Why does our government keep lying?

Israel didn't agreed to a ceasefire, Hamas did, and we're being lied to.

The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution endorsing the ceasefire proposal written by the U.S., which lays out a plan for ending Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Fourteen countries voted for the resolution, zero voted against it, and Russia abstained. The plan, which Biden announced in May, first calls for a six-week ceasefire and the exchange of some of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians held in Israeli jails. There’s just one problem. Despite the assurances by everyone from Joe Biden, who initially described this ceasefire as being an Israeli plan, to Secretary of State Blinken, to the United States ambassador to the UN, that Israel supports the plan and Hamas does not, Israel is refusing to accept the ceasefire.

This story is developing, and today things could change, but at the moment Netanyahu is rejecting peace, again. After the UN Security Council Resolution passed, one of Israel’s representatives to the United Nations stated, “Israel stands firm on our principles, and they have not changed. We will continue until all of the hostages are returned and until Hamas military and governing capabilities are dismantled.” At almost the same time a senior Israeli official told Israeli outlet Ynet that the resolution passed by the UN Security Council, "restricts Israel's freedom of action." According to him, "The U.S. accepted a very problematic formulation” when it finalized the ceasefire resolution. This US-drafted resolution also happens to explicitly state in Article 1 that it's a proposal "which Israel accepted," something that appears to be blatantly untrue.

At the very, very least there is substantial disagreement within the Israeli government over this ceasefire, as evidenced by Benny Gantz, a key member of Israel's war cabinet, announcing his resignation from Netanyahu’s government on Sunday. Gantz “accuses Netanyahu of refusing to embrace a cease-fire deal to end the war and failing to secure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza” according to NPR. And he has good reason to level these charges. Not only has Netanyahu rejected peace multiple times now, but as recently as Sunday he stated, “This is not the time to abandon the campaign … we will continue until victory and the achievement of all the goals of the war, primarily the release of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas.”

Needless to say, this is not the language of the ceasefire that Biden announced weeks ago and that Netanyahu knew was about to be voted on at the UN. Hamas, on the other hand, “welcomed a U.N. Security Council resolution backing a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza,” according to Reuters. Much like Netanyahu’s rejection of peace, this is not new. Hamas agreed to another ceasefire plan in May, only for Israel to shift the goalposts and reject the plan, while attempting to shift blame back to Hamas.

Unfortunately, whatever measure of success Israel has found in shifting blame is largely due to U.S. cooperation and involvement in this weak attempt to simultaneously reject peace while appearing to pursue it. As in past iterations of this cycle, the U.S. has responded to this UN Security Council resolution by pressuring Hamas, directing their messaging at Hamas, and simply ignoring that Hamas immediately backs the ceasefire while Israel plays games with the lives of thousands of people and again dances around an actual, straightforward acceptance of the ceasefire process.

None of this is new. I wrote about some of it months ago, and again weeks ago, but the fundamental truth is that Netanyahu isn’t interested in peace, both because of his own motives and beliefs and because he’s in a governing coalition with people even further right than he is. And instead of distancing themselves from the fascist, genocidal leadership of Israel the Biden administration has tried to coddle them, persuade them, and most recently the preferred tactic appears to be some mix of tricking and coercing Israel to accept peace. Like every other effort, the most recent saga avoids using the real power the U.S. has both economically and militarily, and like every other effort it appears to have already failed.

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

There was one little crack in the facade, a break from the U.S. line that only Hamas is to blame for rejecting peace. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield concluded her statement to the Security Council after the resolution passed by saying, “The United States will help ensure that Israel lives up to its obligations as well, assuming Hamas accepts the deal." This is a break from past rhetoric, specifically a break from Israel and from the lie that Netanyahu has already accepted peace. It is a tacit but clear acknowledge of who is really to blame for rejecting the many, resounding calls for a ceasefire. Yet at almost the exact same time Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s team took to Twitter at virtually the same moment she uttered those words and tweeted that Israel already accepts the deal, and now the ball is in Hamas’ court. Even while nearly acknowledging reality before the Security Council her online statement repeats the lie that, “The fighting could stop today – and hostages could come home today – if Hamas agreed to the deal.” And this unfortunately summarizes the current U.S. approach — doublespeak and the denial of reality, up to and including realities American officials sometimes acknowledge.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s Monday statements were even further from reality. Asked by a reporter about Netanyahu publicly opposing Biden’s ceasefire deal he not only said that Israel has accepted the plan, but that the ceasefire is the official position of the Israeli government, including Netanyahu. I, and many people around the world, wish this was true. Unfortunately reality contradicts his statements. 

Biden has backed himself into a corner. His administration is, belatedly, trying to shift course somewhat. And yet they remain unwilling to take decisive steps to stop Netanyahu, they remain unwilling to use the massive and insurmountable leverage that the U.S. could exercise at any time to stop Israel in its tracks. Without that avenue, which could bring peace and end this genocide, they’re left with ineffective and manipulative tools. Namely, when Biden recently announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, he called it an Israeli deal. It rapidly became apparent to the world that this was simply not true, not least because Netanyahu himself shot it down. So Biden is left embarrassed on the world stage and Palestinians are left to die.

Photo by Emad El Byed on Unsplash

It’s time to stop the lying. It’s time to use real leverage and not try underhanded and failed manipulation and rhetorical tricks. Reports are now coming out that Biden administration officials have discussed a potential deal with Hamas to release five Americans held hostage in Gaza if ceasefire talks involving Israel break down. And again, this is change, one that could further isolate Israel. But it should never be necessary; the U.S. should have acted decisively to force Israel to accept peace, a move that would have seen all the hostages walk free, months ago. Instead Biden has thrown away so much for so little. In an election year, with the stakes repeatedly described as a battle against fascism, Biden is supporting Israeli fascists against the wishes of American voters. Not only do the majority of Democrats, Independents, and even Republicans want a ceasefire, but people want the U.S. to stop arming Israel. New polling shows that a majority of U.S. Jews, a demographic you might think Biden is afraid to lose if he uses the full range of tools at his disposal to pressure Israel into accepting peace, now want us to stop arming Israel.

But there is one group left that Biden, specifically the Biden campaign, is concerned about. The one demographic left is billionaires and the ruling class. This group is steadfast in their support for Israel’s genocide. They don’t want peace – they want the weapons to keep being built and the money to keep flowing so that they can keep profiting. Whether they manifest as AIPAC or the recently uncovered WhatsApp chat of wealthy Zionists, or specific billionaire donors who don’t want any push-back against Israel (see Haim Saban), Biden wants their campaign contributions.

Lord knows that plenty of billionaires are flocking to Trump, and that many never stopped supporting him to begin with. They want deregulation, tax cuts, and more money than anyone could spend in ten lifetimes. But in a country where the rich buy elections, Biden wants to retain the support of this class as much as he can. They, along with the president’s long-time support of Israel and Zionist beliefs, are why the administration is twisting itself into strange lies and distortions and embarrassing themselves in front of the world instead of bringing peace. A fear of losing their money, combined with a growing realization of just how untenable continuing to support Israel is with Democrats, not to mention how it negatively affects U.S. relations with countries around the world, has led team Biden to a strange catch-22 where they’re repeatedly caught out in lies for the world to see, and where they double down on those lies instead of simply pivoting to the truth, to peace.

So, like the vast majority of the problems we face today, we find ourselves confronting the reality of concentrated wealth and its direct corollary – concentrated power. To have a functional country that prioritizes peace and stability and humanity over war and death and profit we need to confront the reality of the capitalist investment in violence; it has both proven to be immensely profitable in itself and is crucial to maintaining the systems that extract and generate profit for the ruling class. Behind all the lies and obfuscation sits that simple, sad truth. And we won’t get far unless we build the power to replace this violent reality with something very different.

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