Washington lavished praise on the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday – but was mostly silent on the killing of 55 Palestinians and injuring of at least 1,200 by Israeli security forces.
Congressional Republicans and Democrats, who last year reaffirmed a 1995 law calling for the embassy in Tel Aviv to be relocated to Jerusalem, granted Donald Trump a victory lap by lauding his historic decision. The White House blamed the violence squarely on Gaza’s rulers Hamas.
In the eyes of critics, there was little to alter the view of Washington as a bubble of moral indifference. Only a handful broke ranks to condemn Israel’s hardline response to the protests by tens of thousands of Palestinians which, according to medics, left a 14-year-old boy dead.
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016, said: “Hamas violence does not justify Israel firing on unarmed protesters. The United States must play an aggressive role in bringing Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and the international community together to address Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and stop this escalating violence.”
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, was also critical: “It’s just heartbreaking. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is desperate. Instead of cutting aid, the Trump administration must restore our leadership role and do what it can to alleviate the Palestinians’ suffering. The location of the embassy is a final-status issue that should have been resolved as part of peace negotiations where both sides benefit, not just one side. Israel will only know true security when it is at peace with its neighbors.”
And Congresswoman Betty McCollum, a Democrat from Minnesota, tweeted: “Today’s @USEmbassyIsrael opening in Jerusalem & killing of dozens of Gaza protesters advances @netanyahu agenda of occupation & oppression of Palestinians. @realDonaldTrump policies are fueling conflict, abandoning diplomatic efforts to achieve peace.”
But these were notable exceptions. The ceremony in Jerusalem was widely welcomed as overdue and even a step towards peace, while the bloodshed about 60 miles away in Gaza received little political comment. Conservative Fox News’s coverage emphasised Ivanka Trump’s unveiling of the embassy seal and the role of ambassador David Friedman.
At Monday’s White House briefing, however, the deputy press secretary, Raj Shah, was repeatedly challenged to condemn the Israeli response. “We believe Hamas is responsible for these tragic deaths,” he said. “Their rather cynical exploitation of the situation is what’s leading to these deaths and we want it stopped.”
A reporter put it to Shah that France has urged Israel to exercise restraint, but the spokesman repeated: “We believe that Hamas is responsible for what’s going on.”
Shah added later: “This is a gruesome and unfortunate propaganda attempt.”
Another journalist pressed: “Is the White House in denial of the split-screen reality that’s occurring?”
Shah said: “Again, we believe Hamas is responsible.”
Earlier, in Jerusalem itself, when Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, told guests at the embassy: “As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today, those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution,” there was applause from Republicans present.
They included Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who hailed “a monumental day in United States-Israel relations”, and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who declared that the move “furthers the chances of peace in the Middle East by demonstrating that America’s support for Israel is unconditional and will not be bullied by global media opinion”.
The congressional delegation to the event, four senators and 10 members of the House, was exclusively Republican. But Democrats watching from afar were generally supportive or mute. Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate, said: “Every nation should have the right to choose its capital. I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago, and I applaud President Trump for doing it.”
The embassy move, fulfilling a Trump campaign promise, breaks with past US foreign policy that the disputed status of Jerusalem should be settled first. Palestinian leadership has broken off communication with the White House, leaving the peace process at its lowest ebb in years.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, the Washington-based liberal Jewish advocacy group, argued that the move was a political decision calculated to feed Trump’s base. “The whole day needs to be viewed through the lens of American domestic politics. From the narrow view of the 40% of the country that Trump represents, this was a political win; the other 60% would not see it that way.
“It’s a loss for all of us who really care about the long-term peace and security situation of both peoples.”
Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law and a former legal adviser to the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace negotiations, said he was unsurprised by the lack of moral outrage on Monday. “There is no real peace process to speak of,” he said. “Even the Palestinians realise the US situation is hopeless.”