Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – President Joe Biden has proposed a new peace plan for Gaza, which is provisionally accepted by Hamas. Israeli cooperation is harder to come by, as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) has made it clear he’s only interested in prosecuting the war in Gaza to exterminate Hamas, even if it means killing 30 innocents for every real terrorist. It’s particularly disturbing to hear the IDF spokesman say in essence, “It was a success because we killed two leaders of Oct. 7, even though 35 innocents were killed in the operation.” That’s a sociopathic approach, and cavalier attitude about murdering innocent people. Biden’s plan calls for:
- A six-week ceasefire with Israeli forces withdrawing from “all populated areas” of Gaza. Some elderly and women hostages would be freed, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Then, Palestinian civilians could return to what’s left of their homes (if any), and 600 trucks a day would be allowed in with humanitarian aid. Hamas and Israel would negotiate a permanent ceasefire, which that Biden said would last “as long has Hamas lives up to its commitments.” If negotiations take more than six weeks, the temporary ceasefire would extend while they are at the table.
- There will be an exchange for all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers. Israeli forces will withdraw from Gaza,and the permanent ceasefire would begin.
- A major reconstruction plan for Gaza, and the return of the “final remains” of hostages to their families.
Joe Biden has become an embattled president for his continued support of the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Let’s call it what it is. Biden has paid lip service to the realities, but done nothing to withhold the US financial support that makes the assaults possible. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) has already expressed intent to defy any US-led plans for a cease fire in Gaza, and he is held hostage from participating by his far-right government, who would quit if he went along. His right-wing coalition, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have already threatened to collapse the government if the proposals are accepted.
Considering the way Bibi undermined Democratic President Barack Obama in 2015, it’s surprising that Democrats Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries signed on to the invitation to have Bibi address a joint session of Congress again. But this is a genuine bi-partisanship effort to keep hope alive. Consider also that eight Republican senators vowed to oppose any affirmative appointments or legislation, in retaliation for Donald Trump’s conviction in New York State Court, where there is NO federal authority or reach. But they blame Biden! They promise a sequel of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s vow to prevent President Obama from accomplishing anything.
As with Bibi, Donald Trump is running for president to stay out of jail. While Trump is now a convicted felon, and Bibi uses legislative Voodoo to delay facing his own criminal charges go away for bribery, corruption and breach of trust along with attacks on his own legal system. The parallels of their political careers, and swamping of their country’s political systems has become a threat to world stability. For now, Gaza is the fuse of the global tinderbox. Before these men served, no Israeli leader had ever dared to interfere in US electoral politics. Trump openly campaigned for Bibi. It’s almost as if they ran on the same ticket in 2020. The political survival of both men is dependent on generating political outrage among their bases, because they have nothing else to run on.
The latest fresh outrage is the most vivid illustration yet of Republican efforts to defy centuries of US Government customs and boundaries, in fealty to Trump. Senate Republicans are violating Separation of Powers boundaries, by pressuring Judge Juan Merchan to NOT sentence former President Trump to prison, because “that could disrupt the likely GOP nominee’s ability to campaign ahead of the November election.” Excuse me, but campaigning is a privilege, not a natural or Constitutional right. Senator Thom Tillis argued, “Now he looks like he truly is being treated in a punitive way by the courts.” Don’t multiple felony convictions usually result in “punitive” sanctions? Not surprisingly, Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul now expect the Supreme Court to overturn any conviction. That’s pure fantasy in the legal realm, because the SCOTUS does not get involved in state criminal cases, where no constitutional issues have been raised at trial. Ilya Somin, a George Mason University law professor said, “There is no procedure for a case like this to go directly from a state trial court to the federal Supreme Court. There just isn’t.”
NBC News Video: “New signs of tension between Biden and Israel’s Netanyahu over war”
While it would be unusual for Trump, or any defendant, to receive a prison sentence for a class E felony (1 in 10), his arrogant violations of numerous gag orders are part of the equation, and attacks on Court personnel would bring punitive sanctions against any citizen. These senators are engaging in unlawful intimidation of a judge when they say, “it would be an abuse of power,” and characterizing a valid legal decision as “weaponizing the Justice Department,” as Sen. John Cornyn claimed. Their arguments that, “any sentence that would impact Trump’s mobility or ability to communicate with voters could seriously undermine voters’ confidence in the fairness of the 2024 election,” is an act of intimidation, and a veiled threat of more widespread January 6 riots. Their argument rests on the fiction that Trump running for president affords him special protections, not available to other citizens. This ignores the fact that Trump has demonstrated a sense of imperial entitlement to break laws as it suits his authoritarian ambitions. By presuming to “instruct” a judge how to manage Trump’s case, these senators, who voted to overturn the 2020 Election; are openly promoting an end to our democratic system, and embrace of an openly Fascist authoritarian.
Trump and Bibi have undermined their nation’s judicial systems with their paranoid “deep state conspiracy” claims. They behave like Fascist, and accuse their opponents of their own sins, just as Ronald Reagan taught them. At the same time, Trump has destroyed confidence is the US Court system, by stacking the courts with far-right ideologues, in fealty to him. Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida is a destructive example, having “spent so much time puzzling over minor issues that the trial would almost certainly be delayed beyond the presidential election in November.” It’s hard to know if she really believes there’s any valid legal reasoning for delaying his date with Justice in the Florida documents case, or is fearful for her life and family as many Trump turncoat-patriots have been. Now the guilty verdict is being spun to his political advantage, and immediately yielded an additional $34.8M for his campaign.
Vladimir Putin and Bibi are waiting for Trump to return to office, to better consolidate their respective authoritarian regimes and war campaigns. After all, he gave both everything they wanted when he was president. Bibi’s plan is to prosecute the war until the November election, betting on Trump’s return, and approval to consolidate his hold on Gaza. But whereas Bibi has empowered and enabled the worst settler elements of Israeli society to ramp up the violence against West Bank Palestinians, by elevating Israeli “Proud Boys” to cabinet positions; Trump has shot steroids into the Christian Nationalist movement in the US, with brazen Fascist underpinnings. Both leaders made Faustian bargains with the most extreme elements of their political bases for political survival. But neither learned to play guitar like Robert Johnson.
Biden’s passive-aggressive approach to Gaza is working against him on two fronts. His unqualified support for Israel alienates many progressive voters in the US (including Jews), who recognize the atrocity at hand. Yet he is so patronizing towards Jews that his policies prompted a Jewish employee of the Interior Dept. to resign in protest. In a column in The Guardian, Lily Greenberg Call said, “The president has weaponized the idea of Jewish safety to justify the atrocity in Gaza. I could no longer stand by. I resigned on Wednesday, 15 May – the 76th anniversary of the Nakba – because I could no longer serve at the pleasure of a president who refuses to stop another catastrophe.” She added, “Each day, I see photos of those displaced in Gaza, and I am reminded of my own family’s memory of loved ones killed in the Shoah – which, in turn, reminds me of the Nakba: the tragedy that occurred in 1948 when . . . 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homeland for the formation of today’s modern Israel. Shoah and Nakba mean the same thing in Hebrew and Arabic: catastrophe.” Meanwhile, the current Israeli offensive has displaced over 1 million people. This podcast of Lily Greenberg Call encapsulates many of the objections to Biden’s management of the crisis. She said, “We’ve seen the president continue to express unconditional support for Israel in Gaza, and using my community, the Jewish community as the justification for that – saying, ‘what’s happening to Palestinians in Gaza is necessary to keep the Jewish community safe. . . . It’s also disastrous for the Jewish communities around the world.”
But consider that Trump has weaponized his phony concern for Jews far worse than Biden has; and that fueled his disastrous Abraham Accords, the US Embassy move to Jerusalem, and appointment of David Friedman as Ambassador to Israel. Republicans have become so emboldened, they assume that a man who could “shoot somebody on 5th Ave. and still be elected,” could be elected president from Riker’s Island.
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