-OpEd-
CAIRO — Neither his phone calls nor envoys nor military and diplomatic channels with Arab allies were enough: U.S. President Joe Biden was unable to help his vice president and party’s candidate Kamala Harris, by convincing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a Gaza ceasefire during last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Whether or not Netanyahu has any interest in a ceasefire, prisoner and hostage swap or allowing aid delivery to Gaza, he is using the upcoming presidential election to blackmail Biden, Harris and the Democrats and to please Republican candidate Donald Trump. This is depriving the Democratic Party of crucial votes from Arab Americans in battleground states like Michigan, where they have set two conditions for voting for Harris: stop the war in Gaza; and stop the supply of arms to Israel.
A Democratic president is not in Netanyahu’s interest, especially if Harris reiterates the rhetoric of the Israeli left and the Arab normalizers (leaders of the Arab countries who have ties with Israel) who are embarrassed by Netanyahu’s practices. On Thursday, in her first interview since becoming the Democratic nominee, Harris confirmed that she would not deviate from Biden’s approach on the Middle East.
They all call for a two-state solution, with the declaration of a Palestinian state (even a mini-state led by the leaders of the security coordination in Ramallah) as a starting point. Harris’ declaration of absolute support for Israel or the fact that her husband is an American Jew will not help her in the election.
Yet Trump despises Netanyahu. The former U.S. president strongly criticized him for rushing to congratulate Biden in 2020. Trump viewed that as a show of ingratitude especially after he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moved the U.S. embassy there, and recognized the annexation of the occupied Golan Heights.
Closer to Trump
Even so, Trump remains the closest to Netanyahu and his extremists. That is thanks to his right-wing agenda and his promises to his billionaire donors in Israel and America to help Israel expand without any reference, even rhetorically, to Palestinian rights.
In Trump’s first term, he excluded the Palestinians from the peace plans with the Arabs, which were strengthened by partnership and trade agreements with Israel, whether under the slogan of the Abraham Accords or the Negev Pact or the Arab military and security coordination with Israel.
A week before leaving the White House, Trump decided to transfer Israel’s jurisdiction from the umbrella of the U.S. military command in Europe to the Central Command, CENTCOM, which is responsible for the Arab region, and is headquartered at the Al Udeid base in Qatar.
Netanyahu is not allying himself with the Democratic candidate and is blackmailing the party.
The activity of this base extends to coordinating the forces of countries participating in military maneuvers with American forces from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and even Jordan and Egypt, with the “Bright Star” exercises in Egypt’s Western Desert. It also coordinates the air defense network of all these countries under the American umbrella, and with the participation of Israel. The aim is to repel any missiles directed at these countries from their opponents, just as Arab countries participated in repelling Iranian and Houthi missiles fired at Israel.
Therefore, Netanyahu and the Israeli right are looking forward to more of Trump’s electoral promises.
In the 2016 elections, Trump sold his promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem for about million, which he received as a donation from Sheldon Adelson, the American casino magnate and staunch Israel supporter, and his Israeli wife Miriam, who carried the torch of Zionist expansion after her husband’s death in 2021.
This year, Miriam Adelson pledged 0 million to the Trump campaign in exchange for U.S. recognition of Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, without recognizing the Palestinians’ right to Israeli citizenship.
Biden’s broken pledges
It is for all these reasons that Netanyahu is not allying himself with the Democratic candidate and is blackmailing the party as he has blackmailed the Biden administration despite everything it has done for Israel — especially since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
For Israel’s sake, Biden broke his election pledges not to deal with Arab dictatorships and to hold them accountable.
While neither Biden nor any other Democrat or Republican dares pledge freedom and human rights to the Palestinians, he pledged as a candidate to hold the Saudi regime accountable and isolate it for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He also vowed to link U.S. aid to Egypt to its human rights record, tweeting “No more blank checks for Trump’s favorite dictator.”
Democrats are satisfied with formal angry statements against tyrannical regimes to please their progressive wing.
But once Israel accepted Egypt’s mediation to calm the situation in Gaza after the Sheikh Jarrah events in May 2021, Biden made his first phone call to President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, about five months after his election. The Egyptian leader then received Biden at the COP27. Biden also visited Saudi Arabia as a guest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who Biden pledged to hold accountable for the killing of Khashoggi, due to Israel’s interests in having ties with the country.
Democrats only talk about freedoms and human rights, and are satisfied with formal angry statements against tyrannical regimes to please their progressive wing. In comparison, since Trump has taken over the Republicans, the party no longer makes such statements.
Trump has been in complete harmony with tyrants; he has no room for rights and freedom. He rather envies tyrants for their absolute powers and wishes to have the same powers one day; he has told supporters to vote for him so that they will not need to go to the polls again.
A boycott?
Both candidates are bad when it comes to Palestinians’ right to self-determination and the human rights of Arab people, which have been violated by their tyrannical West-backed regimes. Yet the lesser evil is clear.
American-Arab voters do not have the luxury of abstaining or choosing a third party candidate in November. Trump is a threat to Arabs and Muslims in the United States; he has threatened to deport many of those who participated in the demonstrations against Israel, calling them “Hamas supporters.” He has also pledged to reinstate his “Muslim ban”, which is in addition to plans that will impact the rights of migrants and minorities.
Arab Americans should learn from the experience of American Jews.
Arab Americans’ outrage over the Biden-Harris administration’s politics is understandable. Their policies allowed Israel to do whatever it wants just because this administration is concerned about the influence of the Zionist lobby. Yet Trump wants Arab voters to boycott the election, or at least not to vote for Harris and vote for an independent candidate who is supportive of the Palestinians’ rights.
Arab Americans should learn from the experience of American Jews who supported the Democratic Party even though President Franklin Roosevelt did not allow Jewish refugees fleeing the horrors of Nazis to dock in the United States at the beginning of World War II. He returned many of them. American Jews continued to vote for the Democratic Party and Harry Truman came to the White House and recognized Israel hours after its creation.
Even if this generation loses its current rounds with the Democratic Party regarding Palestine, they must continue to work with the party that respects their domestic freedoms.
