Thomas Nides, Joe Biden’s ambassador to Israel, spoke to Americans for Peace Now last week and made clear his stance with the Israeli government. Israeli settlement expansion and demolition of Palestinian houses are “infuriating” and “stupid” practices, but Nides must pick his battles or lose his ability to influence Israeli officials.
“A liberal Jew from Minnesota” and former investment banker, Nides said he won’t push to reverse Trump actions that destroyed Palestinian rights and aspirations in Jerusalem.
“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, that is true, however I also say the final status of Jerusalem will have to be determined by the parties… I’m not going to reverse the clock… It is what it is. I’m not going to disagree about the capital.”
Nides has adhered to Trump’s precedent by visiting the western wall in occupied Jerusalem. “I’ve been to the western wall 30 times.”
Though Nides won’t visit illegal settlements in the West Bank as Trump’s ambassador did. “I said that and my phone blew up,” Nides related. In the past he never had a twitter account. “Now I’m like a Kardashian with everything I say.”
And Nides is abiding by Trump policy in not pushing to reopen the American consulate in Jerusalem that serves Palestinians, despite Biden’s promise to do so. Trump closed the Jerusalem consulate in 2019 because Israel wanted to send the message that Palestinians have no rights in the city.
Here’s Nides’s long answer to the consulate issue. Bottom line: Nides respects the “unbreakable” bond with Israel.
We want to open it. People say Why not just open it? You know it’s not as simple as that.. It’s a government [of Israel] that has one seat [majority in the parliament], I’d prefer not to tip over the government…. The point is we want to open it. Tony Blinken’s been very clear about that. The president’s been very clear about that… Our desire is to open the consulate…. It’s important to the Palestinians and that’s why quite frankly the Israelis have decided to oppose it as aggressively as they have. I think both the Palestinians and the Israelis make way too big a deal of this of this particular building but that’s a different issue and I can’t debate that. I don’t want it to distract me from me meeting with Palestinians both in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, working on things to keep the two state solution alive and viable, making sure lives are getting better, stopping people from doing stupid stuff, getting people to do the right thing. So my view of this is, We want to open the consulate, I don’t want to spend all of my energy every day trying to open a consulate and everything goes to hell, so we open a building and that’s great… We haven’t done the programs we need to do to make the situation better vis-a-vis the Palestinians and that’s what I am focused on, and obviously as the American ambassador to Israel, to keep that bond as clear was we can between the United States.
Nides says he is going to focus on doing “a handful of things” to make lives better for occupied Palestinians in material ways: upgrading cell service from 3G to 4G in the West Bank and getting Google and Intel to open offices in Ramallah.
On a visit to the West Bank he noticed that his phone only has 3G.
Who the hell has 3G? This is ridiculous… Tonight I’m having dinner with the communications minister… I’ve been pounding the table about every Palestinian should have 4G or 5G on their phone.
He is also pushing to convince Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to give Palestinians more control of the Allenby Bridge that connects the West Bank and Jordan. And to convince the CEOs of Google, Microsoft and Intel to open offices in the West Bank.
Equality is a great slogan, but really it means having Google and 4G, Nides said:
“I’m all about slogans, and freedom and opportunity equality, that’s all great for me…. But I care deeply about it but I want to get stuff done….What does equality mean? Having 4G, that’s what equality means. What does equality mean– it’s to be able to go to the Allenby Bridge and feel that that’s a connection to the Palestinian people. What does equality mean? Going to Ramallah and seeing the Apple store, or seeing Google around.”
Nides emphasized that Palestinians cannot be “bought off.” That they have demands for rights that must be addressed. But material improvements can preserve “hope” for a two-state solution down the road.
A one-state solution is a disaster for everyone and threatens the “democratic Jewish state,” Nides said:
My north star I am focused on is to strengthen a democratic Jewish state. However, to do that, we must have a two state solution. If we lose sight of a two state solution, if we talk about a one state solution, if we talk about anything but a two state solution, it is not good for the Palestinians, it’s certainly not good for Israel, it’s not good for the Jews, it’s not good for anyone. So in every speech, in every conversation I talk about the need to focus and make sure we don’t lose sight of the vision of a two state solution.
An amiable man who prides himself on his ability to talk to anybody, Nides said of Americans for Peace Now, “Your agenda is where my heart is.” He said that Israeli settlement growth “infuriates me” and “infuriates the situation,” both in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. But “I can’t stop everything, I have to pick my battles.” He described his diplomacy:
I’m going to try to do things that calm things down, not agitate inflame things…When they do something I am aggravated about, let’s use settlements as an example which I think are wrong, I try and do it quietly first, I pick up the phone and call the prime minister, I call the foreign minister [Yair Lapid], I call the defense minister [Benny Gantz]. Then if that doesn’t work I get a little more creative and use the public pressure.
He said that he went “full bore on E1” — plans to put settlements in a corridor between the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which were put on hold earlier this year. But he can’t be “screaming” at Israeli officials all the time.
I’d be lying to you, if I said, every single house or any single house that is built in East Jerusalem or the West Bank, I can stop. I’d be useless as an ambassador. Because every conversation I have… by the way many of my conversations already are screaming with them about different stuff.
You’d think the ambassador of a government that gives Israel $4 billion a year might have more influence even without screaming. But that begs the question: The reason we give Israel $4 billion a year and that Nides is so friendly is that Israel has plenty of friends in the U.S. who could cause political problems for Joe Biden in a heartbeat.
Nides praised the Israeli government. “The reality of it is that this government is quite something if you look at Bennett and Lapid and guys like Gantz… It’s a pretty amazing democracy that is here and we can complain and bitch about different people….[but] we have an opportunity here with this government to do things vis-a-vis he West Bank and the Palestinian people that actually put action to these words.”
The goal is to preserve people’s “hope” that one day there will be a two-state solution, he said, though there are no plans for such a thing on the table now.
It’s amazing that Nides never mentioned “apartheid” or the human rights reports saying Israel practices apartheid. These officials really do live in a parallel universe.
I understand the difficulties, challenges, and frustrations facing Nides. However, let’s be clear, he and the Biden Administration that appointed him have chosen appeasement of the Israeli government over justice, equality, human rights, and US and International Law.
He can spare us the BS about a Two State Solution. That ship has sailed. Israel has NEVER been interested in two states for two people, the US has NEVER made even close to a serious move to facilitate such an outcome, and the Palestinians have given up all hope of ever having a viable and sovereign state of their own. The US is still playing games and insisting the the hostages negotiate an equitable outcome with their captor and oppressor, when the oppressor has no intentions of making even the slightest concession. The US can’t even get Israel to stop stealing land, evicting Palestinians, or shooting, maiming, and imprisoning their children. If the most powerful nation on Earth with more leverage than any other country can’t get Israel to tow the line, how in the holiest of fucks are the Palestinians supposed to get Israel to stop?
The US could recognize Palestinian statehood tomorrow. It chooses not to. Not because of some bullshit story about a “fragile coalition”, because this coalition is barely a year old, and the US has had 74 years to recognize Palestinian statehood.
As for the US Consulate in East Jerusalem, someone needs to remind Mr Nides, that the Consulate in question is in illegally occupied EAST Jerusalem! He should know this considering he’s been to the Western Wall 30 times, which is ALSO in occupied East Jerusalem. Being Ambassador to Israel, he knows very well that while the US officially recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s “eternal capital” – whatever the fuck that even means – the US has refused to recognize Israel’s annexation or sovereignty over East Jerusalem and constantly reminds us of this when he says that “the final status East Jerusalem needs to be settled by BOTH parties”.
Well, newsflash, Mr Nides! Both parties HAVEN’T settled the status of East Jerusalem, so that means it’s STILL beyond the Green Line in the occupied West Bank, beyond Israel’s legal sovereignty and the US can put its Consulate wherever the fuck it wants to with the PA and Jordan’s approval. No need to “reverse” some imaginary clock.
If some mythical unicorn of a ‘do-nothing’ coalition government can’t survive even the slightest pushback by the US, then it’s not worth preserving.
Must read:
The Dying Myth of Israeli Democracy—An Analysis (22 March 2022) by Prof. Lawrence Davidson Blog: http://www.tothepointanalyses.com
EXCERPT:
Part I—Present Troubles
“A lot of Americans, from the president on down, seem obsessed with the fate of Ukraine. The story, as told by almost every media outlet in the country, is all about Russian actions & their horrid consequences: the brazen invasion, the destruction of Ukrainian cities, the refugees, & the dead. There appears to be no interest in the role Washington & its European allies played in starting this bloody mess. Nor is there much concern for the blatant double standards being practiced. Indeed, popular ignorance, allowing propaganda to substitute for facts, helps hold the attention of the masses to the spectacle.
“It also pushes into the background other crises that still are with us. Principally, Covid-19. Many Americans think that plague is behind us, even as China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Ecuador, & now Western Europe continue to reel from its effects. Then there is Covid’s observed pattern of running on a three-month cycle. So, who knows what is around the corner?
“Amidst it all, the nation is still beset, as it always seems to be, by periodic cynical behavior committed by groups who can’t think beyond their own ideological borders. So, it might come as a relief to some readers to be drawn away from Ukraine’s madness of artillery fire & overfilled hospitals to take up a case of plain old American perfidy.
Part II—The Case in Point
“The case in point is the latest action of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Traditionally, AIPAC has served as the most influential lobby dedicated to keeping U.S.-Israeli relations strong. In this, it has been remarkably successful. Another purpose has been to tell other pro-Israel groups & individuals which American politicians to financially support. AIPAC itself was not a traditional dispenser of lobby money.
“This has recently changed. AIPAC has now established its own political action committee (PAC). This will pool contributions from pro-Israel American donors for distribution to political candidates approved by AIPAC.”
… sorry to pop your bubble of bullshit, Mr. Nides, but you lie … according to the 1947 Partition Plan, United Nations Resolution 181(II), ‘The City of Jerusalem shall be established as a corpus separatum under a special international regime and shall be administered by the United Nations.”
So … NO, Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel, because your words directly contradict the collective decision by the community of global nations … I certainly sympathise, Tom, I truly do, your having to surrender your intelligence to the demands of tribal unity – I may only imagine the difficulty of damming that pulsing mass of lies and delusion from the tides of common sense and simple humanity … best of luck, though, and I hope you might still find your honour …
Palestinian citizens are positioned to facilitate the future of two states or one by campaigning for equal civil rights. Equality in one state or two can be achieved through political action, not rocks.