Editorial
Jerusalem Post, Feb. 5, 2024
“According to the data, there were 32 incidents of nationalistic violence against Palestinians the week before October 7 and 24 incidents the week after.”
US President Joe Biden and his staff undoubtedly have much on their minds. Re-election is likely at the forefront, especially with the Donald Trump juggernaut gaining momentum daily ahead of the November ballot.
Biden has been skewered by his party’s progressive flank over his perceived pro-Israel stance on the Gaza war and, most recently, the airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the attack last weekend on US troops in Jordan by Iran-backed terrorists.
Last week, in an attempt to stem the tide of progressive Democrats threatening to boycott the election, Biden visited Michigan, whose sizable Arab-American and Muslim population is miffed that he hasn’t demanded Israel implement a ceasefire in Gaza.
Maybe it’s against that backdrop that we can begin to understand how less than four months after Israel’s 9/11, when 1,200 people were massacred and 240 were taken hostage in Gaza, Biden signed an executive order placing sanctions against violence by Israeli extremists who attacked innocent Palestinians in the West Bank.
“I find that the situation in the West Bank – in particular, high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction – has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region,” the order reads. National Security Spokesman John Kirby said that the order is a signal to the whole world about how seriously the president takes settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
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