Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s speech to the June 5, 2023 AIPAC Policy Summit shamefully reiterated and promoted Biden administration policies that are extraordinarily hostile to our greatest and most reliable human rights-loving ally, the Jewish country of Israel.
Sadly, we are not surprised. Blinken promoted similar policies in his more detailed speech to the extremist, Soros-funded anti-Israel group J Street in December 2022; and President Biden promoted these policies in statements during his Middle East trip last July.
Blinken’s policies contradicted the empty “lip service” that Blinken gave to the need for a strong Israel, when Biden (correctly) asserted during his AIPAC speech “America is more secure when Israel is strong.” Blinken’s use of such lip service, combined with his use of euphemisms for his hostile policies, meant that some AIPAC attendees may not have been aware of how terrible Blinken’s and Biden’s policies are. For instance, Blinken’s reiteration of Biden’s call for supporting a Palestinian Arab State (which is now a terrorist dictatorship) based on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps” is in reality a call for creating a Hamas-Fatah-Hezbollah-Iranian-Palestinian-Arab terror state on lawful Jewish/Israeli land that divides Israel; divides the Jewish people’s holiest city, Jerusalem; and renders Israel indefensible by making her nine miles wide.
It’s also concerning that during his J Street speech, Blinken vowed to “stand with” J Street; and stated that J Street is “now more needed than ever.” By contrast, Blinken made no such vows to AIPAC. Blinken thus again revealed that the Biden/Blinken administration’s policies are those of the extremist anti-Israel J Street.
Blinken’s dangerous policy statements included:
(1) Blinken Still Calls for “Diplomacy” with Iran: Blinken told AIPAC: “We continue to believe that diplomacy is the best way (despite a decade of diplomatic failure) to verifiably, effectively, and sustainably prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. In parallel, economic pressure and deterrence reinforce our diplomacy. If Iran rejects the path of diplomacy, then – as President Biden has repeatedly made clear – all options are on the table.” It’s important to note that, as usual, Blinken refused to use the phrase “military option.”
If Iran rejects diplomacy? Iran has been rejecting the path of diplomacy throughout the last two-and-a-half years of failed Biden administration appeasement and Biden/Blinken ignoring some sanctions.
Meanwhile, as the recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) May 31, 2023 report notes, Iran has increased its enrichment and other nuclear activities; stopped providing the IAEA with access to data in February 2021 (one month after Biden took office); and removed IAEA monitoring equipment a year ago, in June 2022. (Yet, in Blinken’s J Street speech, Blinken falsely blamed the Trump administration’s successful “maximum pressure” sanctions for Iran’s violations.) It is deeply concerning and dangerous that Blinken still refuses to acknowledge that Iran rejected diplomacy from the outset of the Biden administration; and that the Biden administration is still failing to take the necessary action to counter Iran.
(2) Blinken (and Biden) Repeatedly Promoted Creating a Palestinian Arab (Terror) State on the Indefensible ‘48 Ceasefire (“Auschwitz”) Lines and Dividing Jerusalem: Blinken reiterated to AIPAC: “As the President said on his recent trip to Israel and the West Bank last summer, a two-state solution – based on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps – remains the best way to achieve our goal of Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace.”
The (pre-) “1967 lines” are the non-binding 1948 ceasefire lines after seven Arab nations attacked Israel and seized lands lawfully designated for the Jewish state. Reducing Israel’s borders to the (pre-) “1967 lines” would render Israel indefensible; leave Israel with only a nine-mile-wide waist; forcibly displace close to one million Jews from the Jewish heartland; divide Jerusalem; and result in more war and more terror. As pro-Israel Democratic President Lyndon Johnson wisely stated, reducing Israel’s borders to pre-1967 lines “is not a prescription for peace but for renewed hostilities.”
Moreover, “mutually agreed swaps” is an illusion, and really means the indefensible 1948 ceasefire lines: The Palestinian Arabs refuse to agree to any swaps and have rejected at least eight extremely generous peace proposals over the past 80 years and four proposals in the last 20 years.
Further, Biden’s statements last July and Blinken’s J Street speech in December further confirmed that dividing the Jewish people’s eternal capital, Jerusalem, is part of the Biden administration’s Palestinian-Arab-state plan. Blinken told J Street: “As the President also said in his visit, Jerusalem is central to the national visions of both Palestinians and Israelis, and must be a city for all of its people.” Blinken ignores the fact that Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Koran; almost no Arab visited Jerusalem while under Arab control; and has had a majority population of Jews since the 1850’s.
(3) Blinken/Biden are Damaging the Abraham Accords and Middle East Peace by Inserting and Giving Palestinian Arabs Veto Power Over Peace: Blinken also reiterated the Biden administration policy of damaging and undermining the Abraham Accords and Middle East peace prospects by making Israel’s peace agreements with Muslim nations dependent on and subservient to advancing a Palestinian Arab terror state. Blinken told AIPAC: “Israel’s deepened relationships with its partners can and should advance the well-being of the Palestinian people and the prospects for a two-state solution.” This effectively gives veto power over any Middle East peace agreement to the intransigent Palestinian Authority (which pays Arab terrorists to murder Jews) and to Hamas (whose charter calls for murdering every Jew throughout the world).
In addition, Biden touted the “Negev Forum” at AIPAC. In fact, the Negev Forum transformed the Abraham Accords from a Sunni-Israeli alliance against Iran into a Sunni-U.S.alliance against Israel. (See, e.g., “Israeli Arab Terrorists and Blinken’s Betrayal in the Negev,” by Caroline Glick; and “Blinken Builds a Palestinian Hezbollah in the West Bank,” by Tony Badran, FDD, Tablet Mag., Mar. 8, 2023.) The entire basis of the Abraham Accords was to end the Palestinian Arab veto over Middle East peace; Biden and Blinken have reversed this.
(4) Blinken’s Discriminatory Condemnation of Jews for Building Homes in the Jewish Heartland: Despicably, Blinken told AIPAC: “Settlement expansion clearly presents an obstacle to the horizon of hope that we seek.” Blinken’s statement is a blatant, discriminatory, antisemitic condemnation of Jews for building homes in the lawful, historic, religious Jewish heartlands of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. Meanwhile, Blinken ignored the massive illegal Arab building which is designed to take over “Area C” – the portion of Judea and Samaria which is assigned to full Israel control under the Oslo Accords.
(5) Blinken Touted the Illegal, Disastrous Lebanon/Hezbollah Maritime Surrender Deal, and Biden’s Role in This: Blinken touted the Biden administration’s shameful arm-twisting that helped result in the disastrous, illegal surrender of 330 square miles of gas-rich Israeli maritime territory to Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon. Blinken told AIPAC: “Following intense mediation by the United States, Israel and Lebanon (Hezbollah-controlled) completed a historic agreement last fall to establish their permanent maritime boundary, something that had been long in the works. That in turn lowered the prospect of conflict and also created a greater path for greater energy security in the region.”
In fact, there was no agreement between Israel and Lebanon contributing to security in the region. Lebanon continues to refuse to recognize the Jewish state. Israel and Lebanon each separately signed a separate agreement with the U.S. As former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman tweeted, the “deal” pushed by the Biden administration gave 100% to Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon and 0% to Israel. The deal will enrich terror-group Hezbollah by billions of dollars, and thus will weaken and damage Israel’s and regional security. Temporary stopgap unelected Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid moreover agreed to the deal illegally, without the Knesset vote or referendum required by Israel’s basic laws. Further, Israel’s lawless, left wing Supreme Court threw out multiple petitions seeking enforcement of Israel’s referendum law. (See, e.g., “Surrendering Israel’s Maritime Waters/Gas Fields, Under Biden’s Pressure, is Illegal and Gives Terrorist Hezbollah Billions,” Oct. 12, 2022; “ZOA Criticizes Israeli Supreme Court for Flouting Israeli Law to Push Through PM Lapid’s Bad Hezbollah/Lebanon Gas Deal,” Oct. 26, 2022.)
(6) Blinken Opposed Israel’s Sovereignty and Control Over Lands Lawfully Designated for the Jewish State; Jewish Freedom of Worship; Israeli Anti-Terror Efforts; and Lawful Evictions from Properties Owned by Jews: After discriminatorily condemning Jews for building homes in the lawful Jewish heartland, Blinken continued in the same vein by telling AIPAC: “Likewise, any move toward annexation of the West Bank, de facto or de jure, disruption of the historic status quo at the holy sites, the continuing demolitions of homes and the evictions of families that have lived in those homes for generations damage prospects for two states. They also undermine the basic daily dignity to which all people are entitled.”
As ZOA has repeatedly explained, Israel has the legal, historic and religious right to Judea/Samaria and all of Jerusalem under binding international law. Sovereignty is also essential to Israel’s security and defensible borders. Declining to exercise sovereignty has not and will not bring peace; the Palestinian Arabs have repeatedly rejected peace offers because they refuse to recognize the Jewish state in any shape or form within any borders. (See, e.g., “13 Reasons ZOA Strongly Supports Israel Restoring Her Rightful Sovereignty Over Judea-Samaria-Jordan Valley Now,” summary and more detailed versions.)
It is moreover deeply insulting and antisemitic that, under the guise of maintaining a “historic status quo,” Blinken promoted interference with freedom of religion and the Jewish people’s rights to worship on their holiest sites; especially when Israel protects the worship rights of all minorities. Further, Blinken endangered Israel by interfering with anti-terror demolition measures; and interfered with the rights of Jewish homeowners (such as the Jewish charities that own Shimon HaTzadik) to obtain court eviction orders against illegal Arab squatters in Jewish-owned homes. Such property disputes are routinely handled in every nation in the world without the U.S. interfering and taking the side of illegal squatters. (See “ZOA Debunks Anti-Israel Propaganda: Learn the Truth About the Shimon HaTzadik (aka Sheikh Jarrah) Property Dispute,” Aug. 16, 2021.)
(7) Blinken Touted “Re-engaging” and Providing “Resources” to Palestinians: At AIPAC, Blinken touted “since day one, we have focused on re-engaging the Palestinian people and working to rebuild trust. We’re investing more resources in building understanding between the two sides at the grassroots level to help build peace from the bottom up . . .”
Blinken was more explicit as to what this “re-engagement” and providing “resources” meant during Blinken’s speech to J Street: Namely, the appointment of anti-Israel “Palestinian” envoy Hady Amr (who said he was “inspired” by the Intifada terror wars in which Palestinian Arabs maimed and murdered 10,000 Jews) and $990 million of U.S. funding to Palestinians. The funding pays for Palestinian government functions, and thus frees up moneys for the PA’s $400 million per year of “pay to slay” payments to Arab terrorists to murder Jews.
Biden was even more explicit during his trip to the Middle East: Biden also increased funding to Hamas-infested UNRWA to $618 million, bringing Biden administration funding of the Palestinian Arabs to over $1.5 billion. (UNRWA stores weapons for Hamas, employs Hamas militants, and teaches children to hate and aspire to murder Jews.)
(8) Blinken touted the Biden administration’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, which weakens efforts to combat antisemitism: The Biden strategy weakens efforts to combat antisemitism by: failing to use the strong IHRA definition as the sole definition of antisemitism; failing to mention major forms of antisemitism other than white supremacy; “welcoming and appreciating as a valuable tool” the dangerous “Nexus” definition of antisemitism; and “noting” still other definitions. The NEXUS and JDA definitions shield and permit antisemitism that is masked as hatred for the Jewish state and Zionism. (See “ZOA Criticizes Biden Antisemitism Strategy’s Embrace of Dangerous ‘Nexus’ Antisemitism Definition & Not Calling Out Islamists & Other Antisemites,” May 25, 2023.)
(9) Blinken’s Interference in Israeli Democratic Reforms: Blinken told AIPAC that the Biden/Blinken administration would “speak honestly and respectfully with our Israeli friends” about “core democratic principles, including a separation of powers, checks and balances, and the equal administration of justice for all citizens of Israel,” and welcomes “consensus” on reforms.
However, the Biden/Blinken administration has no right or reason to interfere with Israel’s internal democratizing judicial reforms. The reforms would in fact make Israel more democratic, and help curb the current situation of judicial tyranny imposed by the present supreme court judicial dictatorship.
Further, the Biden/Blinken administration has not spoken “honestly and respectfully” with Israel about this. Instead, Blinken’s State Department used U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund a leading anti-reform, anti-Netanyahu protest organizer in Israel, MQG (the so-called Movement for Quality Government); and U.S. officials, including President Biden, blatantly and wrongly criticized Israel’s democratic judicial reforms – while hypocritically praising another foreign government’s judicial system which is like the one sought by Israel’s proposed reforms. (See, “ZOA Condemns U.S. State Dept. Funding Anti-Israel Protest Organizers in Israel,” Mar. 13, 2023; and “ZOA Opposes Biden Criticizing Israel’s Domestic Policies – Yet He Doesn’t Criticize Palestinians’ Terrorist Dictatorship,” Mar. 30, 2023.)
(10) Blinken Failed to Differentiate Between Palestinian Arab Terrorists’ Intentional Targeting of Israeli Civilians and Inadvertent Deaths of Arabs While Israel is Combating Terrorists: Blinken expressed concern about “loss of life of scores of civilians on both sides” – but failed to explain the critical facts that Palestinian Authority terrorists intentionally target and murder Jewish civilians, while Israel makes painstaking efforts to avoid Arab civilian casualties. Nor did Blinken mention the important facts that Arab terror groups inhumanely use civilians as human shields, or that a large percentage of Arab civilian deaths were caused by misfired Hamas rockets, or that many purported Arab “civilians” are in fact militants perpetrating terror operations.
Moreover, during his J Street speech, Blinken equated “violence . . . perpetrated by both Palestinians and Israeli settlers” without explaining that so-called “settler violence” is an extremely rare occurrence, promptly punished by the Israeli government; while Palestinian Arabs perpetrate constant attacks (over 9 serious attacks per day); including shooting a Jews driving on the highway; stabbing Jews in the street and malls; and car-rammings – and Mahmoud Abbas’ and Mohammad Shtayyeh’s Palestinian Authority pays and urges Arabs to perpetrate these attacks. Instead of describing the facts, Blinken demanded (during both his AIPAC and J Street speeches) that perpetrators must receive “equal justice under the law” – thereby falsely implying that the [extremely rare] attacks on Arabs go unpunished.
(11) Blinken Failed to Call Out the PA’s Incitement and “Pay to Slay” Payments: Blinken mentioned rejecting “payments to terrorists in prison” and “incitement to violence” – without ever naming and calling out the perpetrator of this. Blinken failed to mention that it is the Palestinian Authority that pays Arabs lifetime pensions to murder Jews; glorifies Arab Jew-killers by naming schools, streets and sports teams for them; issues posters honoring Jew-killers as martyrs; and promotes hatred and murder of Jews in Palestinian Authority textbooks and media.