If you were to believe the unbelievable hype surrounding the visit to Israel of President Joe Biden, you would think that the messianic age had finally arrived.
From the frenzied froth of media pontificators to the pious incantations of self-deluding politicians, the hills were alive with the sounds of endless choruses of orchestrated hallelujahs.
Well before the arrival of Biden and his army of minders, aides, security personnel and spinning experts, we had been subjected to endless outpourings of inflated expectations and predictions.
Long-suffering Jerusalemites battered by seemingly endless road closures, diversions and traffic chaos braced themselves for at least two full days of increased mayhem as large parts of the Capital were shut down so that all the VIPs could be transported to their various destinations.
Now that we are slowly reverting to what passes for normal in this part of the world, it is time to look back and try to work out exactly what has been accomplished. Separating the spin narratives from actual reality is not really that difficult, especially if one can peer through the fog of political correctness and discern the uncomfortable realities which are poised to cause major problems in the near future.
The first thing to remember is that Joe Biden represents the last of the old-time Democrats who still have a fuzzy sort of sympathy with Israel and understand the lessons of the Shoah. He may not have much of a clue as far as solutions are concerned and he is surrounded by advisers whose past track records are suspect but deep down, he has genuine feelings of solidarity with the Jewish People. In this respect, he is part of a rapidly fading generation because it is an indisputable fact that the party he represents is slowly but surely changing as far as solidarity with the Middle East’s only genuine democracy is concerned. An increasing number of young US Democrats today no longer see Israel as a country worth supporting as they increasingly embrace an anti-Zionist ideology that is tinged with and veers towards the hate of Jews in general.
This raises the rather awkward question as to why over 70% of American Jews still vote for the Democratic Party but that is a subject best left for another politically incorrect opinion piece.
It is important to bear all this in mind when engaging in a post-mortem of Biden’s visit. The President himself may be clueless about our situation but his heart is in the right place. He is held hostage, so to speak, by the age-old animosity of State Department policymakers who never enthusiastically embraced the idea of a Jewish return to Zion.
As predicted, from the moment Joe Biden stepped down from the plane, he issued warm hazy expressions of love and this was reciprocated by equally effusive gushes of rhetoric by our President and Prime Minister.
Visiting Yad Vashem is always a win-win situation, especially when American Holocaust survivors meet an American President, and the media can be guaranteed to go overboard.
Following talks with Israeli leaders, subsequent declarations and comments gave those of us not already mesmerized by unrealistic expectations a hint of how this visit had panned out. Undoubtedly in the fields of cyber development and defence technology, important progress was made or at least promised.
However, when it comes down to “tachlis,” gaping gaps appeared, which no amount of papering over spin can disguise. If we ignore the adulation of the American Ambassador who refuses to step over an imaginary green line (except when he wants a photo opportunity at the Kotel) and the pathetic political opportunism of others, we can plainly see exactly where we are heading in the period ahead.
When it comes to Iran, we can expect to be on our own. According to Mr Biden, “dialogue is the best way to counter Iran.” Nobody publicly challenged this illusionary piece of foreign policy by asking him why dialogue had failed spectacularly to stop North Korea from producing the nuclear option and flouting the USA by firing missiles and threatening its neighbours every Monday and Thursday. Dialogue with dictators and terror-supporting regimes has never worked in the past and one wonders why the US Administration keeps pushing this in our face all the time, especially when the Mullahs have made it abundantly clear that their objective is the elimination of the “Zionist entity.”
Trying no doubt to reassure us, Biden then proceeded to assert that “force could be used as a last resort.” Imagine the scenario where Israeli intelligence has ascertained an imminent threat and turns to the US in the hope that they will act decisively. Firstly, the CIA and the Pentagon will dispute the Israeli evidence, following which they will downplay the threat and then the State Department and the White House will warn Israel not to take pre-emptive action. A meeting of the UN Security Council will be called for, the EU will warn Israel to do nothing and China and Russia will veto any resolution. Meanwhile, Iranian missiles are launched while the US is still debating whether a last resort is actually relevant.
This is not fiction but a logical sequence of how things will turn out if current US policies as articulated by the President are enacted. No wonder Russia and China are laughing as the former smashes Ukraine and the latter has Taiwan in its sights.
In advance of the President’s arrival in Israel, our temporary coalition decided to make “gestures” to the PA and Hamas in Gaza. If they thought that these gestures of appeasement would buy gratitude, they were to be sorely disabused. As in the past, these gestures which infringed Israeli sovereignty merely signalled that weakness in the face of terror threats paid handsomely.
In the face of our interim PM, who declared his support for the establishment of a Palestinian Arab terror State in our midst the Americans realised that proclaiming the same old solutions would go down a treat, especially among those wedded to our eventual demise.
Thus, on meeting Abbas in Bethlehem, Biden declared that “the Palestinians deserved a state of their own based on the pre-1967 lines with contiguous territory.” At the joint press meeting afterwards, Abbas let the cat out of the bag when he declared that “after 74 years, it was time to end the nakba and occupation.” In other words, all of Israel has been “occupied” since 1948. The agenda of the Palestinian Arabs couldn’t be clearer. Why are we still pretending there are peace partners, and why are we pandering to their bare-faced lies?
Although Jerusalem was not specifically mentioned, the Israeli flag was removed from the President’s limousine before he visited an Arab hospital in the eastern part of the Capital. If that was not a clear and explicit signal that the US does not recognise half of Jerusalem as belonging to the Jewish State, I don’t know what is. The fact that no Israeli representative was allowed to accompany the delegation speaks volumes about how the Administration views sovereignty in our own Capital. Likewise, a complete absence of uproar and protest by our own Government and a muted response from the media shows which way the foul winds are blowing.
Much has been made of Saudi Arabia’s decision to open its air space to all airlines. Listening to the euphoric hymns of praise and predictions of historic events issuing forth from Biden, Blinken and our own politicians, we waited with bated breath for the anticipated earth-shattering developments breathlessly promised.
What actually eventuated could be described as a damp squib.
Israeli airlines expecting to fly over Saudi Arabia on their way to the Far East are still waiting to receive permission. Despite hyped up expectations, no regional defence alliance materialised. The US pledged its continued “involvement” in the region which sounds great but in reality, means “gurnish.”
All the hot air balloons floated about Saudi Arabia embracing Israel, and all of us waltzing off into some sort of mutual admiration society deflated and came crashing down soon after Biden’s departure from the Kingdom. Riyadh has made it clear that there will be no recognition of Israel until we hand over Judea and Samaria and half of Jerusalem to the PA. As an added bonus, we will have to admit millions of Arab “refugees” which in effect means the elimination of Israel.
So much for the inflated expectations of the media, the Biden Administration and our own homegrown hallucinators who all believed that the messianic age was about to dawn. The stated objective of Biden’s odyssey was to integrate Israel further into the Muslim nations of the region.
Like all other mirages, this has vanished for now, at least. In the meantime, we need to remain realistic and not succumb to blandishments, slanders or false mirages.
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US taxpayer money, thanks to the Biden administration, is now once again going directly to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), an agency that promotes messages of hate against Israel and denies its right to exist. Pictured: A still shot from the documentary film “
