trump's hatchet job on peace in the Middle East

The dizzying pace of devastating actions coming out of this administration can be disarming. Let's pause to take stock and understand what it means for war and peace in the middle east.

When Trump announced the other day that he is considering a plan for “cleaning out” Gaza from Palestinians, his support for literally ethnic cleansing did not result in quite the shocking reactions that it deserves. That’s not so surprising at this point. The reason for the muted response is the pace of attacks we’re dealing with. That is, the people invested in ending the war and promoting a long-term solution to the conflict were barely recovering from a whole slew of other blows coming out of this new administration when we heard this comment. Some of us are still picking up our jaws off the floor.

This stifled response is a direct function of one of Trump’s main strategies for stifling resistance, which is to “flood the zone with shit” — a direct quote from Steve Bannon on how to keep opponents quiet. The trump world throws an endless stream of craziness at us so that much of it gets by just because it feels impossible to even respond to all of it. It’s like an endless game of whack-a-mole. That is happening.

Rather than fall into that trap of feeling too overwhelmed to respond — which is tempting; part of me is exhausted and may prefer to wallow in shock and despair from all this — I would instead like to take a breath and make some order. I’m writing this substack in order to carefully identify the items that we are now facing in terms of how trump is weilding an axe to kill all things related to justice, social action, and real peace in Israel and Palestine. This is especially important because the guy is already trying to brand himself as mister peace, which is about as accurate as describing him as a great businessman, or as someone who is beloved by women…. But I digress…What I’m saying is that we have to take our power back. And writing this substack is one of my major tools right now.

Facts and truth have never been more important than they are now. The first step in maintaining our sanity and protecting a humane vision of humanity comes from knowing and insisting upon facts from fiction, and thus remembering right from wrong. And so the purpose of this post is to shine the light on the actual actions that trump has been taking since returning to office regarding war and peace in Israel/Palestine and how they may affect the region in the near future and perhaps even for generations.

Freezing funding for everything other than…. weapons

Late Friday, US embassies around the world received notice from Secy of State Marco Rubio that all foreign funding is coming to a halt — that is, all humanitarian foreign funding. USAid, MEPA, the American Embassy in Israel, and other funders of peace-directed and shared-society initiatives are now all in limbo, in some cases with funding stopping mid-program. I have been hearing from many organizations here that are directly affected by this and do not know what’s next.

"This is lunacy," Jeremy Konyndyk, a former USAID official who is now president of Refugees International, said. "This will kill people. I mean, if implemented as written in that cable ... a lot of people will die."

Steve Ladeck wrote about this on his substack:

Even as the Trump administration has embarked upon a flurry of controversial initiatives over the past week, I’ve been reluctant to swing at every pitch. But this action belongs in a category unto itself. In essence, the Trump administration is claiming the unilateral power to at least temporarily “impound” tens of billions of dollars of appropriated funds—in direct conflict with Congress’s constitutional power of the purse, and in even more flagrant violation of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA).

Ladeck argues that this will end up in the hands of the Supreme Court, which is not a harbinger of good things to come.

Meanwhile, the NY Times notes that this freeze does not apply to arms funding for Israel and Egypt, which will continue.

So food and medicines are OUT but guns and bombs are IN. Noted.

Pro-Palestinian students to be deported

Trump signed an executive order to revoke visas of students who participated in campus protests. He has labeled them “Hamas thugs” even though many protesters were not pro-Hamas but rather pro-ceasefire and anti ethnic cleansing (see above). This action sets a very dangerous precedent regarding freedom of speech, and has certain, shall we say, KGB-esque tones of how easily protesters or critics can be labeled as enemies of the state and face things like arrest and deportation.

To make things worse, the World Betar Movement is apparently assisting trump in compiling lists of names of students who they want deported. One would think that Jews would be more sensitive about processes of blacklisting, considering our own history with McCarthyism. But alas…

And btw, as right-wing Jews actively participate in making lists and promoting these deportation orders, let’s take a moment to note the irony of how this is happening. Meaning, don’t let anyone tell you that “cancel culture” is a problem of so-called left-wing radicals. This thing that’s happening here is the worst form of cancel culture — the worst. It’s not just calling out someone’s opinions but about arresting them and/or forcibly expelling them from their homes. So, yeah, that’s happening already.

PSA: My new book about all of this came out a few days ago and I have a book launch happening Sunday with an amazing round-up of speakers! Register HERE

Rescinding sanctions against violent Jewish settlers

And in the ultimate double-standard, while Palestinians are threatened with deportation for voicing opposition to Israel policy, Jews who commit actual acts of violence are forgiven.

Biden had taken a bold step of sanctioning settler groups that promote or engage in acts of violence — such as those who go on rampages of Palestinian villages like Huwara, or who violently take over Palestinian homes, or who are actively working to Judaize Gaza and remove Palestinians from their homes. And now trump has reversed that order, signaling once again unilateral support for Jewish expansionist aspirations and zero support for Palestinian rights to basic security and justice.

Hardly surprising that almost on the exact same day, a gang of settlers rampaged through two Palestinian villages and attacked homes and businesses in Jinsafut and Al-Funduq north of Jerusalem.

Promoting annexation?

In case there was any doubt about the trump clan’s view on this, here are a few more indications of where this is all headed. Ambassador-to-Israel designate Mike Huckabee supports Israeli annexation.And designated US representative to the UN Elise Stefanik said in her confirmation hearings that Israel has a “biblical right” to the land — all of it. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegsweth believes in Israel’s right to kill kill kill….

We know what that means — all-encompassing rights for Israel and zero for Palestinians. And the possibility for Israel unilaterally annexing the West Bank has been legitimized and is already being discussed.

Support for ethnic cleansing

After his suggestion to “clean out” the Gaza strip, trump further explained that he believes that Egypt and Jordan should “take” the 2.2 million Gazans. According to the Times of Israel:

[Trump told [Jordanian king] Abdullah, “I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess. I’d like him to take people.”

When asked if this was a temporary or long-term suggestion, Trump said: “Could be either.”

“You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know, over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts, that site. And I don’t know, something has to happen,” Trump said.

So for all those who have been trying to argue that Israel does not engage in ethnic cleansing and would never even contemplate such a thing, there’s this.

CNN offers this roundup of what “cleaning out Gaza” may mean. Nothing good, that’s for sure.

And apparently, the Israeli government is already working on this plan.

Admissions of devastation in Gaza

It is worth pointing out that during these comments, trump also admitted that Israel has caused intense destruction and devastation in Gaza — “because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess…..It’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything is demolished and people are dying there.”

Rubble in Gaza would fill of Egypt’s great pyramid 11 times. Reuters.

Again, in case anyone had doubts about Israel’s actions over the past 15 months in Gaza.

And in a bit of a side note but too important to ignore, IDF soldier Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv who served for months in Gaza, gave an appalling television interview in which he proudly described endless demolition of buildings in Gaza — 50 buildings a week:

He confirmed the Givati Brigade's systematic targeting of civilian areas, which rendered entire towns uninhabitable.

"In Rafah, they [the Palestinians] have nothing to return to, and in Jabalia, there's nothing to return to," he said while bragging about using a D9 bulldozer to destroy multi-storey buildings.

"There's no Jabalia, it was all destroyed. Everything, building after building. They're the Palestinians] returning to nowhere, they have nothing, nothing, no home, nothing. They won't know where their home was" he added.

….[T]he interview had shown the Rabbi publicly inciting violence and hatred, including endorsing Palestinian civilians being killed and obliterating their communities.

Zarbiv is now being sought after for “crimes against humanity”.

Bibi is thrilled with all this

All of this is dreamy to Israel’s radical right-wing prime minister Bibi Netanyahu. trump is apparently giving Bibi a “free hand to blow up the region”.

To wit, Bibi is slated to be the first foreign leader to visit with trump in the coming weeks. The trump-bibi bromance at work.

We knew all this, of course. Many of us have been writing and talking and screaming about this for the past year or more. Bibi actively sabotaged Biden and Harris. He refused to sign a deal with Biden, refused to keep his word to Biden, and pandered to trump the entire time Biden was in office. And the second trump won, he was suddenly all kissing-up-to-trump again. This is, in fact, the only reason why we have a ceasefire at all, because of bibi’s blatant genuflection to trump. It is such a huge shame that so many progressive Americans were not able to see through this performance and instead spent all that time trashing Kamala Harris rather than understanding the big picture here. Anyway, here we are.

And in any event, will the ceasefire hold?

Both Bibi and trump have already signaled that the ceasefire may not “hold”. Trump has washed his hands of it, saying, “It’s not our war”.

So much for Mister Peace.

I hope with all my might that the ceasefire will indeed hold through the end — that Israel will get out of Gaza, that all the hostages will be released, that the Gazans will be supported in rebuilding their lives, and that real talks will get underway for long-term resolutions to this violent conflict.

I do think that under the right circumstances, trump may decide that doing that is in his best interest. And we all know that the only thing that ever truly guides him is his own interest. I do think that a scenario like that is possible.

Or, this can be a disaster.

Hopes and prayers…..

And continued activism and speaking out. That’s the only way.

PSA: Peace IS possible

Watch my colleague Eva Dalak work on peace on the micro as a model for peace on the macro. Women Ending War podcast.

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