Sec'y Antony Blinken, we see your hypocrisy
"Antony Blinken, deputy secretary of state in the U.S. Department of State" by BrookingsInst is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
by Kathryn Shihadah
On May 21, Nooran Alhamdan received her Master’s degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown University. She also exposed the hypocrisy of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – a hypocrisy typical of individuals and states that pay lip service to the cause of justice.
A few weeks ago, Nooran – a Palestinian American – learned that Blinken would be delivering the commencement speech at her graduation; two days later, she heard that Israeli forces had assassinated Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh (Abu Akleh’s death, and the debacle surrounding her funeral, were front-page news around the world).
Blinken tweeted about the incident: “We were deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh. Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner.”
Nooran described her reaction:
Blinken’s toothless tweet enraged me. There was everything wrong with American foreign policy vis-a-vis Palestine. Labeling the attack on Shireen’s funeral an “intrusion.” No statement that recognized her death as cold-blooded murder by Israel. An extension of Biden’s policies, which have done nothing to change the “status quo” since the Trump administration.
We [a group of Georgetown graduates] ultimately decided to carry out a silent protest…We would don the Palestinian keffiyeh and carry photos of Shireen both during the commencement procession and throughout Blinken’s address…
Palestinian students and activists in the United States are routinely blacklisted, smeared, and punished for their advocacy. However, honoring Shireen’s legacy, and taking advantage of this rare opportunity to make our voices heard in front of a high-ranking U.S. policymaker, was far more important to me than any personal risk I would face.
And she did indeed make her voice heard.
Truth to power
When Blinken stayed on for the handing out of diplomas, Nooran decided not to shake his hand or fist-bump; rather, she spoke to him as she passed:
“We demand an independent investigation of Shireen’s murder, and we demand an end to all American aid to the Israeli military now. Please.”
After the ceremony, Blinken approached Nooran and told her, “I see you. I hear you…We are committed to finding the truth.”
Really?
The Biden administration has no interest in the truth, but only in maintaining its “no daylight” relationship with Israel.
That’s why the US officially opposes an investigation by the International Criminal Court into Shireen’s death, and encourages the Palestinian Authority (PA) to share with Israel the bullet that killed Shireen Abu Akleh.
That is to say, we want Israel, and only Israel, to probe its alleged assassination of a prominent Palestinian-American journalist.
The truth will make you biased
The PA investigated the incident and concluded that Shireen had been deliberately killed by Israeli forces; a CNN investigation also found Israel at fault (eyewitnesses had insisted from the beginning that this had been the case).
Israel’s foreign minister Yair Lapid told Blinken in a phone call that both conclusions were “biased.”
Of course, Blinken did not push back, but rather supported Israel’s efforts to find the “truth” and stressed America’s ongoing commitment to Israel’s “security.”
The Biden administration is aware of Israel’s inability to honestly self-investigate. Israeli spin doctors can manufacture a justification for any Israeli war crime or human rights abuse, and the American palette prefers these conclusions.
No doubt they have already invented a narrative around that bullet: Israel is somehow the victim of the incident, and violent, reckless Palestinians are the culprit.
The denial cycle
If and when this becomes the official verdict, the world will no doubt breathe a collective sigh of relief.
We are all – including Israel, including the US – fully aware of Israel’s criminality. But heaven forbid that we believe the Palestinian narrative of anything. It would disturb our paradigm: “Israel is our soulmate, Palestinians are terrorists.”
No, we just need closure on this incident. Then we wait for the next one.
Kill, deny, repeat (and in fact, Israeli forces have killed at least four more Palestinians – two of them teenagers – since Shireen).
Secretary Blinken’s exchange with Nooran Alhamdan is America’s – and indeed the world’s – standard operating procedure.
Blinken claimed to be “committed to finding the truth”; Nooran responded, “We know the truth: [Shireen] was murdered by the Israeli military that we bankroll.”
But instead of honestly engaging, Blinken merely walked away. What else could he do?