By Iqbal Jassat
To demonstrate deceit one often hears a phrase shrouded in polite diplomatic language but with a sting: “The honourable gentleman occasionally speaks with a forked tongue”.
This certainly applies to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who is reported to have called on countries with interests in Syria, following the hasty retreat of Bashar Al-Assad, to “try to make sure that we’re not sparking any additional conflicts”.
If one decodes his warning, the subtext of it contains a threat to the region’s population. Don’t try to emulate Syria by reviving the Arab Spring to depose your tyrants!
Blinken has proven himself in words (forked tongue) and action to be a faithful agent of the imperial establishment and a committed Zionist.
Born to Jewish parents in New York, he has not hidden his attachment to the only western colony in the Arabian Peninsula, Israel.
And his tenure provides ample evidence that he has not dared to undermine Israel’s racist rightwing regime’s pursuit of wars including the genocide in Gaza.
Nor has he opposed illegal Jewish settlers from expanding settlements which equates to grabbing more Palestinian territory in direct violation of international laws which America is expected to uphold.
Despite stringent regulations laid out by the State Department restricting foreign military support to countries engaged in human rights abuses, Blinken has allowed an exception for his beloved Israel.
Known as the Leahy Law crafted back in 1997, it is no surprise that a group of Palestinians in Gaza and their American relatives have instituted a lawsuit against the State Department, for being in breach of it.
Their legal challenge provides a comprehensive list of barriers they accuse Blinken’s department of creating on behalf of Israel to dodge enforcement.
“It’s really a modest set of goals here: There’s a U.S. law. We’d like the federal government to adhere to U.S. law,” said Ahmed Moor, a Philadelphia-based Palestinian American who joined the lawsuit on behalf of cousins, uncles and aunts displaced and killed in the 14-month war, as reported by AP.
AP further reports that Charles Blaha, a former State Department official who helped oversee reviews under the Leahy law, argued that enforcing the law for Israel would have prevented much of the harm that civilians in Gaza are suffering.
“The secretary of state has made all the decisions so far on Israel and the Leahy law, and every single decision has resulted in those units being eligible” for continued U.S. military support, Blaha said. “And that’s not the way the normal process works.”
Yet in his typical forked tongue speech, Blinken shamelessly and without blushing, denied that his department has given Israel a pass. “Do we have a double standard? The answer is no,” he is quoted as saying.
His denial flies in the face of a report in May by the State Department which acknowledged there was “reasonable” evidence that Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza violated international law that protects civilians.
In legal jargon “reasonable” is more than adequate to impose the required Leahy restrictions but not as far as America’s vested interest in keeping its colony’s ability to kill and maim Palestinians, is concerned.
Selective application of laws, whether its domestic or international, is a crude reminder of US double standards.
One recalls that campus protests across many American states against Israel’s barbaric genocide, included demands on US lawmakers to halt military support to the Netanyahu regime.
Blinken’s ability to lie barefaced is part of the deceit he has peddled across many capitals in the region since Oct 7.
The tragic consequences of his forked tongue diplomacy has allowed Netanyahu and his criminal gang of warlords to commit unimaginable atrocities and at a shocking scale.
Former State Department official Mike Casey who was stationed in Jerusalem during 2020, finally resigned after four years of frustration with systemic failure of US policy on Gaza.
“We don’t have a policy on Palestine. We just do what the Israelis want us to do”, said Casey in what can only mean to be a rebuke of Blinken’s disgraceful subservience to his Israeli masters.
Speaking to the Guardian, Casey said he and his colleagues developed comprehensive strategies for Gaza’s reconstruction, only to have them systematically rejected.
According to the report, Casey’s work function included documenting the humanitarian and political landscape through classified cables, research and reporting.
“But his disillusionment wasn’t sudden. It was a slow accumulation of bureaucratic betrayals – each report dismissed, each humanitarian concern bulldozed by political expediency.”
Casey’s revelation is among many of Blinken’s ex-staff who provide shocking details of his collusion with Israel.
It would therefore be appropriate and necessary to hold Blinken alongside western leaders including his boss Joe Biden accountable for colluding in Israel’s war crimes.
Iqbal Jassat
Executive Member
Media Review Network
Johannesburg
South Africa
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