PH Quickie: Tom Nides' tawdry "equality" for Palestinians
Ambassador Tom Nides: “Equality is 4G”
by Kathryn Shihadah
Tom Nides, American ambassador to Israel, appears to offer tough love to the so-called Jewish State. He has strong words about Israel’s settlement expansion (illegal under international law) and the demolition of Palestinians’ homes (also illegal). He calls these policies “infuriating” and “stupid.”
Is he going to do something – anything – about them?
He is not. He also will not waste time trying to reopen the shuttered American consulate for Palestinians, or reverse any other Trump-era changes that shattered Palestinian lives.
But don’t let that fool you. Ambassador Nides cares about Palestinians. He envisions equality for all:
“What does equality mean? Having 4G, that’s what equality means… I’ve been pounding the table about every Palestinian should have 4G or 5G on their phone… What does equality mean? It’s to be able to go to the Allenby Bridge [the only place where Palestinians can enter and exit their territory, manned exclusively by Israeli soldiers] 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 isn’t stupid. He knows a phone upgrade and an Apple store won’t impart full equality between Palestinians and Israelis – not in an era when human rights organizations are lining up to declare Israel an apartheid state. He just can’t imagine Palestinians as real people with a genuine longing for justice. They’re an inconvenience to him as they are to all Israel groupies.
Ambassador Nides, stop the charade. Neither you nor your boss, President Biden, cares anything for the people of Palestine. Throw them crumbs if you like, but don’t call it “equality.”