More Writings of Mayor Pete on Israel-Palestine
After Gaza slaughter,
Buttigieg praised Israeli security responses as ‘moving’ and faulted Democrats
for easy judgment
FeaturesUS Politics Last May, South Bend Mayor
Pete Buttigieg went to Israel with the American Jewish Committee and two weeks
later discussed his trip with that organization. At the time Israel was killing
Palestinian protesters at the Gaza fence– 60 on one day within days of Buttigieg’s visit, getting global attention — yet Buttigieg repeatedly praised
Israel’s security arrangements as “moving” and “clear-eyed”, said the U.S.
could learn something from them, and blamed Palestinians and Hamas for the
“misery” in Gaza.
He also faulted fellow Democrats for making snap judgments based
on “90-second cable news versions of what’s going on over there.”
Buttigieg, 37, a former Navy intelligence officer, is today a
rising star in the Democratic presidential field as a midwestern mayor with a
reputation for intelligence and pragmatism. In his 22-minute discussion with
the AJC’s Seffi Kogen last May, Buttigieg never mentioned the Gaza protests
directly. But he said that if you only visited Israel, you’d see what wise
judgments Israelis are making.
He went to Israel last May for the first time at the behest of
strong Israel supporters, the Jewish Federations of Indiana and the American
Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange. “I’d always been interested [in going].
But when the Jewish Federation reached out and told me how special this
opportunity was, I thought ‘Now’s the time.'” (It helps to be planning to run
for president.)
Rockets fell from Syria on his visit and Buttigieg was impressed
that Israeli society did not “grind to a halt.” He went on to justify every
choice Israel has made on its security in a “challenging neighborhood,” offered
those choices as a “moving” model for the U.S., and said the U.S. is not doing
enough to pressure Egypt and the Palestinians.
Seeing the way that a country can be on one hand very
intentional, very serious and very effective when it comes to security and on
the other hand not allow concerns about security to dominate your
consciousness– I think there’s a very important lesson in that that hopefully
Americans can look to as we think about how to navigate a world that unfortunately
has become smaller and more dangerous for all of us…
I was in a very modern city surrounded by people going about
their lives. Seeing how people fit those things together was illuminating and
in many ways moving. There’s a sense there that no matter what challenges there
are in the community or in the society, they can’t wait for security
issues to be resolved. People live their lives, they’re pretty clear-eyed about
what is going on around them. And at the same time, you don’t let that take over…
The sense that we were in a very safe and very peaceful place– some of the
numbers we’ve been shown on violence of any kind in many of the cities we
visited, even in Jerusalem, whether you’re looking at political violence or
petty crime, those statistics would frankly be the envy of a lot of our
midwestern cities….
Kogen asked what Buttigieg would want Americans to understand
about Israel. The mayor said, How exciting Israel is, not the cable TV images:
Certainly just understanding the complexity and nuance of the
issues. Also understanding the level of modernity there….So often you only see
coverage of international tension. You only see what’s maybe going on with the
prime minister and the Palestinian Authority and you’re not seeing nearly
enough I think about the energy, the dynamism, the creativity, the innovation
that’s happening at the local level and how some of that is also feeding up to
the national context in a positive way.
He spoke of keeping Israel a bipartisan cause, and keeping the
focus on Iran.
I think there’s a risk that Israel could come to be
regarded as a partisan issue, and I think that would be really
unfortunate.
One of the first things you realize when you get on the ground
is this is not a left versus right issue. At least it shouldn’t be. We met a
lot of people from the Israeli left who have complicated and nuanced views of
what is going on [including the]…. relationship with Iran. Unfortunately these
things are reduced into a black and white picture sometimes in the American
media.
Buttigieg also visited the occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank.
And he faulted Palestinian leadership and Hamas for Palestinian misery, and
said Democrats just don’t get it cause they’re watching cable news:
[We got] a more nuanced idea of what is happening on the
Palestinian side. So one of the first things that was very clear to us was the
extent to which there really is not a unified or single voice for the
Palestinian … people. Most people aren’t aware of the difference between what’s
happening in Gaza run by Hamas in a way that is contributing to a lot of misery
there but also totally different than an environment where you would have a
negotiating partner across the table is really important. I don’t think that’s
widely understood and I think if it were you would see more Democrats would be
asking more questions as we face these kind of 90-second cable news versions of
what’s going on over there.
Remember that many progressives responded to the shock of the
May 14 slaughter by pronouncing it a massacre. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
This is a massacre. I hope my peers have the moral courage to
call it such. No state or entity is absolved of mass shootings of protesters.
There is no justification. Palestinian people deserve basic human dignity, as
anyone else. Democrats can’t be silent about this anymore.
In his interview, Buttigieg issued one mild criticism of the
Trump administration policy, as consisting of “sweeping gestures that may move
public opinion, but not so committed to peace.” Everyone over there wants
peace, but people here reach easy judgments, he said.
Those who seem to have the most clearcut answers and the most
strident opinions seem to be the one on the outside looking in. That’s another
reason the trip was so valuable.
Buttigieg says the region needs for the U.S. to be an “honest
broker” of peace, but we’re losing “credibility.” But when asked how we’d go
about doing that, it’s building the alliance with Israel and putting more
pressure on Palestinians and Arabs.
I think the security and intelligence cooperation [between the
U.S. and Israel] is obviously vital, certainly something that is as important
for American interests as much as Israeli interests.
There may be some opportunities perhaps not under the present
administration but over time to be a constructive voice in inducing some of the
other players in the region to accept greater responsibility. You think for
example about the Egyptian role when it comes to the situation in Gaza, and you
think of some of the leverage the US has over Egypt. Before you even get to the
Iran issue and what’s going on in some of the Gulf States, there’s certainly a
chance for the U.S. to exert influence and be a constructive player when it
comes to a lot of states in the region that frankly just haven’t lived up to
their responsibilities.
So Israel has lived up to its responsibilities, but Egypt
hasn’t.
Buttigieg is a quick study; and what leaps out from these
remarks is how completely the Rhodes Scholar imbibed the official pro-Israel
version of events, and showed contempt for Palestinian understanding. There is
no sense in Buttigieg’s remarks that Israel is a militarized, rightwing country
that adores Donald Trump and that is led by a strongman and that answers
resistance to the existing order with overwhelming force that international
human rights organizations said at the time of his remarks were likely war
crimes.
Buttigieg did not meet with AIPAC last week; but we can expect
Buttigieg to take a centrist pro-Israel position in opposition to the
Democratic base, which is highly critical of Israel.
Thanks to Adam Horowitz.
April
2, 2019, 2:22 pm
… So often you only see coverage of international tension. You
only see what’s maybe going on with the prime minister and the Palestinian
Authority and you’re not seeing nearly enough I think about the energy, the
dynamism, the creativity, the innovation that’s happening at the local level
and how some of that is also feeding up to the national context in a positive
way. …
Pete says, So often you hear rumours that Joe kidnaps
women, chains them in his basement and rapes them. But you’re not hearing
nearly enough I think about the energy, the dynamism, the creativity, the
innovation of his awesome dinner parties and how some of that is feeding up to
the municipal context in a positive way.
Buttigieg did not meet with AIPAC last week
The Washington Post’s David Weigel, who publishes the Trailer
newsletter, had some insight into Buttigieg’s absence at AIPAC:
Two of them reached directly by The Trailer,
Pete Buttigieg and Tulsi Gabbard, explained that they simply were not invited
and wouldn’t rule out going in the future.
“We’d entertain any serious invitation to
engage in an issue that matters to people in our country,” Buttigieg said. “We
should be able to have different views represented without saying something
that belittles someone’s right to be in the debate.”
Buttigieg is open to going in the future. He isn’t even trying
to appeal to AIPAC’s critics.
… … Buttigieg said. “We should be able to have different views
represented without saying something that belittles someone’s right to be in
the debate.”
Wait for it…wait for it…almost there…and here it is:
… “People like me get strung up in Iran,” said Buttigieg …
without mentioning Omar by name. … “So, the idea that what’s going on is
equivalent is just wrong.” …
Misrepresentation and belittlement in one short
paragraph. The Zionism is strong in this one!
, 3:36 pm
Also, on ABC’s The View, Buttigieg engaged in
pinkwashing when he blasted Ilhan Omar for comaparing Israel to Iran. “People
like me get strung up in Iran… So, the idea that what’s going on is equivalent
is just wrong.”
Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend,
Indiana, and a dark horse in the Democratic presidential stakes, chided
Netanyahu for saying he would annex parts of the West Bank if he is re-elected.
“This
provocation is harmful to Israeli, Palestinian, and American interests,”
Buttigieg said Saturday on Twitter, attaching a Haaretz news article
reporting Netanyahu’s pledge made in a TV interview.
“Supporting
Israel does not have to mean agreeing with Netanyahu’s politics,” Buttigieg
said. “I don’t. This calls for a president willing to counsel our ally against
abandoning a two-state solution.”
Buttigieg,
who last year visited Israel with the American Jewish
Committee’s Project Interchange, has so far mounted a surprisingly effective
campaign, raising $7 million in his first quarter and surpassing the 65,000
donor minimum to participate in the party’s presidential candidate debates.
April 04th, 2019
9 Comments
WASHINGTON — Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, whose candidacy is
currently being heavily promoted by corporate media, was one of the many 2020 contenders for the Democratic
Party who declined to attend the recent annual conference of the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in apparent response to calls from
prominent “progressive” organizations to boycott the event and a growing shift
among Democratic voters in favor of Palestinian rights.
However,
despite his absence from the AIPAC conference, Buttigieg’s past public
statements on the Israel/Palestine conflict echo those of pro-Israel stalwarts
in the Democratic Party. Indeed, Buttigieg, in a trip to Israel last year that was funded by the
pro-Israel lobby, praised Israel’s security response to protests by
Palestinians on the Gaza-Israel border just four days after the slaughter of
Gazan protesters by Israeli military snipers — repeating many of the same
one-sided talking points about the conflict that define centrists in both the
Republican and Democratic parties.
Impressed by Israeli security policy
Last May, Buttigieg traveled to Israel as part of a trip for
U.S. mayors organized by Project Interchange, an affiliate of the American
Jewish Committee (AJC), one of the oldest and most
influential Israel
lobby organizations in the United States. The AJC regularly conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism and
has even accused progressive American Jews of anti-Semitism
for their critiques of Israeli government policy.
Soon
after the Israel lobby-sponsored trip, which the Times of
Israel referred to as a
“learning experience trip,” Buttigieg appeared on AJC’s Passport podcast, hosted by Seffi
Kogen. Buttigieg, during the 22-minute discussion, stated that Israel’s
security policy is “on the one hand very intentional, very serious and very
effective when it comes to security and on the other hand not allowing concerns
about security to dominate your consciousness.” He then added that his trip to
Israel showed him that Israel’s security policy offers “a very important lesson
that hopefully, Americans can look to [when] we think about how to navigate a
world that unfortunately has become smaller and more dangerous for all of us.”
This
statement is troubling for several reasons. First, it suggests that Israel’s
security policy does not “dominate” Israeli political consciousness even though
nearly every discriminatory policy targeting Palestinians — from the blockade
of Gaza to the military occupation of the West Bank to the separation barrier —
are all justified by the Israeli state’s claim that it is responding to
“existential threats” relating to Israel’s security. Second, Buttigieg calls
Israel’s draconian security policies “very effective,” yet does not mention
their human costs, such as Israel’s regular imprisonment of Palestinians
without charge or its arrest of children for allegedly “throwing stones.”
Third, his claim that Israel’s security policy offers a “very important lesson”
to the United States suggests that Israel’s apartheid, police-state security
policies are a model for homeland security policy in the U.S., a suggestion
that concerns the “progressive” voters to whom Buttigieg is currently
attempting to appeal.
During the podcast,
Buttigieg also claimed that support for Israel “is not a left vs. right issue —
at least it shouldn’t be” and stated that “the security and intelligence
cooperation [between the U.S. and Israel] is obviously vital, certainly
something that is as important for American interests as much as Israeli
interests.” This is a drastic over-simplification of the U.S.-Israel
relationship and makes no mention of the fact that the U.S. now provides $3.8 billion to Israel annually as part of this
“security and intelligence cooperation” and also ignores Israel’s documented espionage efforts targeting U.S. state secrets that have
occurred under the guise of this “cooperation.” Notably, former U.S.
intelligence officials have claimed that the CIA considers Israel “the
Mideast’s biggest spy threat.”
Buttigieg
also blamed Hamas, the Islamist group that won Gaza’s elections in 2007 and
still governs the enclave, for the “misery”
present in the strip. At no point does he mention the air, land and sea
blockade — imposed by Israel and Egypt — as having a role in creating “misery”
for Gazan residents. Particularly telling is the fact that he blamed Hamas for
the situation in the Strip during the Great Return March, when Israeli forces
massacred scores of unarmed protestors. Just days after Buttigieg’s visit to
Israel and not long before his appearance on the AJC podcast, the IDF shot and killed 60 unarmed Gazans, among them seven minors
and a paramedic. During his 22-minute discussion with AJC, Buttigieg never
spoke of the Gaza protests directly.
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg poses in front
of the Dome of Rock Mosque alongside Columbus, Ohio Mayor Andy Ginther, now
former West Palm Beach, Florida Mayor Jeri Muoio, and Dayton, Ohio Mayor Nan
Whaley on May 10, 2018. Photo | American Jewish Committee
A
separate point Buttigieg made in the podcast is related to the exchange of fire
between Syrian/Iranian forces and Israeli forces in the contested Golan
Heights, which Israel annexed in 1981 but is internationally considered (aside
from by the United States) as Syrian territory. In speaking of the attack by allegedly Iranian forces on the Golan Heights and the exchange of
fire between Israel and Syria that followed, Buttigieg stated:
It
didn’t stop people from living their lives and I actually think there’s a lesson
to be learned from that for America … to prevent terrorists from succeeding in
their goal of becoming our top priority.”
It
is notable that Buttigieg chose the word “terrorist” to describe the attack,
given that it had been launched by a foreign government, not a terrorist group,
and also given the fact that the area had long been overrun by actual terrorist groups that were supported by the state of Israel.
McKinsey and Israel
While
Buttigieg’s admiration for Israeli security policy and support for continued
U.S.-Israel “security and intelligence cooperation” may simply be an indication
of his support for Democratic centrist policies, there may be other reasons for
Buttigieg’s apparent support of Israel’s apartheid-like policies. For instance,
Buttigieg’s past position as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. — recently called “the world’s most prestigious consulting
firm” by the New York Times —
may have also informed his views.
Buttigieg
worked at McKinsey prior to enlisting in the military and jumpstarting his
political career. Buttigieg has called his time at the firm his most
“intellectually informing experience” and described it neutrally as simply “a
place to learn.” Other previous McKinsey consultants have come away with a very
different view of the controversial company, with one recently writing:
Working
for all sides, McKinsey’s only allegiance is to capital. As capital’s most
effective messenger, McKinsey has done direct harm to the world in ways that,
thanks to its lack of final decision-making power, are hard to measure and,
thanks to its intense secrecy, are hard to know.
The
firm’s willingness to work with despotic governments and corrupt business
empires is the logical conclusion of seeking profit at all costs. Its advocacy
of the primacy of the market has made governments more like businesses and
businesses more like vampires. By claiming that they solve the world’s hardest
problems, McKinsey shrinks the solution space to only those that preserve the
status quo.”
In
addition to working with “despotic governments” like Saudi Arabia, McKinsey also regularly works for Israel’s
government and military. For instance, McKinsey was given $27 million in 2011 to help “streamline” the Israeli
military. McKinsey claimed that it had offered its services to Israel at a
steep 36 percent discount. Then, a year later, McKinsey was tasked with
reviewing Israel’s police force and determined that Israel did not have enough police
patrolling its streets and “lagged” behind other countries in terms of police
deployment. Furthermore, the company itself has a large
presence in Israel,
where it “works across all major sectors of Israel’s economy.”
Buttigieg’s
connection to McKinsey, and his decidedly neutral view of the firm, have been
largely glossed over in the coverage of his candidacy, despite the
controversial nature of the company, which was recently revealed to have
advised a leading pharmaceutical company on how to “turbocharge” the sales of opioids to Americans, despite the
country’s severe opioid addiction and overdose crisis.
More “hope” and “change”
Buttigieg,
like several other 2020 contenders for the Democratic nomination, has thus far
built his campaign on platitudes and progressive “values” without providing policy plans that back them up. Indeed,
Buttigieg is routinely evasive when pressed on any specific policies he champions.
When recently asked to specify policies he supports by VICE, the former South Bend, Indiana mayor stated
that “Right now I think we need to articulate the values, lay out our philosophical
commitments and then develop policies off of that. And I’m working very hard
not to put the cart before the horse.”
This
same tactic, of promoting “values” and platitudes and failing to run on any
policy, has become common in the 2020 field as other candidates who have
received fawning media coverage — like Kamala Harris and Beto O’Rourke — have
also built their campaign on platitudes and varying degrees of identity
politics. It should come as no surprise, then, that Buttigieg has recently been
compared to Barack Obama in several mainstream profiles. After all, Obama built
much of his campaign on platitudes (i.e., “hope” and “change”) and vague policy
positions as opposed to specific, detailed policy proposals.
Buttigieg’s
decision to not promote any specific policy has allowed him to become a policy
chameleon, and his stance on foreign policy, including Israel and Palestine, is
no exception. As an example, Buttigieg has claimed that the Trump administration’s minimal
efforts to reduce the number and intensity of “forever wars” has been “largely
good,” even though he opposes Trump’s recent calls for a withdrawal of U.S.
troops in Syria. Yet the epitome of the Trump administration’s efforts to
reduce “forever wars” has been its calls for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria.
Buttigieg’s
evasiveness and contradictory statements on foreign policy are all the more
telling because such evasiveness is not due to a lack of knowledge on the
subject. Indeed, Buttigieg wrote his
undergraduate thesis on U.S. foreign policy. This suggests that his evasiveness
on these issues since becoming a candidate for the presidency is instead based
on political expediency.
Buttigieg’s
past comments on Israel and Syria are compounded by a recent statement he made via Twitter that reads: “I did not carry an assault
weapon around a foreign country so I could come home and see them used to
massacre my countrymen.” The tweet was heavily criticized by anti-war voices on
social media for its implication that it is perfectly fine to carry assault
weapons as part of an occupying force in a foreign country, but not OK to carry
those assault weapons domestically.
This
troubling double standard suggests that Buttigieg, despite being a veteran,
supports U.S. military adventurism abroad. This is further supported by his past position at the Cohen Group, a consulting firm
founded by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, a “moderate Republican”
who oversaw the U.S.’ role in the NATO bombing of Kosovo.
In
a crowded 2020 field and with mainstream media heavily promoting his candidacy,
it is essential that all Americans take the time to research the past
statements and positions of a candidate like Buttigieg, as opposed to merely
relying on media-generated hype and statements made only after the
establishment of one’s candidacy. The U.S., a country undeniably at a
crossroads, cannot afford any candidate who cloaks his or her actual opinions
and policies in platitudes and evasive or even contradictory language. Thus, a
candidate’s past and track record are increasingly important, yet overlooked,
aspects in a 2020 race that will have important implications for the country
moving forward.
Top Photo | South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks during
the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington, Jan. 24, 2019. Jose
Luis Magana | AP
Whitney
Webb is a MintPress News journalist based in Chile. She has
contributed to several independent media outlets including Global Research,
EcoWatch, the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire, among others. She has
made several radio and television appearances and is the 2019 winner of the
Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism.
South
Bend Mayor Buttigieg slams Omar for comparing Israel to Iran: ‘Just wrong’
The
freshman congresswoman said, “ … when I see Israel institute laws that
recognize it as a Jewish state and does not recognize the other religions that
are living in it. And we still uphold it as a democracy in the Middle East.”
·
(January 31, 2019 / JNS) Pete
Buttigieg, the popular mayor of South Bend, Ind., and a 2020 Democratic
presidential candidate, blasted Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for comparing
Israel to its adversary, Iran.
“People like
me get strung up in Iran,” said Buttigieg, 37, on ABC’s “The View” on Thursday
without mentioning Omar by name. He was referring to being openly gay,
something that is outlawed in Iran and punishable by death. “So, the idea that
what’s going on is equivalent is just wrong.On Tuesday, the freshman
congresswoman said, “ … when
I see Israel institute laws that recognize it as a Jewish state and does not
recognize the other religions that are living in it,” she added. “And we still
uphold it as a democracy in the Middle East. I almost chuckle because I know
that if we see that any other society we would criticize it, call it
out. We do that to Iran, we do that to any other place that sort of
upholds its religion. And I see that now happening with Saudi Arabia and so I
am aggravated, truly, in those contradictions.”
"It's a complicated picture," @PeteButtigieg
says on America's relationship with Israel and what needs to be done moving
forward: "We need to figure out, as an ally, what the regional security
picture is going to look like in the future."
Buttigieg,
who was in Israel last May as part of a tour for mayors organized by Project
Interchange, an affiliate of the American Jewish Committee, said “not only is
there a real problem with their long term [in] how they’re going to balance
being a democracy with being a Jewish state. But they’ve also got to figure
out—and we’ve got to figure out with them as an ally—what the regional security
picture is going to look like in the future.”
Rockets from
Syria were launched into Israel while Buttigieg was there.
“It has
always been one of the most fiendishly complicated issues,” he added, “and
simple answers will not serve us well at a time like this.”
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