’Perplexed’ Over Israel’s Double Standards in the West Bank? You Don’t Say, Mr. Ambassador
The U.S. ambassador to Israel has made a historical, if not archaeological, discovery this week. Maybe his country could also do something about it.
Zvi Bar’el Jan 20, 2016
read more: ►http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.698400
Haaretz - Israeli News Source Haaretz.com
►http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.698400
Double standards? The law is not being applied equally to Palestinians and Jews in the territories? That is what is worrying United States Ambassador Dan Shapiro, the representative in Israel of the greatest power in the world? Suddenly the U.S. is “concerned and perplexed” over Israel’s policy in the territories.
Shapiro is in fact an expert on the Middle East, with long experience in American foreign policy in our serene region. He served on the National Security Council and advised Barack Obama on Middle Eastern policy during the latter’s first presidential campaign. His biographical details are important because of their relevance to the words “concerned and perplexed,” which describe the U.S. administration’s chronic condition.
The U.S. ambassador is far from perplexed. Even back when he was an undergraduate at Brandeis University, he was aware of the “double standards” created by the 1967 occupation: one bundle of laws for the Jews and one for the Palestinians. Jordanian law, British and Ottoman law, military orders and the “law of the wink,” – all used as needed for the two communities.