President Biden, looking somber, keeps urging Israel to avoid civilian deaths and to use targeted strikes on Hamas. Yet he keeps supplying Israel with 2,000-pound bunker buster bombs that are designed to kill indiscriminately and over a wide area! 

He rightly reels against nuclear proliferation and vows to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Yet the United States will not even acknowledge the fact that Israel possesses over 200 nukes, let alone endorse a longstanding Arab and Iranian proposal to declare the region a nuclear-free zone! Why? Because Israel wants to keep its nukes so it can threaten its neighbors. As a result, we risk a nuclear war. 

The U.S. says it wants an end to hostilities and civilian deaths, largely those of women and children in the Gaza ‘war’ that is not a war because what we have is an army of well-equipped soldiers massacring defenseless women and children. Yet at the United Nations Security Council, the United States stands isolated after having vetoed three resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire!

The world recognizes that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is illegal and the U.S. has said that these settlements should not be expanded, yet has looked the other way as the proliferation of settlements has continued! And then this week at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, the United States has rushed to Israel’s defense—urging the 15-judge panel not to call for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory! The American State Department lawyer in support of Israel argued that the solution was not an Israeli withdrawal but that a sovereign Palestinian state “living safely and securely alongside” Israel would bring about lasting peace, repeating longstanding American platitudes that Netanyahu and two of his cabinet ministers have said will NEVER be allowed by Israel! The U.S. espouses these words in public in support of a Palestinian state, yet does NOTHING to make it a reality. 

This is duplicity to the max!

U.S. officials say that they have limited power over Netanyahu and Israel, I beg to differ. What if Biden announced that the U.S.:

- will no longer support Israeli intransigence at the United Nations,

- will suspend all financial and military aid to Israel (amounting to around $300 billion over the years), and

- will no longer sell arms to Israel?

Netanyahu will do as he is told. If Netanyahu does not do as told by the U.S. and if Israel then loses U.S. backing, Israelis would feel so naked and vulnerable that they would demand a change of government. It is that simple. But no U.S. president dares take such a stand because of the power of the Jewish lobby. It’s time for Americans to wake up and demand their government treat Israel as an ally but not as the 51st  state! Actually no, demand that their government not treat Israel as if it were above all 50 states! Today, America’s foreign policy toward the Middle East is in large part subservient to Israeli demands and their supporter, the Jewish lobby.

It’s time for Americans to wake up and demand their government treat Israel as an ally but not as the 51st  state! Actually no, demand that their government not treat Israel as if it were above all 50 states!

While America has been duplicitous in dealing with the Palestinian tragedy—saying one thing in public but doing little in private in its support—Palestinians have also received little or no effective backing from their Arab and Muslim brethren. Yes, most Arab and Muslim countries have supported South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and others have voiced their anger at Israel’s attack on Gaza, but there is much more that they could do if they had a little courage and compassion in the face of the massacre of innocent civilians, largely women and children. 

If Arabs and Muslims wanted to force a change in U.S. policies and create a Palestinian state forthwith, they would:

- recall their ambassadors to Washington (and to Tel Aviv for those having relations),

- expel all U.S. military personnel (bases) from their territories,

- follow up with both primary and secondary economic sanctions on Israel, and 

- bring cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli leaders and American and European heads of state for complicity in Israeli war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide (recognizing that Israel and the U.S. are not members of the ICC with enforcement difficult, still a conviction would be a black mark that no one would want).

Some Arab countries would be wise to consider these steps sooner rather than later as they may face growing domestic demands for action, possibly accompanied with much unrest.

*Hossein Askari is emeritus professor of business and international affairs, George Washington University