Will Biden See Through the Palestinians’ Lies?
by Ryan Jones
Israel Today
US President Joe Biden in his speech at Ben Gurion Airport upon arriving in Israel on Wednesday spoke of the honor of being in the place where the Jewish people’s roots stretch back to biblical times.
“Every chance to return to this great country where the ancient roots of the Jewish People date back to biblical times, is a blessing,” said Biden.
On Friday, Biden will meet with the Palestinian leadership, which insists that the Jews have no history whatsoever in this land.
As recently as last month, both Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his prime minister, Muhammad Shtayyeh, publicly stated that the Jews don’t belong here.
At a Palestinian Authority event in early June, Shtayyeh stated:
“Israel is falsifying the facts and history in the most despicable manner – not just at the [Al-Aqsa] Mosque, but also at the Church [of the Holy Sepulchre] and in the city [of Jerusalem] – and is working to falsify its history, change the facts on the ground, and determine new facts, as if the Palestinian has no history…
“We know that throughout history, [despite] all the excavations that have been conducted underneath Jerusalem, Israel has not succeeded in proving that it has history in this city. Fifty-five years of excavations and tunnels have not proven that there is a Temple in the city (sic).”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 9, 2022]
Translation by Palestinian Media Watch.
At the same event, Abbas affirmed this narrative that erases any Jewish connection to this land as the “historical status quo.”
Palestinians state controlled media outlets have been repeating that message ad nauseam.
So when Biden sits opposite Abbas and Shtayyeh this week, will he call them out on this lie? If either of them claims that Israel is illegitimate or has no historical claims in this land, will he shoot them down?
This has long been the problem of Middle East peacemaking. No politician is willing to bring the truth to the negotiating table and stand firm on it. Outside of Donald Trump, who made more headway than all other US presidents combined, no other Western leader has demanded that the Palestinians accept the Jews’ well-documented history in this land as a baseline for peace.
Instead, they let the lies persist. And in so doing, they indirectly perpetuate the conflict, because those lies feed a new generation to view Israel as a foreign invader that must be resisted, the same way the human body resists a virus.
Joe Biden is aware of the truth. He said it out loud at the airport yesterday. The question is if the truth will play any significant role in his diplomatic efforts.
1 comment:
It is distinctly possible that Biden is stupid enough he believes his own lies.
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