Barely 24 hours after denouncing attack on civilians, Washington beat a hasty retreat with Obama signing a Bill to give Israel $225 million to restock its ‘Iron Dome’ missile defence system to counter short-range rocket threats
Seldom has the United States found itself caught in such a cleft stick on the Israel-Palestine front as by its responses to the raging conflict of the past one month. Successive administrations in Washington, whether Republican or Democratic, have reaffirmed the special relations with Israel by backing it to the hilt in about every crisis situation over the decades. But the heavy-handed retaliation by the Benjamin Netanyahu Government in Gaza following Hamas’ provocative actions has resulted in the death of more than 1,800 Palestinians as opposed to 67 Israelis. If the disproportionate offensive and casualty figures have put Israel in the dock, the United States, too, finds itself in a tight spot in the court of international public opinion with its undiminished support for Israel.
At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva a fortnight ago, the United States was the only country to vote against a resolution condemning Israel and instituting a commission of enquiry to “investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”. Twenty-nine nations, including India, otherwise a friend of Israel, voted in favour of the resolution, while 17 countries, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan, abstained. Public opinion within America has been divided on the issue. According to a recent Gallup poll, 42 per cent of Americans believe that the Israeli action in Gaza is justified, while 38 per cent think otherwise. Israel derives much of its American support from the Republicans, rather than the Democrats.
The massive death toll on the Palestinian side (an estimated 20 per cent of them children) and the scale of destruction of property have in recent days prompted the Obama administration to attempt a course correction. Following last Sunday’s Israeli shelling outside a UN relief site in Gaza that killed 10 more Palestinian civilians and injured many more, the United States for the first time denounced the Israeli offensive and did so with surprisingly strong language, saying it was “appalled” by the “disgraceful” attack. Asking Israel to “do more to meet its own standards and avoid civilian casualties”, it stated bluntly: “The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians.”
But barely 24 hours later, Washington appeared to beat a hasty retreat with President Barack Obama signing a Bill that was overwhelmingly approved by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives (395 to 8) to give Israel $225 million to restock its “Iron Dome” missile defence system to counter short-range rocket threats. One of the largest recipients of American aid, Israel gets $3.1 billion annually, mostly in military aid. And support for the Iron Dome, projected as concrete US assistance to enable Israel protect its citizens, remains strong and bipartisan. As Republican Senator John McCain puts it, “Israeli civilians are alive today because of Iron Dome, and American taxpayers can be extremely proud of the contribution we have made to this life-saving programme.”
Articulating the American position on the current crisis, Mr Obama told a news conference this week: “I have consistently supported Israel’s right to defend itself, and that includes doing what it needs to do to prevent rockets from landing on population centres and, more recently, as we learned, preventing tunnels from being dug under their territory that can be used to launch terrorist attacks….Now, having said all that, I’ve also expressed my distress at what’s happened to innocent (Palestinian) civilians, including women and children, during the course of this process.” But he steered clear of the thrust of a question on whether he agreed with Mr Netanyahu’s contention that Israel’s Gaza operations have been “justified and proportionate”.
For all its close bond and public solidarity with Israel, the Obama administration has in private been miffed with the Netanyahu Government. The New York Times recently chronicled a “history of Obama-Netanyahu tensions”. Noted political commentator David Gergen has dubbed it the worst relationship between a US President and an Israeli leader since the days of Eisenhower. A CNN account recalled how an open microphone in 2011 caught then French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling Netanyahu “a liar”, with Obama commenting: “You’re tired of him; what about meIJ I have to deal with him every day.”
At the height of the current hostilities in Gaza, Mr Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry incurred the formidable Israeli premier’s ire with his peacemaking efforts. Mr Netanyahu felt that Mr Kerry’s ceasefire proposal tended to favour Hamas and its continuity. He reportedly asked Mr Kerry and US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro “not to ever second-guess me again” on how to deal with Hamas, which he calls a “terrorist” outfit committed to the destruction of Israel. Mr Netanyahu eventually agreed to an “abortive” 72-hour ceasefire amid mounting criticism over the Israeli shelling near the UN facility that prompted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to term it “a moral outrage and a criminal act”.
The periodic rift over Mr Netanyahu’s approach notwithstanding, the United States continues to be a steadfast supporter of Israel and its right to defend itself. “In a world of bitter enmities, the Israeli-American dispute is more akin to a family quarrel,” comments The New York Times. The White House, too, has sought to play down the differences, with Press Secretary Josh Earnest asserting: “The nature of our relationship is strong and unchanged.” And Mr Netanyahu for his part has sought to apply balm, lauding President Obama’s “unequivocal stand with Israel on our right to defend ourselves” and Mr Kerry for his “untiring efforts”. This bonhomie has not gone down well with America’s much smaller pro-Palestinian segment that staged demonstrations outside the White House to demand the stoppage of US aid to Israel and Israeli vacation of its occupation of Palestine.
(The writer is Washington Correspondent, The Pioneer)