"I Am a Zionist" U.S. President Reiterates
Time and Again
Protest against Biden
visit to New York City, February 7, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden on February 26 once again emphasized that he is a Zionist. It was the third time in the recent period he did so. He is telling the Zionists, and everyone, that the U.S. backs and funds the most reactionary, racist and backward forces in Israel, and is proud of it. He also made a point of trying to appeal to people who are not Jewish, saying "You need not be a Jew to be a Zionist. I'm a Zionist."
Biden gave the remarks during an appearance on U.S. television show Late Night with Seth Meyers. He has reiterated this same statement several times, including October 23, 2023, and again in December. This time, he made the declaration even as ever greater crimes are being committed by the U.S./Zionist forces committing genocide.
Why proclaim himself a Zionist now, when the world stands against the Israeli Zionists dictating unrelenting genocide and impunity? He is assuring the Zionists, in the U.S. and Israel, of continued U.S. military and financial support. He is also declaring that the dictate and racist reactionary views of the Zionists -- including against Jews who oppose Zionism -- and the Zionist demand that all those who criticize the state of Israel be criminalized using anti-terrorism laws, also have the full backing of the U.S. state and its police and courts.
More and more Jews and prominent personalities whose families suffered the European holocaust during World War II have come out against the horrors the U.S. and Israel are committing against the Palestinians. The stand, Not in Our Name! and calls for a Ceasefire Now! are ringing out loud and clear, showing where the peoples of the U.S., Britain and all the countries of the world stand. More and more are joining in opposing the Zionists as a reactionary force that does not represent people who are Jewish, including Israelis, nor their religion.
Biden's support for efforts to brand those opposing Zionism as anti-Semitic or engaged in "hate," cannot take away the image of children starving in Gaza. His support for efforts of the pro-Zionist forces inside the U.S., such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), to secure "hate" crime and "terrorism" charges against demonstrators supporting Palestine, will further discredit the U.S. democracy. This includes branding those who have blocked bridges and highways and organized students on many campuses as enemies of the state, "terrorists," to be arrested and prosecuted. As a Zionist, Biden is making clear he supports these brutal attacks on the rights to speech, to assembly and the right to conscience. He is emphasizing that Jews and non-Jews alike should support Zionism, despite the Israeli Zionists' genocidal campaign that all the world can see.
U.S. Plans and Visit of Israeli War Cabinet Member Benny Gantz
By saying he is a Zionist, Biden also indicates that it is the Zionists and their occupation of Palestine that he supports, not necessarily current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the same interview with Seth Meyers, Biden said that if Israel continues "with this incredibly conservative government they have, and [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and others they're going to lose support from around the world, and that is not in Israel's interest." These comments were then followed by the visit, against Netanyahu's wishes, of Israeli War Cabinet Member Benny Gantz to the White House on March 4. Gantz is a retired general who was head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and supports the current genocide against Palestine. He is backed and promoted by AIPAC.
Gantz spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris. She reiterated the "unwavering commitment to Israel's security," by the U.S. She repeated Biden's call for an "immediate six-week ceasefire" and having "a surge of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza." She said, "[W]e're in a window of time right now" and "want this conflict to end as soon as possible."
Gantz also met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. A State Department spokesman said Blinken emphasized the need to "get aid in urgently, as soon as possible," saying conditions were "horrific," and calling out Israeli ministers blocking aid. The spokesman added that Blinken called on Israel to open another border crossing into Gaza, something Netanyahu has opposed. He reported that Blinken is engaged with his Israeli counterparts directly to make that happen and those engagements included Blinken's meeting with Gantz. The U.S. is openly side-stepping Netanyahu and manoeuvring with others, like Gantz, to secure the continued occupation of Palestine on U.S. terms.
A few days earlier on March 1, the Council on Foreign Relations, an influential think tank on foreign affairs for U.S. rulers, published an article by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak calling for early elections. In the article, entitled "Israel Must Decide Where It's Going -- and Who Should Lead It There," Barak said there is a "staggering strategic incompetence of the Israeli government and an astonishing leadership vacuum at the top." He called for elections in June, specifically mentioning Gantz, saying "Yair Lapid (the politician who leads the main opposition party) and Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot (the retired generals who became political opponents of Netanyahu before agreeing to serve in his emergency war cabinet after October 7) should call for general elections to be held no later than June 2024." Israeli media are reporting that if elections were held now, Gantz's National Unity party would likely win.
All of these are indications that the U.S. believes that continuing the occupation of Palestine while appearing to be concerned about humanitarian aid can be better accomplished with Gantz. The "window of time" referred to is also relevant to U.S. elections. The aim is not ending the genocide and taking responsibility for these crimes, it is maintaining the occupation of Palestine, while giving Biden a means to counter the increasing opposition to U.S. crimes.
This is all the more needed given that many reports point out that by proclaiming himself a Zionist, Biden is also openly saying he is a racist and Nazi supporter. They point out that even a cursory look at Zionist history shows the most prominent Zionists collaborated with the Nazis, including making deals with the Nazis to send certain Jews to the death camps and spare those chosen to go to Palestine. Also mentioned is United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379, adopted November 10, 1975, which determined that "Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination." Indeed, one could say racism is Zionism, in that it has played a main role in promoting notions of a "chosen people," superior to all others. Zionism was a colonial project from the start, with its racist nature integral to using force to colonize Palestine.
Biden is affirming that the world order the U.S. is demanding is an order of racism, inequality, and superiority of the U.S. state, with its dictate and impunity based on adopting a Zionist viewpoint.
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 17 - March 12, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54178.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca