Facilitating the Slaughter in Gaza
While the Israeli army was launching neardaily air strikes across Gaza (see “The Brink of War” above), the Trump administration’s Middle East team—Trump senior advisor and son-in-law Kushner, Special Representative for International Negotiations Greenblatt, and Ambassador to Israel Friedman—jointly penned (7/19) an op-ed for the Washington Post, titled “Help Is at Hand for Palestinians. It’s All Up to Hamas.” Making no mention of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, they described their efforts to raise money for humanitarian aid (see “The So-Called Trump Initiative” above), expressed sympathy for the Palestinian people, and blamed Hamas for the ongoing crisis. “International donors are conflicted,” they wrote. “Should they try to help the people directly, at the certain risk of enriching terrorists, or withhold funding to Hamas and watch the people it is supposed to govern suffer?” Amid widespread Palestinian, and some international indignation, a Hamas spokesperson described the editorial as “adopting the Israeli narrative” and displaying the “contempt of the American government.”
Legislative Crackdown on BDS
Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards signed (5/22) an executive order barring the state from contracting with entities that participate in a boycott of Israel or “Israelicontrolled territories.” As a result, Louisiana has become the 25th state with legislation or executive orders targeting the BDS movement. “The U.S., and by affiliation, Louisiana, have benefited in innumerable ways from our deep friendship with Israel,” Edwards said (5/22), adding that “any effort to boycott Israel is an affront to this longstanding relationship.” In a related move, South Carolina governor Henry McMaster signed into law a new definition of antiSemitism on 7/6, requiring state universities to account for anti-Semitism when reviewing allegations of discrimination or bias. Palestine solidarity activists criticized the move because the new definition conflated criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, and therefore impinged on students’ free speech rights. Finally, after lawmakers in Kansas amended the anti-BDS law they passed in early 2017, the ACLU withdrew (6/29) its lawsuit challenging the legislation. The lawmakers adjusted the law, which required potential state contractors to certify that they do not participate in boycotts of Israel such that it would no longer apply to individuals or contractors who conduct less than $100,000 worth of business in the state. They also altered the required certification enabling potential contractors to assert only that they are “not engaged in a boycott of goods or services from Israel that constitute an integral part of business conducted or sought to be conducted with the state.”
Aid to the Palestinians
Seven months after Trump slashed U.S. aid to UNRWA and ordered a review of all aid to the Palestinians, National Public Radio (NPR) reported (8/2) that the Trump administration was releasing as much as $61 million in aid to the PA (some sources said the sum was closer to $35 million). One State Department official said (8/2) that the money was intended to support ongoing coordination between PA security forces and the Israeli army in the West Bank. “This decision does not in any way prejudge the outcome of our review of other funding streams and programs,” one official explained (8/2). “It is simply the first decision to emerge from the review, which is ongoing.”