Hamas' unexpected attack on Israel caught the White House off guard. The tragedy occurs in the midst of Washington's commitment to promoting diplomatic normalization between the Government of Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia, a relationship described as an anti-Iran clamp, where there was celebration yesterday. Aggression has every potential to derail this plan.
The talks seek the recognition of Israel by Riyadh in exchange for the United States selling them weapons, having security guarantees and help in the construction of a civil nuclear program, without forgetting Palestine.
The kingdom demanded this Saturday a de-escalation of violence and insisted on the demand for a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine, as the only way to peace. “We recall the continuous warnings of the danger that this situation could explode as a result of the continued occupation, the deprivation of Palestinians of their legitimate rights and the systematic repetition of provocations against their holy places,” said the Saudi Foreign Minister. With the statement the entire process remains up in the air, with the danger of a spread of the conflict.
President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu spoke Saturday. Biden expressed his condemnation of the “egregious attack by Hamas” and “the solid and unwavering” willingness to support the Government and people of Israel.
“Terrorism is never justified. Israel has every right to defend itself. "The United States warns any other party hostile to Israel that seeks to take advantage of this situation," the president noted.
As a backdrop, and despite the expressions of good will, the rapprochement between the Israelis and the Saudis was seen as a way of leaving aside the Palestinians, forgotten in their demand for their own state for decades.
Russia did not waste the opportunity to poke into the wound at the expense of the rapprochement promoted by the US Administration. Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev considers the US “a key player” in the escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine. “These idiots have interfered,” he stressed in direct allusion to the attempt to facilitate Western integration into the Arab world.
However, it was not necessary to leave the United States to find another underlying charge against the White House policy. Trump, always ready to take personal advantage of any situation, disclosed on his social network that “unfortunately, our taxpayers' money has helped these attacks; many reports say that [the money] has come from the Biden Administration.”
He did not specify what he was referring to, but those around him alluded to the 6 billion provided by Washington to Tehran to free five American citizens. Those millions did not come from US coffers. It was Iranian money held up by sanctions.
Trump's other lie was to say that he had brought peace to the Middle East with the Abraham Accords and that Biden had hindered him.
The 2020 pact included the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The Saudis rejected it largely due to the Palestinian issue. In contrast to his predecessor, Biden is betting on the Israel-Saudi Arabia agreement to pacify the area, help Jerusalem, and distance Riyadh from Beijing.
