Netanyahu knows that in the US, what Israel wants, Israel gets

The Israeli cabinet approved on Sunday a proposal that blocks any acceptance of international pressure to create an independent Palestinian state. The most far-right cabinet in Israel’s history, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and extremist ministers including Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, has been taking decisions so outrageous that it has provoked not only the Palestinians, but also the international community and Israel’s main ally the United States.

Netanyahu has been prosecuting a brutal war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since October. The occupied territory had already been under a comprehensive Israeli-led siege since 2007, the effects of which have been made immeasurably worse by the apartheid state’s aggression. Indeed, Israel’s latest military offensive on Gaza has been denounced by many international leaders, organisations and observers as a genocide.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva was the latest to say this on Sunday. The Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, he insisted, “are subjected to a Holocaust, and the actions of the Zionists today in Gaza are the same as what Nazi Hitler did to the Jews during World War II.”

In January, the International Court of Justice ruled that the brutal attacks of the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza are “plausibly” genocide, and more or less called for an end to actions that are tantamount to genocide.

READ: ICJ demands Israel immediately implement its Gaza measure

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Sunday that the number of people killed or still missing, including those under the rubble of their homes, has passed the 35,000 mark, mainly children and women. On top of that, there are 67,000 wounded and over 700,000 suffering from various diseases due to a lack of food and clean water, and the absence of a sewage system. Most of hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed.

According to UN reports, more than 70 per cent of the homes in Gaza have been destroyed. EuroMed Observer for Human Rights said that 90 per cent of shops and other commercial facilities have also been destroyed.

The Israeli occupation forces have been doing all of this with the unquestioned support of the US

All of this is despite the many protest marches across America and Europe calling for a ceasefire to end the collective punishment of the Palestinians and stop the genocide. US President Joe Biden has bypassed Congress to send even more money to Israel than usual, with tens of billions of dollars in “aid”, arms and ammunition to enable the Israeli genocide to continue. Biden and his officials have also repeated Israel’s lies that are used to justify its slaughter of children, and have begged Netanyahu to give the probable Democrat candidate a boost for the upcoming presidential election campaign.

To this end, Biden has been asking Netanyahu to increase the amount of humanitarian aid being allowed into Gaza; minimise civilian casualties; or even declare his acceptance of a Palestinian state without any particular timeframe.

During his campaign speeches, Biden has been heckled and accused of being a war criminal and warmonger complicit in Israel’s genocide. An increasing number of Americans have been declaring openly their intention not to vote for him due to his blind support for Israel.

In light of such increasing pressure, the US president is desperate to be able to show that he has done something for the Palestinians. It is apparent that every time he speaks to Netanyahu or sends his envoys to pass on his requests, Netanyahu responds with more arrogance.

It has now reached the point where Biden would be happy to leave Netanyahu to carry on with the slaughter of the Palestinians, and even ethnically cleansing them to Egypt, in return for a meaningless promise to accept the creation of a Palestinian state. In putting this issue to his far-right cabinet, Netanyahu has given Biden a proverbial slap in the face, knowing full well that Ben-Gvir, Smotrich et al would reject any international pressure to accept such a state. No matter how much he humiliates the aging US president in this way, though, Netanyahu knows that as far as the US is concerned, what Israel wants, Israel gets.

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