Notorious
war hawk John Bolton – who has long been vying for a position in
Trump’s administration – has been especially eager to work with a
president with minimal foreign policy knowledge or experience,
allowing him maximum effect in achieving his policy goals.
by
Whitney Webb
Part
3 - Billionaire Adelson gets his way
Bolton’s
commitment to the Israeli state has manifested in other ways. For
instance, he has remained a constant critic of Palestine’s right to
self-determination, calling an independent Palestinian state a plot
“of Israel’s opponents to weaken and encircle the Jewish
state.” Bolton has called for the Gaza strip and the West Bank
to be given to Egypt and Jordan, respectively. This approach,
nicknamed the “Three State solution,” would eliminate any hopes
for Palestinian sovereignty by giving Palestinian territories to two
U.S.-allied countries that enjoy cordial relations with Israel,
making this solution preferable for Israel hard-liners that wish to
see an end to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
Bolton
has also praised President Trump’s recent decision to recognize
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and relocate the U.S. embassy in
Israel accordingly – a policy change allegedly orchestrated by
pro-Israel Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson — as an “injection
of reality.” In addition, he has strongly promoted the construction
of illegal settlements on Palestinian land, stating recently that
Israelis “ought to be able to build houses wherever they want
to, including all of the lands of Judea and Samaria [Palestine’s
West Bank].”
Given
his embrace of extremist Zionism, it is no surprise that Bolton has
found himself replacing H.R. McMaster, whose ouster was orchestrated
by billionaire Republican donor Sheldon Adelson. Bolton has long been
promoted by Adelson, as the latter personally intervened to keep
Bolton in contact with the Trump throughout his presidency and had
lobbied soon after Trump’s election to have Bolton appointed to his
cabinet. Like the embassy move to Jerusalem, Adelson has again gotten
his wish.
Adelson’s
push to have Bolton installed comes at a crucial time, as Israel is
currently preparing for war on “three fronts” — Palestine,
Lebanon, and Syria – and is actively lobbying for American aid and
involvement in launching that war. With Bolton in the Trump
administration, along with numerous other staunch Israel allies in
key government positions, Israel will likely get that aid in addition
to American troops fighting alongside them, even if Israel is the
aggressor in the imminent conflict.
The
timing of Bolton’s appointment as National Security Adviser is also
noteworthy, as it comes little over a month before the U.S. embassy
is set to move to Jerusalem, when tensions between Israel, Palestine
and its neighbors will be at their highest and when a war is most
likely to break out. Bolton is set to ensure strong U.S. support for
any Israeli military action that takes place during this time, even
though Israel is explicitly planning to target civilians and civilian
infrastructure.
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