[Salon] Netanyahu heads to Washington - ArabDigest.org

Netanyahu heads to Washington Summary: the Israeli prime minister will seek to shore up his support just at the point where the US presidential election has been thrown into turmoil; whether that plays to his advantage in the shadow of the ICJ ruling and an Israeli attack on Yemen is an open question. On 19 July in what has been hailed as an historic decision the International Criminal Court found that Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem and in the words of the court must end its occupation “as rapidly as possible.” The ruling though not binding has already caused further damage to Israel’s international image, further moving the country towards the status of global pariah. European states who have led in criticising the unrelenting, genocidal war in Gaza – Ireland, Norway and Spain – all were clear in supporting the decision. The Norwegian foreign minister Espen Barthe Eide wrote on X (formerly twitter): The ICJ is crystal clear: Israeli policies and practices are to be considered annexation of large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and are in violation of international law. This is an unequivocal message to Israel, which we expect them to comply with immediately. Spain and Ireland were equally unequivocal in supporting the ICJ decision. The UK under a new Labour government was predictably cautious despite the clarity and acuity of the ruling, saying it needed time to consider the decision. The Foreign Office reiterated the longstanding line that the UK is “strongly opposed to the expansion of illegal settlements and rising settler violence” the mild chastisement repeated over decades that has done absolutely nothing to deter either. Arab states among them Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait welcomed the decision. The Saudi foreign ministry released a statement which referenced the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 and stressed the need to guarantee “the Palestinian people their inherent right to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capitol.” South Africa which had already brought a case against Israel of committing genocide to the ICJ in December of 2023 praised the court’s decision, with Ronald Lamola the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation quoted in a lengthy statement: The international community must act to bring an immediate end to the occupation and the gross violations of international humanitarian and human rights law being perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people. There is now an additional legal obligation for all States to end complicity in Israel’s illegal actions and to act to ensure respect for international law. Benjamin Netanyahu labelled it a “false decision in The Hague” and claimed that the land belongs to the Jewish people who “are not occupiers in their own land.” The ICJ was trying to “distort this historical truth, just as the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested.” The prime minister, defending, as he would say, the Jewish homeland gave the green light to a massive Israeli air attack on the Yemen port city of Hodeidah in retaliation for a Huthi drone strike on Friday in Tel Aviv that killed one and injured eight. The Israeli raid targeted and set ablaze an oil depot and a power station at the port which is the major route for humanitarian aid into a country that has suffered through nearly ten years of a devastating civil war. At least six were killed and close to 100 injured. Yoav Gallant the Israeli Defense Minister, as reported by the BBC, boasted that "The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah, is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear." Clear too was the Saudi response which said in part: The Foreign Ministry is following with great concern the developments of the military escalation in Yemen after the Israeli attacks in Al Hudaydah, which aggravates the current tension in the region and halts the ongoing efforts to end the war on Gaza. Netanyahu has arrived in Washington where he will meet President Biden and address a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday. With President Biden standing down the ground has shifted for the prime minister. In Biden he had a president who staunchly supported the Gaza war. Kamala Harris who is most likely to assume the mantle as the Democratic contender against Donald Trump is not so readily identified as an unwavering backer of Netanyahu. Ben Samuels writing in Haaretz on Monday noted: Harris… has been widely viewed as the Biden administration's so-called "bad cop" on Israel in recent months, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government seemed to ignore the White House's pleas for improved attention to civilian harm in Gaza and dramatically bolstered humanitarian aid for the Palestinians. Whether the “bad cop” prevails in November over Donald Trump is anyone's guess at this stage but Netanyahu might reflect on what Harris had to say in March when she addressed the humanitarian disaster inflicted on the Gazans by the IDF. As Samuels recounts, she chose a pivotal location in the history of the US struggle for civil rights, Selma, Alabama’s Edmund Pettus Bridge, to speak on behalf of beleaguered and starving Palestinian civilians: I must address the humanitarian crisis. What we're seeing every day in Gaza is devastating. We have seen reports of families eating leaves or animal feed. Women giving birth to malnourished babies with little to no medical care. Children dying from malnutrition and dehydration… The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses. Would a President Harris do what Joe Biden has adamantly refused to do, halt the flow of weapons to Israel? That’s a question Benjamin Netanyahu will be weighing up as he seeks to shore up US support for his genocidal war. Tellingly President Biden is meeting the Israeli PM. Harris declined the opportunity to do so. Members can leave comments about this newsletter on the Arab Digest website