A NEWS agency used perhaps the most appropriate word when it said that Donald Trump, too, would make a ‘pilgrimage’ to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to counter what his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, had said at the same forum earlier.
Before this all-important ‘pilgrimage’ to the AIPAC, the Republican demagogue had said in a talk show what in America, especially in an election year, amounts to blasphemy — that the US should be neutral on the Arab-Israeli issue.
Ms Clinton had amends to make as well, for the Israel lobby is angry with the White House’s Democratic incumbent over the Iran nuclear deal. The Democratic hopeful lambasted Mr Trump for his remarks, said the US couldn’t be neutral on the Arab-Israeli issue, declared “we must take our alliance to the next level”, and demanded that the US arm the Israeli military “with the most sophisticated defence technology”.
In turn, when Mr Trump finally spoke at the AIPAC, he did an even better job at winning over hearts and minds there and was cheered when he said President “Obama may be the worst thing to ever happen to Israel, believe me, believe me”.
As always, there is stiff competition between the two parties regarding who bends over backwards more to please and impress the AIPAC — the AIPAC with its media and money; the AIPAC with many in Congress in its pocket; the AIPAC whose allegedly chosen neo-cons run American policy in the Middle East.
No wonder, an American veto is always there to pre-empt any Security Council resolution that censures Israel for its war crimes and crimes against humanity — now in Lebanon, now in Gaza.
The cumulative effect of Washington’s categorical support to the Jewish state has led to a widespread distrust of America among the Palestinian and Arab peoples, fuelling anger in Muslim populations and providing fodder to extremist groups to promote violence and their own anti-West agenda.
Israel has also cleverly used 9/11 to delegitimise the Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom and has, with America’s tacit approval, continued building settlements on the West Bank with a view to annexing it.
As a result, America’s participation in any ‘war on terror’ invites scepticism if not ridicule in the Middle East. Only the future can tell whether any American president will show the same courage in dealing with the Palestinian question as President Obama did on the Iranian deal.
Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2016
