of war, create the needed distractions for more land grabbing and continue flaunting international law. He is hardly concerned with solutions — be it a two-state or a one democratic state idea.
Netanyahu must feel triumphant because of Trump’s assuring words. The Israeli leader needs any victory, however illusive to buy time and the allegiance of his camp of extremists, especially since he is being investigated for fraud with a good chance of being indicted.
He might even initiate a war against Gaza to create further distraction, and will not hesitate to conjure up ‘alternative facts’, presenting his country as a victim, to test American support and ‘downgrade’ Hamas’ and other Palestinian groups’ defences.
However, none of this will change the reality that Netanyahu had himself unwisely constructed. His vision for Israel is the perpetual subjugation of Palestinians through a system of racial discrimination that will continue until the world is able to see through the lies and the propaganda.
Alongside Trump, Netanyahu will work diligently to perfect the Palestinian prison in the name of Israel’s security. However, the once firm ground under Netanyahu’s feet is starting to shake — he is increasingly despised by the international community, losing his appeal among Israelis and has no plan or vision of his own — aside from shooting down any attempt at moulding one.
Considering his vulnerabilities, Palestinians must now respond, not with the tired, irrelevant rhetoric of a ‘two-state solution’, but with a unified universal message to the rest of the world, expecting, and demanding freedom, equality, and full rights in a society that are not predicated on racial order, but on equal citizenship.
Israel has laid out its vision, and it is a dark one. Palestinians must present the antithesis to that destructive vision — a road map towards justice, equality and peace for all.
Dr Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story.
