By Daniel Greenfield
(July 20, 2021 / FRONTPAGEMAG) All you can say about Biden’s nomination of Tamara Cofman Wittes as Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Middle East arm is that she’s not quite as bad as Hady Amr: a foaming at the mouth supporter of terrorism picked as Biden’s point man for Israel’s conflict with the terrorists.
But, it ought to go without saying, Tamara Cofman Wittes is bad. She’s an opponent of Israel and a supporter of the Islamic terrorists.
And that’s the only kind of nominee Biden would pick for any position.
For anyone who wants to know what Tamara Cofman Wittes will do, she co-wrote a report with veteran anti-Israel advocate Ilan Goldenberg.
I’ll except a few relevant key areas that are the most outrageous. I won’t even focus on the predictable call to reverse President Trump’s pro-Israel policies.
- Cover up the whole issue of the PLO funding attacks on Israel by disguising it as social welfare.
“Another early step should be to reform the longstanding system by which the Palestinian Authority and/or Palestine Liberation Organization provides payments to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and to families of Palestinians killed by Israel in the course of attacks on Israeli targets. The Palestine Liberation Organization argues that, as a national liberation movement, it has a right to compensate its people in this way, particularly since family members are frequently displaced by Israel’s policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians who engage in attacks on Israel. Israeli and American opponents of the payments system argue that the system incentivizes and rewards violence. The practical reality is that the issue has become a significant roadblock in U.S.-Palestinian relations, with overwhelming congressional opposition to the practice. The United States should work with the PA to reform the system by eliminating any compensation associated with conviction for violent crimes, and instead convert the system to one of basic social welfare. If the Palestinians make this change, the president could more easily certify to Congress that the PLO no longer practices or supports terrorist actions and thus sunset the anachronistic Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987 under which the PLO and PA are still considered terrorist organizations under U.S. law. Such reform could also create greater flexibility on Capitol Hill to amend laws that restrict assistance and relations with the Palestinians and could facilitate reopening the PLO mission to the United States in Washington.”
The level of chutzpah and murderous cynicism in this paragraph is breathtaking.
Tamara Cofman Wittes and her co-authors try to blame the PLO’s pay-to-slay program on Israel, frame it as a right of the PLO, and then, after rolling their eyes at the roadblock of the PLO funding terrorism, propose to cover it up by passing it off as a welfare program.
Look for this to happen once Tamara Cofman Wittes gets in.
- The Biden administration will attack Israel at the UN and pressure Israel whenever a Jewish family moves into a house in Israel.
“As part of this approach, the United States should make clear that it will not shield Israel from international consequences it might face when it takes actions, such as settlement construction, that are contrary to U.S. policy. The United States should also clarify to Israel that four kinds of Israeli actions will trigger a particularly strong U.S. response: (1) building or advancing plans to build in areas particularly relevant to the viability of a two-state outcome, like E-1, Givat HaMatos, E-2, and Atarot; (2) transferring or expulsing Palestinian communities from any of these or other areas; (3) constructing major new infrastructure such as roads inside the West Bank that are meant to strengthen the connection between the settlements and Israel; or (4) making any change to the historic status quo on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount reaffirmed by Israel in 2015.”
In sharp contrast to the contemptuous dismissal of the murder of Israelis, Jews living in Israel is an issue that really gets Wittes mad as hell.
- Despite the lack of any kind of peace deal, Israel should continue turning over land to the PLO
“urging Israel to convert portions of the 60 percent of the West Bank fully controlled by Israel and known as Area C into Area B with shared Israeli-Palestinian control. Israel should also shift portions of today’s Area B into Area A, which is supposed to have full Palestinian control. “
Forget land-for-peace. Let’s go back to land-for-terror.
- Legitimize Hamas
“Right now, Palestinian institutions are eroding and the divisions between Hamas and Fatah, and between Gaza and the West Bank, present a major obstacle to progress between Israelis and Palestinians. The Palestinian people and their leaders must unify their leadership into one that can govern an independent state committed to peaceful coexistence with Israel; but the United States can either support or impede that work by its policies and approaches… As part of this shift in approach, the United States must encourage intra-Palestinian reconciliation by becoming more flexible about the composition of the government that the Palestinians form and select.”
Flexibility means a greater willingness to accept and fund terrorists.
“The United States can also make clear that it will not engage with officials from political parties that support violence, as Hamas currently does. But it may need to find a way to work with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas.”
The Biden administration will not work with Hamas. But it will work with Hamas.
- Since the PLO won’t negotiate, the Biden admin should go back to the Obama-Kerry approach of imposing a plan on behalf of the PLO
“Another option would be for the new U.S. administration to put down its own proposed final-status map after consultation with both sides and make it the basis of its policy.”
This helpfully bypasses the refusal of the terrorists to negotiate a peace deal by inventing a final-status map that will be imposed on Israel without committing the terrorists to anything.
- The Biden admin should turn the Abraham Accords against Israel
“The United States should put the Gulf Arab agreements with Israel into an appropriate context… The Gulf Arab opening to Israel is not driven by concern for the Palestinians and could even undermine Palestinian positions. The governments of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are not well positioned to leverage their new ties with Israel to persuade Palestinians to make concessions and are unlikely to condition their cooperation with Israel on its policies toward the Palestinians… The United States should engage these Gulf governments to explore opportunities for constructive Gulf engagement on the conflict.”
What more needs to be said?
This article was originally published in Frontpagemag and can be viewed here.