Can the U.S. Dig Itself Out of the Moral Grave Bibi Has Put It In?
Feb. 28—Furious discussion is underway in multiple national capitals as the United States desperately tries to force a temporary ceasefire and halt Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s war of extermination against Palestinians in Gaza before it might reach a bloody zenith in an assault on the city of Rafah, crowded with more than a million refugees.
President "Sleepy" Joe Biden told reporters Feb. 27 that he expected a deal to be in place by no later than this coming weekend. However, sources report that despite pressure from the U.S. and members of his war cabinet and the military, Bibi is still holding out, and has yet to agree to what his own negotiators had worked out.
Last weekend, a tentative deal was hammered out in Paris for a 6-week ceasefire during which Israel would agree to allow humanitarian aid to flow to the battered and starving Palestinians, and the Hamas terrorists would agree to release the an unspecified number of the remaining hostages they have held since their attack and massacre of October 7. Israel would also release an as yet undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners they have held in administrative detention without charge or trial. The Paris negotiators, who included Israelis and Hamas, according to some reports, also included Egyptian, Qatari, and United States negotiators, whom sources report were given orders from President Biden to make a deal.
The terms of the proposed ceasefire, which have not been released as of this morning, were not said to be dissimilar to what had been proposed earlier this month, but were rejected by Bibi and the religious zealots who dominate his government and the war cabinet, giving the excuse that Hamas had changed them; instead of continuing to negotiate, Bibi cut off future talks. Under pressure from the White House, he reluctantly approved this new round of talks.
But sources close to the White House report that Biden has lost all patience and respect for Netanyahu, as his positions have placed United States government officials in the position of defending a genocide that they know is taking place, but they cannot admit to, as they shudder in fear before the potential wrath of the powerful political moneybags of the Israeli lobby, should they speak the truth.
Biden has personally asked Bibi to find a way to end his military actions that have clearly slaughtered innocent civilians, including woman and children, only to be told that Israel will continue its efforts until Hamas is “totally destroyed as a military and political force”—something Israeli military intelligence, in a report leaked to the press late last week, says is impossible.
On February 20, the United States, in the person of its Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, cast the sole “No” vote, thus vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution submitted by Algeria calling for a ceasefire to implement the provisional measures ordered to Israel Jan. 26 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to halt its actions against innocent civilians in Gaza that could constitute genocide, and to stop blocking humanitarian aid shipments to the battered population. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield argued that approval of the resolution might harm diplomatic efforts, then underway in Paris:
“Any action this Council takes right now should help, not hinder these sensitive and ongoing negotiations, and we believe that the resolution on the table right now would in fact negatively impact those negotiations.”
“Demanding an immediate unconditional ceasefire without an agreement requiring Hamas to release the hostages will not bring about durable peace. Instead, it could extend the fighting between Hamas and Israel.”
She later denounced the 13 votes in favor of the Algerian resolution (The UK abstained) as “wishful and irresponsible.” This, even as the U.S. was circulating its own resolution (which it did not introduce to be voted on) that called for a ceasefire and aid, and importantly endorsed the two-state solution that Bibi has rejected.
Sources report that the White House has told the Israelis that this was the last time the U.S. would veto such a resolution, and that it would submit its own resolution, and demand its enforcement if Israel rejects this ceasefire offer. Intelligence sources say that Bibi is working through his own operatives inside Hamas to see if he can somehow again sucker that highly suspect and infiltrated organization to take the pressure off him by rejecting the new proposal. There are unconfirmed reports that these efforts may be failing, as Hamas is said to be ready accept the deal.
There are other problems that could put Israel at loggerheads with its arms supplier and ally, the United States. On Feb. 26, as required by the ICJ, Israel submitted a report to that body which claimed it was taking steps to limit civilian casualties, while absurdly claiming that it was the United Nations that was slowing the flow of humanitarian aid and that Israel was not impeding that flow—despite video and other evidence that they were turning aside trucks loaded with aid provisions. In addition, the report, which was prepared by the Justice and Foreign Ministeries, and was signed off on by Netanyhau, also details steps being taken to deal with Israelis who have made and continue to make racist remarks about Palestinians and urge their slaughter.
A source who has spoken to someone who had read the filing reports that it could be characterized as a "self-serving fantasy." It is unclear what the ICJ will do with it—whether it will find Israel in violation of its Jan. 26 provisional orders. And it is equally unclear how the White House will respond, as it has as recently as two days ago urged Israel to let more aid come through. For now, the White House has no comment, claiming that it has not seen the document.
Said one source:
“Bidden is not a happy camper. He really needs a ceasefire to save some face.the reality is that Bibi has long ago put America’s moral standing in the world into the same mass grave in which he piles the bodies of his innocent victims. Biden may finally see this is a good thing, but it comes too late. Everyone knows that the White House gave the green light to what is now one of the greatest genocides of recent time. They acted with political cowardice and will now pay the price. I don’t know if the U.S. can crawl out of the moral grave that Bibi and his sponsors have dug for us, even if this ceasefire deal goes through. Most of the world will not forget our moral cowardice for a very long time.”
This and other sources pointed to the British position, which has somehow managed over the last weeks, to quietly shift away from support for Bibi and his war of vengeance and genocide. They abstained in the UNSC vote last week, denouncing Israel’s defiance of world opinion and the ICJ: “The Brits are laughing at us,” the source said.
Meanwhile, neither U.S. nor any other nation has yet put forward a peace plan that could actually work in the long term, especially in the context of creating a viable Palestinian state from the rubble of Gaza and the occupied territories—the Oasis Plan, for regionwide economic development, first proposed in the 1970s by the late physical economist and statesman Lyndon LaRouche and now being circulated worldwide in the form of a 14-minute video produced by the Schiller Institute chaired by his widow, Helga Zepp-LaRouche.
Addressing an on-line meeting a meeting of the International Peace Coalition Feb. 23, Zepp-LaRouche urged broad adoption of the Oasis Plan:
“This is our solution. We have to get the people who are fighting to save Palestine to adopt the idea that the way to free Palestine is the Oasis Plan, a solution of optimism whereby all sides—Israelis, Palestinians, and all the neighbors—realize that it is in their best interest to work together to build up the entire region economically and agriculturally, that we create a future for everybody.”
One way—perhaps the only way—for the U.S to climb up what has now become a mountain, to again gain the moral high ground, would be for it to endorse the Oasis Plan.