Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
When US President Joe Biden was elected in 2020, he had first considered appointing William J. Burns as Secretary of State, but eventually chose Antony Blinken. Burns was later tapped to be the Director of the CIA. Sources close to Biden say that should Biden be re-elected in 2024, he may replace Blinken with Burns.
Burns left a diplomatic career in 2014 after 32 years, and took the position of president at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace before becoming the head of the CIA in 2021. Last month, Zaha Hassan wrote on their website, “For Palestinians, the “Day After” Starts with a Plan for Ending Israel’s Occupation”.
The mission of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is “reducing global conflict, and promoting active international engagement between the United States and countries around the world.” At the CIA, Burns does not make US policy, but at the State Department Blinken does.
Blinken told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his visit to Israel was “not just as secretary of state, but also a Jew.”
Blinken’s statement, as an American-born official representing the government of the United States as Secretary of State in a secular government and society, is repugnant, unacceptable and undiplomatic.
Blinken arrived in Israel on an US government plane, fuel by gasoline that the US tax-payers paid for. He did not go to Israel as a private citizen on vacation.
Blinken does not represent the American people in the current Israeli war on Gaza. He represents the interests of Israel. He has been called an “Israeli agent” anonymously behind his back in diplomatic circles in Washington, DC and dozens of staffers have sent him letters of protest against his handling of the Gaza war.
A diplomat can only work representing one country at a time. Blinken is on the US government payroll, but also working for the benefit of Israel, making him a double-agent.
Biden won 2020 in part because he appealed to the younger voters. Now, the younger voters are disgusted with Biden’s handling of the genocide in Gaza. If Biden loses in November, it could be in part because of the Israeli attack on the people of Gaza, in an act of revenge for the horrific attack on the Israel by Hamas on October 7, in which 1,300 died, and 200 were taken as hostages to Gaza.
Israel receives its weapons, humanitarian supplies and cash benefits from the US, paid for by the American taxpayers. In good times, the taxpayers don’t seem to mind, but when they see images out of Gaza showing the wholesale destruction of homes, infrastructure, and the accompanying slaughter of over 23,000 people, most of which are women and children, they want it to stop immediately.
Americans are independent thinkers, value hard work and struggle, and have an entrenched sympathy for the under-dog. The US mainstream media has covered the plight of the Palestinian civilians suffering, but they also cover the domestic election, which prevents the American people from being over-whelmed by the news and videos coming out of Gaza. The closest any American media gets to the story is their journalists reporting from Tel Aviv, which means the audience will hear the Israeli spin on the story.
In the age of internet, where young people, and increasingly middle-aged people, are spending a great deal of time on their mobile phone, the viewers are see the images and reports coming out of Gaza directly. Americans have an innate hatred of injustice, and have a growing distrust in their own government.
If the current situation was made into a Hollywood movie, with an actor like George Clooney playing the US president, the actor would forcefully tell the Israeli Prime Minister to stop the wholesale bombing of civilians in Palestine, or face being cut off from US funds and weapons. The actor would make a speech to the American people, saying that a fundamental American value is human rights, the value of every life, and the hope of freedom for all peoples, everywhere, even in Palestine. But, we are not in Hollywood.
If freedom and human rights are an American value, then why doesn’t Biden call for a ceasefire in Gaza? He can’t because it is an election year. AIPAC is the Israel lobby which exerts control on the US government and Congress. Every politician knows that if you come out against Israel on any issue, you face being targeted by AIPAC. The lobby will make your re-election impossible, and their attack can ruin careers, and even families.
Reported by Medium recently, anonymous members of Biden’s campaign staff demanded in a letter that Biden call for a ceasefire, citing concerns for the election outcome.
Recently, AIPAC targeted Harvard, McGill and the University of Pennsylvania, accusing their presidents of allowing anti-Semitism to flourish on campus. American college students had held Palestinian flags, and protest signs calling for freedom in Palestine, which is not anti-Semitism. Supporting freedom for the Palestinian people, any other oppressed and occupied people on earth, is demonstrating an American value. Two of the presidents lost their jobs after the AIPAC orchestrated attack, and the one who identified herself as Jewish was allowed to remain.
A poll found that of people ages 18-29, 28% sympathized with Palestinians, while only 20% with Israelis. When younger people heard that Israel denied Gaza water, food and medicines, and prevented any travel in or out of Gaza, this caused them to sympathize with the Palestinians.
William Burns has spent years in the Middle East, and speaks Arabic. We can’t blame Blinken for Biden’s foreign policy which is blind acquiescence to every dictate from Israel, because Biden is the Commander in Chief. But, what if Burns was at the helm in the US-Israeli negotiations on the genocide in Gaza? If State Department staffers were to write letters of complaint to Burns about Gaza, would he simply dismiss them with double-talk like Blinken has, or would he take the matter to Biden and find a way to deal with Israel which keeps American values in tact?
President Richard Nixon stopped the Vietnam ar, and admitted that he had no choice because the American public opinion was against the war, and protesters caused him to end the war. Biden has the chance to follow the American conscience, and possibly win re-election, or he can bow down to Netanyahu and lose. Israeli political analysts feel there is no political future possible for Netanyahu after this Gaza war. It would appear, Biden is headed for the same retirement.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist
