Time to relaunch US-Israel relations | Opinions

Early in his tenure, US President Joe Biden set out his vision for foreign policy: to restore respected US leadership on the world stage; take immediate steps to renew American alliances; and strengthen the coalition of democracies. The Achilles heel of this optimistic plan and its credibility is Washington’s anachronistic relationship with the State of Israel.

This special relationship is a relic of the Cold War, when the United States supported its allies unconditionally – militarily and politically – even when it came to military governments and dictatorial regimes involved in gross human rights violations. As a result, within Israel’s borders, there is a state that grants political and economic privileges to its Jewish majority, and in the West Bank there is an Israeli military dictatorship, operating under the same methods as colonialist regimes. , most of which ended in the last century.

Recently, two acclaimed organizations, Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem, accused the Israeli state of committing apartheid crimes against Palestinians. This, however, did not produce a policy change in Washington.

For decades, the United States has maintained a bubble of complete impunity for successive Israeli governments, both in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and within Israel’s borders. It has given Israel unconditional support in the United Nations Security Council and has provided annual military aid. The Israeli state is the largest recipient of US foreign aid, having received some $ 146 billion since its inception in 1948.

While the United States has often denounced the violation of human rights and the deterioration of democratic values ​​and institutions around the world, it has hardly criticized the appalling state affairs in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

The United States has strongly condemned and even acted against the bombing of civilians in Syria by the Bashar al-Assad regime, but has said nothing about Israeli airstrikes on residential areas in Gaza or the demolitions of Palestinian homes in Gaza. Occupied East Jerusalem and West Bank. The United States has also spoken out against the injuries and killings of protesters in Myanmar and the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, but has remained silent on Israeli forces injuring and killing protesters in the West Bank and Gaza and forcibly displacing Palestinians from their homes in the occupied east. Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and Khan al-Ahmar.

Even when former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made racism against the Palestinian people and Jewish supremacy overt policy, Washington remained silent.

Under his leadership, the Knesset passed the Nation-State Law, which declared Israel a nation-state of the Jewish people only, while supporters of ethnic cleansing and hate crimes against Palestinians reached positions of power. He not only weakened state institutions, undermining the independence of the Knesset, security agencies and the judiciary, but was also himself involved in various corruption schemes. Nonetheless, Washington continued to welcome Netanyahu into the “Democratic Leaders Club”.

The new government in Israel, which ended Netanyahu’s 13-year rule, presents a significant opportunity for a restart of US-Israel relations. To balance the momentum between the two countries, a lot of changes need to be made, but there are a few steps the U.S. government can take immediately to begin this process.

First, the Biden administration should heed the call by Palestinian, Israeli and American activists to condition American financial assistance on Israel’s commitment to respect human rights and international law. If it continues to violate the human rights of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, then the flow of American aid should be stopped immediately.

Second, the Biden administration should demand that the Israeli government stop the illegal evictions of hundreds of Palestinian residents from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem.

Third, the Biden administration should demand that the Israeli government repeal the nation-state law, which gives a veil of legality to the unlawful discrimination of Palestinian citizens in Israel.

Fourth, the Biden administration should demand that the Israeli government repeal Military Ordinance No.101, which was passed in 1967 and which bans all demonstrations in the occupied West Bank without the permission of the IDF – an authorization which, to to our knowledge, has never been delivered to the Palestinians in 54 years of occupation. Palestinians should be able to organize non-violent protests against the occupation and the Israeli military dictatorship, freely and without restrictions.

It should be emphasized that none of these measures are exceptional. In fact, US laws, such as the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and others, condition foreign aid on meeting a country’s commitments to human rights and international law. The United States has conditioned foreign aid on numerous occasions and there is no reason why it should not do so for Israel.

By taking these steps, the United States will end its double standard policy which favors the State of Israel over all other states with which the United States has a close relationship. By now it should be clear to Biden and his team that allowing impunity for the Israeli state and military does not help the people living in Israel and only serves to fuel the endless cycle of violence that plagues them. both Palestinians and Israelis.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.