PALESTINIANS have long been suspicious of US-Israeli complicity and have every reason for being so.
I remember well back during the Camp David Summit of 2000 while based in Jerusalem, listening to how one Israeli government official explained away the nature of what President John F Kennedy back in 1962 first called the “special relationship”.
In fact the extent of the lobby’s power back then always seemed to me best summed up by the cheekily wry slogan emblazoned across T-shirts for sale in Arab shops in Jerusalem’s Old City bazaar. Annually, the US continues to provide Israel with something to the tune of $3.8bn of support over and above other arms deals, security guarantees and benefits.
Not only had Ron Dermer and Tzachi Hanegbi, members of Israel’s war cabinet and close confidants of Netanyahu, been due to travel to the US to discuss the looming invasion of Rafah, which Washington opposes, but it transpires that Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, who is widely seen in Israeli political circles as a rival to Netanyahu, was already there for a separate visit.
In short, historically it’s been one-way traffic with Washington bowing almost to Netanyahu’s every whim while in return all the US gets is a series of reactive flashpoints in the region that could well drag the US into a full-scale war. Sound familiar? It would be welcome to think that what we are witnessing right now is the start of a potential reset in US-Israeli relations. Personally, I don’t buy that. Sure, Israel’s war in Gaza has created a moment from which the clock cannot be turned back. That things will change is certain, the only question is what and how?
The real test will come in whether Washington ceases its arms flow to Israel and reports suggest that the reason Israeli defence minister Gallant is actually in the US right now is to make sure that doesn’t happen and that he will request specific weapons for the ongoing war – rival to Netanyahu or not.
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