As human rights groups continue to call out war crimes committed by the Israeli military, we speak to the only U.S. diplomat to publicly resign from the Biden administration over its policy on Israel.
We first spoke to Hala Rharrit when she resigned from the State Department in April, citing the illegal and deceptive nature of U.S. policy in the Middle East. “We continue to willfully violate laws so that we surge U.S. military assistance to Israel,” she says after more than a year of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Rharrit says she found the Biden administration unmovable in its “counterproductive policy,” which she believes has gravely harmed U.S. interests in the Middle East. “We are going to feel the repercussions of that for years, decades, generations.”
tldr: the US is still supporting Israel is because Israel has historically been extremely beneficial to US interests.
full:
The reason is that Israel has been a steadfast ally in advancing and defending us interests for half a century, and there is no one else in the Middle East who could play that role half as effectively or reliably.
there was zero chance of the US immediately cutting off aid after 50 years of aid, especially while dozens of other countries have also been providing aid and are still providing aid to Israel.
that was never an option and should not have been an expectation from the public, who only has that expectation because most people have only recently learned about the Palestinian invasion by Israel that’s been happening for over half a century.
One year is not much time internationally or diplomatically. it’s not much time for intelligence agencies to determine what is happening, especially in the fog of war, and it isn’t much time for effects of actions to be seen, no matter what actions are taken.
in israel, The US has an attack dog to deal with US enemies in the Middle East, and now the attack dog has broken its leash and isn’t responding to commands. Netanyahu is aging, centralized power, and is acting literally insane.
while I have been loyal, this completely separate nation has saliently chosen to have been loyal, although they were and are under no obligation to be loyal to the demands of the United States, as is now being seen.
it’s only been one year, and regardless of what you hear, diplomatically the US is continually trying different tactics to stem the violent efforts of a nation with plenty of resources that has no obligation to listen to the US other than continued financial support, that it has plenty of already and has many other sources of aid.
So to counter basically your whole point: You know how Reagan stopped the Israeli bombing of Beirut in 20 minutes with a phone call in 1982? That’s how someone who actually wants Israel to stop does it. Biden isn’t stopping them because he doesn’t want to, not because his administration is “diplomatically the US is continually trying different tactics to stem the violent efforts of a nation…”.
Don’t defend genocide support, it’s not a good look.
“Israeli bombing of Beirut in 20 minutes with a phone call in 1982”
Yes I do know this quaint historical story which took place under entirely different circumstances that has nothing to do with what is happening today.
what an irrelevant tidbit to trot out.
“Biden isn’t stopping them because he doesn’t want to”
thank you for agreeing with my point, but boy did you miss the point by a mile.
OP asked why the US is supporting Israel, not if the US is supporting Israel.
yourv vague “answer” is completely useless without the context of my actually relevant explanation above.
reading your comment makes me feel like I’m watching you eat glue while pinning a ribbon on your own chest for best “stick-to-ut-ive-ness.”
amazing.
I hope you write more.
that was such a shockingly useless and ignorant answer.
how do you come up with something that off the mark?
I don’t think you can defend inaction regarding genocide as “diplomatically the US is continually trying different tactics to stem the violent efforts of a nation”.
The difference in circumstances is that, unlike 1940s, or any other period until 2010s, it was visible within months by historians and other civilians, without a doubt that what was happening was genocide. Because of the internet, photo equipment and general speed of communication, inability to delete communications. None of this “One year is not much time internationally or diplomatically. it’s not much time for intelligence agencies to determine what is happening”, they knew very well.
Israel has been running a mega propaganda machine especially since the start of october events, ordering news sources how they should cover the situation. If there weren’t enough red flags, that is a big one.
I think the conclusion should be that the relevant parts of US gov are either weak and careless, either exceptionally naive and old, or! there is something malicious that has been happening (and this seems most likely, considering the amount of propaganda).
But I guess going back a bit and throwing away all ideas of discussion, you sure like to ad-hominem the other commenter.
All i follow on youtube are archaeological channels, and i was surprised by the sudden influx of videos on israel the very week israel started attacking. I noticed one channel that was hosting an israeli co-host stopped collaborating very soon, and months later posted a very nuanced, very politely angry video. But the number of videos establishing the legitimacy of israel all at once at that time cannot be anything but planned. Even National Geographic had a video out on the origins of Israel, at a timing that is so very suspect.