Commentary
The American (and Italian) lotus-eaters
The Israeli PM would prefer Trump as president, and his intention is to avoid elections until November so he can stay in power, but it’s not certain that he will be so much worse off with the Democrats in the White House.
To be successful, an election campaign in the U.S. (as in other countries) needs not only cash, but also another key element: forgetful voters. This is also true for Israeli PM Netanyahu's speech to Congress, snubbed by presidential candidate Kamala Harris and strongly attacked by Nancy Pelosi. Obviously, all this was meant to be appealing to the Arab, Muslim and pro-Palestinian minority vote.
But there was a twist to the scenario: the vibrant protests in front of (and inside) Capitol Hill, with Jewish anti-occupation youth at the forefront, under the banner of Bernie Sanders' uncompromising words: “Sinwar is a war criminal. Netanyahu is a war criminal” – which were violently suppressed with hundreds of arrests.
The Democratic voters are supposed to forget that during the spring – with the Gaza massacre fully underway – Congress and the Biden administration approved a military aid package to Israel for over $26 billion. They must forget that this is only an addition to the might of the Israeli army, which already saw the Obama administration allocate $38 billion to Tel Aviv. One can only imagine what would happen if the front with Lebanon blows up, or the one in the Red Sea with the attacks of the Yemeni Houthis – all part of the “axis of evil” headed by Iran that Netanyahu spoke about, giving the impression that Israel and the United States are on equal footing when it comes to making decisions on foreign policy.
Biden, who came to the White House saying he wanted to reopen negotiations with Tehran after Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal sought by Obama, has done very little to fulfill that promise. His voters called upon to cast their vote for Harris must forget this as well – namely, the fact that the United States is interested in fostering a climate of perpetual conflict in the Middle East, which is exactly what Israel wants in order to justify its occupation and settlements in the Palestinian territories. The heavy atmosphere of apartheid is not changing.
Netanyahu, who met with Biden and Harris on Thursday and with Trump on Friday, might not fare so badly even if the Democrats win. It’s true that Trump gave Israel the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state and of the perennial occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights ongoing since 1967, and forged the Abraham Accords with the Arab monarchies – while Biden inherited all of these and continued in the same vein. The Israeli PM would prefer Trump as president, and his intention is to avoid elections until November so he can stay in power, but it’s not certain that he will be so much worse off with the Democrats in the White House. Who would actually dare to treat Netanyahu as a wanted man after the warrant comes from the International Criminal Court – which, by the way, the U.S. doesn’t recognize?
The double-standard policy is bound to continue under any U.S. administration, and campaign statements are dust in the wind. The voters are forgetful by definition.
The politics of forgetfulness is also being practiced in Italy. As Israeli President Herzog visits Rome, we have to forget that Italy continued to supply arms to Israel during the Gaza war, and leave aside the fact that in October, just weeks after the start of the fighting, ENI accepted a gas exploration contract from Tel Aviv for an area facing the Strip which belongs to the Palestinians. We wouldn’t have known about this if there hadn’t been a complaint from an American law firm. And we must ignore, as we are accustomed to do, that in March 2023 this government signed a cybersecurity contract with Netanyahu which led to the head of our cybersecurity agency resigning. All must be kept quiet.
We must also forget Defense Minister Crosetto's statements in Jerusalem, claiming that “the Israelis always warn the civilians before bombing Hamas.” Surely this must have been done on July 13, when Israeli fighter jets and drones bombed Al Mawasi, which the army had designated as the only safe area for the inhabitants of the Strip: an area of 6.5 square kilometers where Israel would like to lock up 1.8 million people who have lost everything. The result was a massacre with dozens upon dozens of civilians killed. And the slaughter continues every day.
Meanwhile, the Italians, at least according to our government, are the best allies of the bipartisan American policies in the Middle East. Our rate of forgetting is extremely high, and those who dare to protest or even remember the truth are treated as dangerous subversives.
Some do not forget, however: the Palestinians and our Arab interlocutors in the region (not that of the Mattei Plan), useful for “trading” migrants for oil – and which remain perfectly aware of the fact that Italy did not even have the courage to vote for a Palestinian state. They would like us, like Odysseus' sailors, to eat the sweet lotus fruit, which in the Odyssey myth was located precisely on the Libyan shores – and forget enough to declare it a “safe port” after all.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/i-lotofagi-della-politica-usa-e-italiana on 2024-07-26