Do not expect substantial changes in policy on Arab affairs

Do not expect substantial changes in policy on Arab affairs

If there is one thing we will remember about outgoing Secretary of State Michael Pompeo it is that he carried his heart in his hand. His “brash” attitude and tendency not to hold back have fueled the concerns of many Arab activist groups about his long-term goals.
When Pompeo spoke, there was no risk of misunderstanding how he felt about a problem. He never held back in expressing his strong feelings for Iran’s leadership, for example, nor did he silence his fervent support for the Israeli government.
His successor is expected to adopt a different style, which could make it easier to advance US foreign policy goals. President-elect Joe Biden has said he will appoint Tony Blinken, a pro-Israeli liberal, as the new secretary of state. This is not surprising, considering that Blinken, who served as a staff member of the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton, was Biden’s spokesperson for foreign policy during the final months of the election campaign.
Arabs wondering how Washington’s approach to the Middle East under Biden could change need not ask too long whether they recognize that the differences between Pompeo and Blinken are not about politics but about elaboration.
Blinken will pursue almost all of the same goals as Pompeo, but he will do so in a less extravagant, more subtle, more nuanced and more attentive to Arab world views. But the end result will be essentially the same, regardless of Biden’s six-page “Agenda for the Arab American Community,” found on its official website.
One thing we know for sure, from Biden’s campaign speeches and reading that agenda, is that Blinken will design a softer approach to Iran that is less combative for the new president. This change will not be welcomed by a moderate Arab world which rightly views Iran as an extremist threat.
We also know that Blinken will be a strong champion of Israel. He may not have openly supported many of the policies Trump has rammed during the last two years of his administration, but Blinken supports many. Indeed, some may argue that his appointment heralds a pro-Israel policy that is far stronger than Trump’s but more subtle in his approach.
Blinken believes the US embassy belongs to Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv, and has no plans to change it. This recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was a fact under previous administrations. The only reason the embassy wasn’t relocated there until Trump arrived was the fear that it could upset the apple cart and cause serious problems in the Middle East. Trump proved this assumption wrong in 2018 when he ordered the embassy relocation. But it didn’t do it to appease Israelis or Jewish voters in the United States – it did it to bolster its popularity among evangelical Christians, a significant voter base.
Arabs could point to Biden’s agenda for Arab Americans in much the same way they did to the “speech in Cairo” delivered by former President Barack Obama in 2009. But the truth is that when you read both carefully, they deliver. the hope of a more pleasant environment while offering little in the way of real substance to make it happen.
In other words, telling the Arabs that they cared was more than enough to get their support, without having to do anything. For all the bluster of Obama’s Cairo speech, it was heavy in pleasant rhetoric but light in terms of meaningful political change.
Both Biden and Obama have spoken in strong terms about respecting the civil rights of Muslims. Obama proposed a new beginning in the relationship between the United States and Muslims around the world, based on mutual interest and respect. Specifically, he promised that his administration would seek a more comprehensive engagement with Muslim-majority countries.
As a result, Arabs – who were and often are the targets of discriminatory policies – were willing to believe that things could change not only in terms of human rights, but in terms of political decisions affecting the Middle East.
As we know, this did not really happen during the Obama administration. The hopes and dreams of the Arabs fueled by his speech have not translated into changes that have improved the daily lives of the people of the Middle East or faced ways to end conflicts there.
The Arabs are making the same mistake by allowing the infatuation with Biden’s agenda to fuel the belief that he will somehow advance the cause of the creation of a Palestinian state. If anything, his promises have only led the Arabs to another great disappointment. He cannot meet the expectations of the Arabs or appease them because his own party, the Democrats, has defined American policies in support of Israel.
Condemning Israeli settlements, which Obama has often done, is not the same as punishing a regime for expanding illegal settlements built on land stolen from Palestinian Christians and Muslims.
Obama has taken no real action to punish Israel for nothing, except perhaps on one occasion when he refused to veto a UN Security Council resolution critical of Israel. It is easy to forget that in December 2016 he refrained from blocking a resolution condemning Israel for its illegal settlement activity. He faced criticism for not preventing the resolution from being passed, but in truth it didn’t matter because he achieved nothing more than adding more empty words to a book full of pointless rhetoric condemning Israel’s actions. Months before passing the resolution, Obama approved the largest military aid package in Israel’s history, worth $ 38 billion.

Telling the Arabs that they cared about them was more than enough to get their support, without having to do anything.

Ray Hanania

The Israelis may not have liked the fact that Obama failed to act at the UN in defense of their illegal settlement policies, but it is not the same as implementing policies with consequences for settlement expansion. No consequences were imposed, so the resolution was nothing more than an empty gesture.
Our weakness as Arabs is that we are often too emotional. We are easily influenced by beautiful words – which is one of the reasons we love poetry, I suppose.
Allowing feelings of euphoria to create a false sense of hope and justice when we face substantial challenges, such as the Palestinian cause, is a flaw we should be preparing to experience once again. Aside from a few favorable words, don’t expect much in the way of substantial political changes from the new administration in Washington when it comes to issues like Palestine or Israel’s punishment for military abuse during its West Bank occupation.

• Ray Hanania is an award-winning political journalist and columnist for the Chicago City Hall. He can be reached on his personal website at www.Hanania.com. Twitter: @RayHanania

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