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By Jason Michael
Theresa May is determined to isolate the whole of the United Kingdom from the rest of the world and in so doing drive our economy and our rights into a nosedive. By biting the present US administration over Israel she is only pushing the accelerator.
Brexit has managed to drive a wedge deep into the growing rift between the United Kingdom and the European Union, leaving Britain isolated from the rest of the continent and with something of an uncertain future regarding trade and movement. Since taking office in July Theresa May, while taking a firm but as yet ill-defined position on Brexit meaning Brexit, has been employing what can best be described as a schizophrenic diplomatic approach to her negotiations with Brussels; on the one hand delaying Article 50 so as to give her bewildered government time to brainstorm ideas, and on the other trying to instigate unwelcome “informal” chats with key figures in Europe – which are constantly being rebuffed.
As if this precarious pickle wasn’t enough of a bellyache for the UK Theresa May has decided to pick a fight with the United States, Westminster’s last and best chance of something approaching stability after its messy divorce from Europe. Admittedly, the outgoing Obama administration may only be trying to either claim its place in the history books or scupper the incoming administration’s half-baked Middle East strategy – or both – by letting Israel take a long overdue kicking at the UN Security Council, but, and whatever the outcome is, by taking a shot at Uncle Same Theresa May has set the UK on course for another political disaster.
The bottom line is that Israel’s outrageous behaviour towards Palestine; the occupation and illegal settlement programme, and its continual efforts to coerce and manipulate the US cannot go on indefinitely. As almost 70 years of US-Israeli relations have shown; strategic interests change over time, and Israel – which has become an increasing liability for Washington – simply won’t be America’s most favoured friend forever. John Kerry’s remarks on Israel merely reflect the reality to which the US is wakening up, either the two-state solution is kept on the table or – as Israel edges closer to the de facto or actual annexation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – the conflict becomes existential for Palestinians and thus uncontrollable.
In taking this gamble the British Prime Minister hopes to curry favour with the soon-to-be crowned Emperor Trump. “The Donald” has nominated, David Friedman, a pro-Israel hawk who supports both the occupation and the settlements, and who has called Jewish liberals “Kapos,” but in only one thing has Mr. Trump been consistent – his now famous inconsistency. If pressure from within the hidden mechanisms of state succeeds in reining Trump in regarding Israel then May finds herself at odds with the US over Israel for the foreseeable future. If, on the other hand, she manages to get her Israel love-in with Trump then British policy will be irresistibly pulled further to the right.
Israel, strangely enough, has found some common cause with the US and European right. Israel and “the Jews” are no longer the preferred scapegoats of the far-right. Sure, antisemitism is still real, but this has been supplanted in our post-9/11 realised dystopia by Islamophobia – and on this detail Israel and the Alt-Right (read “neo-Nazis and neo-fascists) have spread the sheets to become bedfellows. When Trump makes good on his promise to bomb the families of those he identifies as terrorists – an identification Israel will help him to make – Britain, as a consequence of May’s sycophancy, will be in on the ground floor in a push to create permanent war and instability in Israel and Palestine. Either way, this move will forever change John Bull into a new Robinson Crusoe.
US ‘surprised’ by UK criticism of Kerry’s Israel speech
Author: Jason Michael (@Jeggit)
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