Be Ready to Fight President Joe Biden on Israel-Palestine

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While the world breathes a collective sigh of relief at Donald Trump’s defeat and laughs at his attempts to stay in power, we now have to ready ourselves for the “return to normalcy” that we’ve been promised. Joe Biden, a hawk with a long history as Israel’s “close friend” throughout his political career, will occupy the White House come January.Right-wing Zionist, Zev Chafets recently reflected on meeting a starry-eyed Senator Biden in Israel some decades ago, who had teared up while talking about his love for Israel. Now, Chafets reports:[Biden] has retained an affection for Israel, but he’s no longer a neophyte. Compared to George W. Bush, Barack Obama or Donald Trump, he’s an old Middle East hand, a Democrat but not an idealist. While much is made of the closeness between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, Biden is likely to differ more in tone than substance.Chafets reassures readers that a President Biden will likely do little “beyond restoring U.S. aid to Ramallah, reopening the [Palestinian Liberation Organization] office in Washington and perhaps renewing the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem. Absent real pressure (of the kind even Obama didn’t exert), however, Israel won’t make concessions that go far beyond the Trump Plan.”During his tenure in Washington, Trump took unprecedented measures to bolster Israel’s most right-wing elements. He moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, stopped all US aid to Palestinians, closed the Palestinians’ diplomatic mission in Washington, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, and (under the guise of fighting antisemitism) signed an executive order which empowered the federal government to withhold money from educational institutions that don’t clamp down on Palestine activism.Yet the pro-Israel lobby by and large backed Biden — and for good reason. As Ross Barkan explained: “If Biden has pivoted leftward on certain domestic policies, including the possible embrace of greater stimulus spending, he has given no ground to progressives on the Middle East. For Israel hawks, his presidency will not represent a significant departure from the Trump administration’s incendiary approach.” [Continue …]