By Iqbal Jassat
When Scott Bessent took the helm of the U.S. Treasury Department, Wall Street anticipated an era of calculated, market-driven economic statecraft. Instead, the administration has weaponized the American financial system to wage an unyielding campaign in the Middle East—one that functions as an explicit endorsement of Palestinian erasure. By aligning the full weight of U.S. financial might with the most extremist elements of the Israeli government, Bessent is replacing diplomacy with economic devastation.
The warning signs were clear early in his tenure. Bessent’s decision to formally embrace Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich—a far-right figure who has openly championed the total annexation of the West Bank and referred to Hamas as an “asset” to block Palestinian statehood—sent a chilling message.
By treating Smotrich as a preferred strategic partner, Bessent did more than just break with decades of bipartisan American diplomatic precedent; he effectively greenlit the economic starvation of the Palestinian people.
Under the banner of what the administration calls “Economic Fury,” Bessent’s Treasury has engineered a regulatory dragnet that treats Palestinian humanitarian survival as a national security threat.
The department has systematically tightened restrictions on international aid, NGO transfers, and banking channels to the Palestinian territories.
In practice, this means funds intended for basic human necessities—clean water, medical supplies, and food security—are frozen under the broad, shifting definitions of fighting “adversaries” and “terrorist networks”.
To Bessent’s Treasury, a dollar sent to keep a hospital operating in Gaza or a school open in the West Bank is treated with the same hostility as a transaction funding illicit weapons.
Furthermore, this anti-Palestinian stance is deeply embedded in the administration’s aggressive regional isolation strategy.
As Bessent aggressively pursues what he calls “the greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world”, the civilian populations trapped within these geopolitical crossfires bear the brunt of the suffering.
By enforcing an uncompromising “you are either with us or against us” ultimatum on global allies, the Treasury Department has frozen out international partners who seek a balanced, rights-based approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
True economic statecraft requires foresight, balance, and a commitment to long-term stability. By reducing U.S. Treasury policy to a blunt instrument of collective punishment and unconditional alignment with right-wing expansionism, Bessent is fulfilling Israel’s Zionist goals.
He is cementing a legacy of hostility that destroys Palestinian livelihoods, destabilizes the region, and further compromises the bankrupt moral authority of the United States on the global stage.
Interestingly he was raised in South Caroline where his father was a real estate developer who went bankrupt.
Regarding Trump’s failed war on Iran, Bessent maintains an aggressive, hardline stance explicitly advocating for maximum economic warfare to collapse the Iranian regime.
Leading the financial strategy during the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, Bessent favors crushing financial measures as a way to degrade Tehran’s capabilities while avoiding large-scale, direct military escalation.
Bessent has issued a strict ultimatum to the international community regarding Iranian trade, stating, “It is time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision. You are either with us or against us.”
Because China purchases over 80% of Iran’s shipped oil, Bessent is actively pressuring Beijing to “get with the programme”. He has warned that any country providing an economic lifeline to Iran will face severe U.S. enforcement actions and economic consequences.
Bessent has publicly stated that the U.S. intends to use coordinated economic isolation to “collapse this regime” and completely squash the Iranian economy.
Agents of Zionism who share Bessent’s hostile agenda, will ultimately realise their folly in pursuing failed policies – in Palestine and in Iran.
Iqbal Jassat
Executive Member
Media Review Network
Johannesburg
South Africa