Oct. 24—On his departure from his eleventh visit to Israel since October 7, 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken again displayed the naked hypocrisy that has characterized his role as a key figure in what some analysts are calling the “Collective Biden” regime.[[1]]
Speaking to reporters at the airport after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli security leaders, Blinken said, “Since October 7, Israel has achieved most of its strategic objectives when it comes to Gaza,” referring to allegedly destroying Hamas’s leadership, with the crowning achievement being the murder of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar—whom Blinken singled out as the “main obstacle” to a peaceful resolution—and degrading its military capacity. “Now is the time to turn these successes into an enduring strategic success. And there are really two things left to do—get the hostages home, and bring the war to an end, with an understanding of what will follow.”
He neglected to mention that these are the same goals he had defined since the initial Hamas attack, which had been the supposed subject of his previous ten shuttles in a year to the region. Further, to describe as “successes” the murder of more than 42,300 Palestinians, the destruction of 55% of the buildings in Gaza, and of most of the hospitals and medical facilities there, leaves the distinct impression that he is referring to a success in committing genocide.
He added that this means that now there exists the “opportunity to end the war, to keep Hamas out, and make sure Israel does not stay.... We fully reject any reoccupation of Gaza.”
As Blinken was hyping the hoped-for success of his mission, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued a brutal campaign in northern Gaza, which has killed more than 600 Palestinians in seventeen days, while targeting hospitals near the Jabaliya refugee camp that is under assault. And while he adamantly asserted the Biden administration’s insistence that reoccupation must be rejected, members of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s cabinet, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and his Likud party, attended a settlers’ movement rally at which Daniella Weiss, a leader of the movement, stated their goal to “settle the entire Gaza Strip, not just a part of it, not just a few settlements, the entire Gaza Strip from north to south.”
Blinken’s Lies and Provocations
Is it possible he had not been briefed on the settlers’ rally, or that he missed the headline article in the Israeli daily Haaretz of that day, “The Deadly Racism Behind Israel’s Policy Toward the Palestinians”? A quick look at his overall record in recent weeks makes it clear that Blinken is not using the waning influence of the U.S. to pursue peace, but to defend the state of permanent war which has characterized U.S. policy since Vietnam, and especially throughout the Biden administration’s tenure.
One example of his lying in defense of Israeli genocide was exposed by leaks from within his own State Department. A September 24 article on the website ProPublica, by journalist Brett Murphy, cited his testimony to Congress on May 20, when he stated that, contrary to the conclusions submitted in memos from two agencies of his own department, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.” Had he reported honestly on the findings he suppressed, that Israel was deliberately blocking humanitarian aid from reaching desperate Palestinians, U.S. law would require the suspension of military and other aid to Israel.[[2]]
A second example of his role in shaping the Biden-Harris policy of support for wars is his ongoing effort, in conjunction with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Minister David Lammy, to convince Biden to agree to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s demand that all restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles provided by them be lifted. Following a week of meetings in London, which included the U.S.-UK Strategic Dialogue, and a quick trip to Kiev to consult with Zelensky, the three met in Washington with Biden on September 13, hoping to overcome his resistance to lifting the restrictions for strikes deep inside Russia.
According to Russian analyst Gilbert Doctorow in his column on the “Collective Biden,” “We’re talking about the imminent outbreak of World War III. And that is what Mr. Blinken is doing in Kiev. He’s setting the stage ... for the outbreak of World War III before the November elections.” Under pressure from saner heads in the Pentagon, Biden ultimately rejected this demand, not just once but two more times. Yet, after his failure to overcome the Pentagon’s opposition, Blinken reiterated his, and Biden’s, commitment to a Ukrainian victory. He said, “The bottom line is this: We want Ukraine to win, and we’re fully committed to keep marshalling the support it needs.”
The Blinken Family Tree
Blinken’s emergence as a key figure in shaping U.S. foreign policy is part of a long arc, stretching back to the end of World War II, when individuals involved in corporate cartels tied to the City of London and Wall Street took over the institutions running U.S. foreign policy. Identified by President Eisenhower as the “Military-Industrial Complex” (MIC), over time Cold War anti-communists were transformed into the neocons and liberal war hawks which control both parties today, as well as the Executive branch, including the departments of State, Defense, and Justice, and the intelligence community.[[3]]
