My TakeThe real ‘no limits’ friendship is only found between US and Israel
- As more nations recall envoys or cut ties, and allegations of war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide pile up, Washington still stands by Israel
Western pundits like to make fun of the supposedly “no limits” partnership between China and Russia. But if they really want to know what no limits means in a state-to-state relationship and how tremendous self-harm can result, they need to look no further than that between the United States and Israel.
What Israel wants, Israel gets; and does not even have to ask first when it comes to emergency financial aid and weapons. As Israel bombs its way across the Gaza Strip and Jewish settlers commit murder to seize Palestinian land in the West Bank, the weapons they are using are mostly supplied by Washington.
Unfortunately, the current Israeli government knows no moderation. Unlike the more restrained Labor Party government of old, the current Israeli state is run by extremists. The goal of this coalition was in fact spelled out, at least for the Israeli public.
When this most extreme of far-right coalitions was formed late last year, it called for not only continued occupation but also annexation of the West Bank. Its coalition deal states: “The Jewish people have an exclusive and unquestionable right to all areas of the Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel – in the Galilee, the Negev, the Galan, Judea and Samaria.”
Judea and Samaria are the biblical names for the occupied West Bank. That is, in fact, what Jewish settlers, many of them driven by extremist ideology, have been doing in what they prefer to call “Judea and Samaria”.
The West Bank is home to 3 million Palestinians, and about 700,000 Israeli settlers, who are living there illegally. According to the United Nations, this year there were, on average, three incidents of settler violence per day in the West Bank. Since October 7, the date of the Hamas terrorist attacks, that has more than doubled to an average of seven per day. The UN says nearly a thousand Palestinians, many of them Bedouin, from at least 15 herding communities in the West Bank have been driven from their homes.