What Money Can Buy
Fifty-eight Palestinians died yesterday. Over 2700 were injured. They were protesting the United States move of the embassy from Tel Aviv, where it was located since the founding of Israel in 1948, to Jerusalem. While many Israelis celebrated the move with pomp and ceremony and speeches; Palestinians saw it as giving away their future capital.
Israel, of course, blamed the injuries and deaths on Hamas, the radical organization that was freely elected to control the Gaza area. Gaza is just outside the Israeli border where Palestinians were pushed when Israel was founded. Two million Palestinians are jammed into the 140 square mile area (the city of Columbus, Ohio; 217 square miles.) They are not allowed to travel outside of Gaza, blockaded by the Israelis on one side and Egypt on the other.
Yesterday was Jerusalem Day in Israel, commemorating the 1967 war when Israel reunified the city, taking the old section from Jordanian forces. Today Palestinians commemorate “The Day of Catastrophe” (Nakba Day,) the day in 1948 when Palestinians were driven out of what would become Israel. The conflict between them is raw.
The death and injuries were eminently predictable. So why did the US make this move at this time?
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has pushed this for many years. It puts the United States firmly on the Israeli side, wiping out the “honest broker” position taken by the Obama Administration. It puts into question whether there will ever be a solution to the Israeli/Palestinian crisis; certainly the “two state” solution that the US (and most Israelis) has supported is farther away than ever before. It puts Israel in the position of a Jewish democracy running a police state against the Palestinians.
The hope would be that this dramatic move would have been strategically thought out, with long discussions of the pros and cons, and input from our leading foreign policy authorities and allies. However, it seems that the driving force behind this move wasn’t the foreign policy intelligentsia, but instead, the billionaire owner of casinos, Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson, who owns much of Las Vegas and is ranked as the fourteenth richest man in the world ($42 billion) is a close friend of Netanyahu, and has long pressed for the move to Jerusalem. According to President Trump, Adelson put $120 million into the Trump election effort, including a direct contribution to the campaign for $25 million. He also was the largest single donor to the inauguration fund at $5 million.
Adelson is an American success story, a self made man who started his first business selling newspapers in Boston at sixteen. He now owns the Venetian casinos around the world (Las Vegas, Singapore, Macao, Bethlehem PA) as well as several Israeli newspapers, in addition to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
He has been adamant on the need to recognize Jerusalem as the capital, and has had several meetings with President Trump, and others in the administration. He has also been a driving force against the United States deal with Iran, shadowing the view of Netanyahu, and has pressed for the US to withdraw from the agreement. A couple of weeks ago, the US did.
Adelson has represented the hardline Israeli position here in the US for years. He has also become one of the key financiers of Republican politics (along with the Koch brothers and the Mercers.) It has earned him a seat behind Vice President Pence at the Trump Inauguration, and honored-guest status at the Jerusalem ceremony. It has also earned him the ear of the President, and a key appointment with John Bolton as National Security Advisor.
Most US foreign policy advisors, including most Republicans, were against the recognition of Jerusalem as the legal Israeli capital. Jerusalem was the ultimate bargaining chip in a “two state” settlement, the final street by street negotiation that would recognize the legitimacy of the Palestinians, and allow Israel to get away from the draconian measures now required to keep them in check.
With the US recognition, Palestinians will be forced to continue what they did yesterday: protest and riot until Israeli soldiers are pushed to respond. Palestinians can only hope that the images of the dead and wounded will gain world recognition and pressure on Israel. In the end, the bodies of young Palestinians will be the price of the US decision.
It’s what money can buy.
