Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Celerity

(43,903 posts)
Thu May 9, 2024, 08:34 PM May 9

Looks Like Aid to Israel Can Be Conditional After All



https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-05-09-aid-to-israel-conditional/


Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, May 9, 2024.


President Biden’s better-late-than-never and better-partial-than-nothing-at-all decision to withhold U.S. bombs and shells from Israel should it mount an all-out attack on Rafah at least shows that his administration can have the ability to walk its talk. Biden’s talk has been replete with before-the-fact advice to the Netanyahu government not to utterly destroy Gaza in its war on Hamas, and after-the-fact statements of regret and condemnation as Israel has persisted in doing just that. Until the past couple of weeks, however, Biden didn’t really draw a line that he said Israel should not cross, and that line was Israel assaulting the million Palestinian refugees huddled in Rafah because there was no place left to go—at least, no place in Gaza where buildings still stood.

Until yesterday, Biden had acted as if drawing any lines that conditioned U.S. aid to Israel was without precedent, if not un-American. That ignored a host of precedents in which American presidents did just that, including Dwight Eisenhower’s order to Israel to cease its offensive against Egyptian forces at the Suez Canal, and Ronald Reagan’s order to Israel to stop its invasion of Lebanon. Those orders came down, moreover, when Israel’s government did not yet include fanatical, messianic bigots as its current cabinet does, and when the country’s prime minister was not determined to keep the war going as a way to forestall the fall of his government and his ensuing criminal prosecution on unrelated charges, which is certainly at the root of Bibi’s determination to keep the war going today. More broadly, however, the U.S. has conducted much of its Middle Eastern policy over the past two decades as if it were still dealing with an Israeli government headed by Yitzhak Rabin—the onetime Israeli general who, as prime minister, signed the Oslo Accords and began work on the two-state solution the accords set out.

Shortly after he’d embarked on that process, of course, Rabin was assassinated by an ultranationalist, and for most of the past two decades, such ultranationalists, represented disproportionately among the West Bank settlers, have set de facto Israeli policy, even when a majority of Israelis overall opposed them (as in the controversy over the powers of Israel’s Supreme Court). Desperate to cling to power rather than go to the clink, Bibi sought and won the ultras’ support in order to have a parliamentary majority, placing the most ultra of the ultras in his cabinet, where they’ve demanded the devastation of Gaza and backed anti-Palestinian pogroms in the West Bank. One might expect that the Biden administration might have reconsidered its position of unconditional aid to an Israel so governed. (That Donald Trump, when president, clearly favored the rise of ultranationalists in the Israeli government should have been a warning sign that a government so attractive to violent authoritarians might not fully merit our embrace.)

Now that Biden has finally found a line that Israel can cross only by forfeiting a measure of U.S. aid, however, there remain other lines that Israel crosses every day. We can still provide Israel with antimissile defenses (and we should) and at the same time withhold other aid so long as Israel continues to foster famine in Gaza and turns a blind eye to the rising settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. More broadly, since America’s baseline position in our Middle Eastern policy is support for a two-state solution, it’s hard to see why active adherence to such a policy, which Israel once pledged to support and which Bibi has officially rejected, should not be the chief condition on which our support for Israel is based. And not just lip-service adherence, but the active removal of Israeli settlements from the West Bank. The demands of both realpolitik and democratic values don’t often coincide, but they do come together, albeit with some jostling, in the two-state policy. If flouting such a policy isn’t grounds for withholding American aid, what on earth is?

snip


14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

ColinC

(8,362 posts)
8. In case they should impeach themselves considering how they postponed the aid package till the last minute anyways
Thu May 9, 2024, 09:32 PM
May 9

slightlv

(2,900 posts)
13. I just saw this...!
Thu May 9, 2024, 11:25 PM
May 9

The NAR is afraid Biden's going to screw up their bringing on the Apocalypse! They're demanding their christ return to earth *right freaking now!" And they'll ensure most extreme warfare, believing they're going to push their christ into a corner on the issue.

I think the rep that did this needs to have a refresher course on what "Quid Pro Quo" means! What *rump did to Ukraine, and what Biden's threatening to do to Israel are in no way the same. Apples and Oranges.

LeftInTX

(25,902 posts)
2. Whether it "should"" or "can" or two different subjects
Thu May 9, 2024, 08:46 PM
May 9
Republican planning impeachment articles against Biden over Israel weapons hold
https://thehill.com/homenews/4655009-republican-planning-impeachment-articles-against-biden-israel-weapons/

Democrats Impeached Trump Over This
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-weapons-israel-trump-impeach-ukraine-d4b2c3cf

_______

Should: Of course!!!
Can: We will see....

Also, I don't know if a party can sue to force the arms transfer since the funds were allocated two weeks ago.
That's probably where the "can" will come into play. At the very least, Biden's strategy delays the arms transfer.

LeftInTX

(25,902 posts)
5. Yes. I replied to your post before the previous poster did, but it took me longer to write a reply.
Thu May 9, 2024, 08:52 PM
May 9

So, it posted afterwards.

LeftInTX

(25,902 posts)
10. I posted it, before I unlocked the paywall. WSJ is just a letter to the editor...
Thu May 9, 2024, 09:49 PM
May 9

It's a matter of whether he "can" or "should".
Of course he "should", but "can" he?

Impeachment is political anyway.
The GOP process won't compare extortion to misuse.
There are no requirements to provide the context etc.
There is no requirement to prove that Biden did something moral or immoral or right or wrong.
They will just state that it hurts an ally of "Christianity" or some other BS.
There is no requirements to prove that Biden is saving lives, or that Israel is misusing aid, or anything like that.
They can say anything they want.

Biden ordered razor wire to be removed...Nothing happened....
Knowing the crazies out there, they will sue and force the aid to Israel.


LiberaBlueDem

(954 posts)
11. Biden is following the law
Thu May 9, 2024, 10:07 PM
May 9

Unlike the banana republicans

There is a law against sending weapons to other countries to be used for killing civilians.

Today is the day that Biden is supposed to tell congress if it thinks Israel will use the weapons for killing civilians. Everyone knows what the weapons will be used for and to send weapons would be breaking the law.

Biden is no lawbreaker, unlike the Banana Republicans who are lawbreakers.

walkingman

(7,725 posts)
14. Biden is in a no-win decision politically so that being the case he should
Thu May 9, 2024, 11:42 PM
May 9

do the right thing morally - which is to put conditions on our seemingly endless aid to Israel.

There is no way that Israel will ever kill everyone that supports Hamas, anymore that the US was able to kill everyone in ISIS over 20 years. In fact the more innocent people are killed the more likely it will lead to more terrorists support.

This is nothing new - Ronnie Raygun and Shrub put conditions on Israel aid.

Politics is a dirty business and in today's world a deadly one.

Kick in to the DU tip jar?

This week we're running a special pop-up mini fund drive. From Monday through Friday we're going ad-free for all registered members, and we're asking you to kick in to the DU tip jar to support the site and keep us financially healthy.

As a bonus, making a contribution will allow you to leave kudos for another DU member, and at the end of the week we'll recognize the DUers who you think make this community great.

Tell me more...

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Looks Like Aid to Israel ...