Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
Mother’s Day in the Middle East is March 21. Yesterday in Gaza, mothers and their families faced war, death and starvation: not the best environment for a cake, gifts and flowers. While people across the Middle East were celebrating with their mothers, the people in Gaza were wondering why Arab leaders were unable to come to their aid.
Nearly 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and more than 74,000 injured amid mass destruction and the UN warns starvation has begun.
One woman in Gaza said, “Why are they worried about starvation? Is that worse than instant death from a bomb dropped on our heads?”
Blinken wasting time
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel today from Egypt on the third leg of his latest Middle East tour.
Blinken will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials after visiting Cairo on Thursday for talks with Arab foreign ministers about a Gaza cease-fire.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas is underway in Doha, mediated by Qatar and Egypt and with the participation of the US, aimed at reaching a cease-fire and hostage exchange deal.
Blinken has met Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo, and reiterated the call for the two-state solution, while working to secure an immediate ceasefire for at least six weeks and the release of all hostages.
Blinken and his team drink coffee and eat Baklava across the Middle East as part of their effort to appear to be working to find a solution to end the suffering in Gaza, but this is part of US President Joe Biden’s plan to buy time for Netanyahu.
Analysts have said Biden is willing for 100,000 Palestinians to die before he is willing to cut off the weapons flow to Israel. The various US media reports hinting at a Biden-Netanyahu rift has been part of the effort Biden uses to buy time to allow Netanyahu to fully complete his military objective in Gaza, which includes the complete destruction of any armed resistance, and the evacuation of all people.
Biden to meet Israeli officials
In the coming week, Israeli officials will visit Washington at the invitation of Biden, where they will have coffee and apple pie while buying time for Netanyahu.
Biden spoke with Netanyahu on March 18, and Biden requested to meet with Israelis including military, intelligence and humanitarian officials. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan reported the meeting will present a Biden plan that avoids a major Rafah invasion.
With a plane load of Israeli officials scheduled to fly to Washington anyway, Netanyahu asked Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant to tag along, where he will present a long list of US weapons Israel wants to receive as soon as possible. Never mind the US State Department policy prohibiting US weapons to be shipped to any country violating humanitarian laws. Apple pie, coffee and F-35s are on the menu at the State Department.
US pier will evacuate Palestinians permanently
Experts and humanitarian officials were shocked at the Biden plan to construct a pier in Gaza to off-load food and supplies to Gaza, when there are already seven land routes into Gaza and hundreds of trucks full of food waiting at the closed gates.
Israel’s Kan broadcaster reported Netanyahu proposed to use the US built pier to off-load all the Palestinian people from Gaza. The proposal was presented by Netanyahu at a special meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. It will be supported in the western media as a ‘humanitarian evacuation’ and the international community will play follow-the-leader behind Biden.
“The port can facilitate the exit of the Palestinians from Gaza,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying. “There is no obstacle to the Palestinians leaving the Gaza Strip, except for the unwillingness of other countries to accept them.”
According to Biden, the pier will allow “a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.” He seems not to have asked why the seven gates are not opened by Israel to allow the existing aid to enter, rather than wait two months to build a pier.
Mustafa Barghouti, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), said in a post on X, “Netanyahu revealed his intentions towards the American port in Gaza in his presentation at Israeli Knesset security committee saying that the port can be used to transfer Palestinians out of Gaza. He never gave up his dream of a complete ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza.”
Israel has a long standing policy that any Palestinian leaving the occupation will never be able to return. This policy is to protect Israel from the return of millions of Palestinians living in exile, having been forced from their homeland at gun point by the Israeli army and Israeli armed militias over decades.
The end game
US House Speaker Mike Johnson says he plans to invite Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress. Johnson is a key supporter of President Donald Trump in his bid to be elected in November. Trump and Netanyahu have worked closely together, and it has been said no US President in history has done more for Israel than Trump. A Trump presidency in 2025 looks like winning the Jack-Pot in the eyes of Netanyahu.
South Africa
South Africa asked the International Court of Justice to rule on whether Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. The court has not given their final opinion, but said from the evidence presented it would appear that Israel might be headed toward committing genocide.
In order to punish South Africa for their concern and efforts to save lives in Gaza, the US House of Representatives has introduced a bill to comprehensively review US relations with South Africa, which passed on a voice vote.
Republican John James and Democrat Jared Moscowitz introduced the bill in February and accuse the South African government and their ruling African National Congress (ANC) of building military and political ties with Hamas, designated by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Why would the US Congress want to shoot the messenger? Certainly no elected official in America, including Biden, could afford to make AIPAC angry. Their political lives depends on keeping AIPAC happy in all matters effecting the US policy with Israel.
Prominent Jewish Americans from diverse backgrounds have come together to voice opposition to the pro-Israel lobby group, AIPAC, and its influence on the elections in the United States.
The group calling itself Jewish Americans Opposing AIPAC said, “we’ve agreed to come together to highlight and oppose the unprecedented and damaging role of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and allied groups in U.S. elections, especially within Democratic Party primaries.”
AIPAC is one of Washington’s most powerful pro-Israel lobby groups that is expected to spend over $100 million in the 2024 campaign.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist
