(Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University) Lt.-Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar - The Biden administration wants to return the Palestinian issue to the diplomatic center stage. From the administration's standpoint, the problem is not Israel but rather the Palestinian Authority, which the administration sees as harder than Israel to tempt to return to the "peace" process. Therefore, it is investing much more time and effort in luring the PA back. Suddenly, in mid-January 2021, Abbas announced elections, 15 years after the last ones. What happened? The Biden administration wants to lay the foundations for a Palestinian state, and there is no better way to present the state as truly democratic than to have "all sectors of the Palestinian people" take part in elections - even Hamas. The biggest supporters of Hamas are Muslim Brotherhood organizations in the U.S. that are now returning in a major way to their position of influence in the corridors of the new administration, and they want to make Hamas look kosher. Portraying the group as a civic organization and a legitimate political party rather than the genocidal terrorist group that it is constitutes the best way to legitimize it in the U.S. media and in international politics. The writer, a senior research associate at the BESA Center, served for 25 years in IDF military intelligence.
2021-03-08 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive