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| President Biden being interviewed by Fareed Zakaria (CNN) |
That being said, I am going to partially defend his recent comments about Israel. Which much of the media has characterized as ‘slamming’ Israel.
I don’t think he did that. What he did was slam the extremists that are part of Netanyahu’s governing collation. Without mentioning them by name, he was obviously talking about Itamar Ben Gvir and Betzalel Smotrich. Biden also criticized the judicial reform the Netnayhu government is trying to pass which would just about nullify the power of Israel’s Supreme Court.
I don’t think referring to the extremists in Netanyahu’s government is in any way ‘slamming’ Israel. I actually think he’s right about that. They are extremists. Ben-Gvir’s protestations to the contrary not withstanding:
“The president must internalize that we are not just another star on the American flag. In what way am I extremist? In that I believe Israeli citizens should defend themselves? In that I distribute weapons to Israelis to defend themselves? In that I give backing to our soldiers and policemen?”
That isn’t why he is an extremist. He is an extremist because he has made a career of inciting Palestinians to violence. Ben- Gvir paints himself a patriot in language that is hard to dispute on the surface. Of course Israel has the biblically guaranteed right to settle any part of Eretz Yisroel it chooses, Including Eiver HaYarden (Jordan). But that does not mean it should. It certainly should not in cases of Pikuach Nefesh. As I have said many times there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that more innocent Jews are killed by such actions than would otherwise be the case.
This is why just about all the Charedi Gedolim do not approve of settlements in areas of the West Bank (Yehuda and Shomron) where Palestinians have been living for generations. That Ben-Gvir insists on exercising those biblical rights has surely resulted in avoidable tragedy and misery for families whose loved ones were its victims. (Comparing ‘Hilltop’ settlements to Tel Aviv as I sometimes hear - insults my intelligence as it should any rational, thinking individual.) I do not fault Biden for calling a spade – a spade.
That said, I am disappointed that Biden did not invite Prime Minister Netanyahu to the White House. A long held tradition by the United States after a new Prime Minister is elected. His stated reason is that the judicial reform submitted to the Knesset for approval would destroy Israel’s democracy.
That is false. There is no way that doing the will of the people as represented by their elected officials in a fair election can be called undemocratic. Doing the will of the people is precisely how democracy is defined. The problem is what kind of democracy it will be. One which protects the rights of the minority? Or one that could not care less about minority rights?
That is what is at stake. If Israel completely destroys its Supreme Court’s ability to rule on the ‘constitutionality’ of legislation passed by the Knesset, it will be ruling by way of the tyranny of the majority against the minority, whose rights should be protected the way they are in the US.
That is concerning. Which is why I and many others have suggested a compromise between the absolute power the Court (which would be a tyranny of the minority) and the defacto destruction of the Court (which would be a tyranny of the majority). Compromise would make Biden happy. He actually said as much as reported by JTA:
Hopefully, Bibi will continue to move toward moderation in changing the court,” Biden said.
I agree with that statement. I don’t see that as unfair criticism of Israel or even a cooling of relations between the two countries. In fact, US support of Israel where it counts is as strong as ever despite the administration returning to the anti settlement rhetoric of the pre Trump era.
I don’t like the idea that a decades old ‘settlement’ like Male Adumim - which is on the wrong side of the pre 67 border cannot build a home to accommodate natural population growth. I am only opposed to settlements in heavily populated Palestinian areas where the sole purpose is to assert biblical rights to the land. Thereby inciting violence against innocent Israelis. And then retaliation by settlers in the form of ‘pogroms’ in Palestinian villages.
That the US condemns those pogroms should not be a surprise to anyone. They should be condemned! That Ben-Gvir expressed even the slightest bit of justification or sympathy for them is precisely why he deserves to be considered an extremist.
I was also quite gratified to see Biden’s strong criticism of the Palestinian Authority:
“I think that the fact that the Palestinian Authority has lost its credibility, not necessarily because of what Israel’s done, just because it’s just lost its credibility, number one, and, number two, created a vacuum for extremism in the — among the Palestinians … there are some very extreme elements,” he said.
It’s unproductive to paint Biden as some sort of Israel basher as have some in the more right wing Jewish media. It’s true that his support for Israel is not as strong as it was in the previous administration (despite the left’s argument to the contrary). But the support is still there in ways that count. Which is the close military and intelligence co-operation. That has not diminished since Biden took office.
Israel will continue to defend itself and the US will continue to basically support their right to do that - as it has in the past under both Republican and Democratic administrations. That has not changed and likely never will. At least in the foreseeable future, Unless someone like Rashida Tlaib or Ilhan Omar becomes President. And that just ain’t gonna happen.
