It was a real slap in the face to Bidden, Obama, the USA, and Palestine, and the peace process. If Bidden and Obama were honest brokers, Bidden would have gotten back on his plane and returned to Washington immediately. Instead he and Obama brushed off the insult and continued the charade.
Once George Mitchell resigned as Obama's chief Middle East envoy in 2011 (HERE), Obama abandoned any pretense that there was a peace process. He had more important things to think about, like getting re-elected in 2012.
And so the fake peace process continued but was mostly forgotten. Israel continued its crimes against humanity. Gaza remained as the world's largest open-air dungeon and Israel bombed it at will, killing thousands of Gazans. Thousands more Gazans died from lack of medical care, starvation, and clean water.
Netanyahu joked that he had put Gaza on a "diet". Israelis talked about the need to "cut the grass". When the bombs dropped on Gaza, Israelis danced in the streets and sat in lawn chairs on top of hills where they could see the spectacular show of devastation and destruction. Gaza is now an unlivable ghetto.
As horrible as the situation in Gaza is, it is a sideshow. While the world occasionally expresses distress over the human suffering in Gaza, Israel continues its ethnic cleansing and genocide in the "West Bank" of occupied Palestine.
Palestine is under a military occupation. The rule of law is at the whim of Israel. Israel takes the land, water and resources it wants, whenever it wants. Israel always says it is about security; security; security. Israel says it never has enough security. Or U.S. money.
Palestinians are humiliated, exploited and killed every day in Palestine by Israeli occupation forces. Israeli teenage boys and girls in the Israeli army are desensitized to the killing, torturing and beating of old men, women and children. They give each other high fives when they kill a Palestinian.
As I write this now I can hear John Kerry's speech. He is talking about settlements, Gaza, Palestine and the suffering of Palestinians. The words role off his lips fluently, because he, the Obama administration and the MSPM know, and they have known for a long time, and they have been silent for 7 years and 11 months. The MSPM seldom tells the American people what the government does not want them to know. The Obama administration has not wanted the American people to know the truth about the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine until now.
With less than one month left of the Obama administration there is little that can be accomplished. Obama is just tweaking Netanyahu's nose with a departing shot.
In a month Netanyahu will be back asking for more U.S. money because of the "increased threat to its security" because of the United Nations Resolution 2334. Congress will not even ask "how much", they will just write a blank check.
Mr. Obama, officially recognize the State of Palestine, and tell Netanyahu to "Tear Down That Wall".
Epilogue: The main stream media is going to live to see the day that they regret coining the meme "Fake News", if they don't already regret it. The main stream "propaganda" media (MSPM) is the main purveyor of "fake news".
Live by the pen of fake news, die by the pen of fake news. The MSPM is dying from a thousand paper cuts from independent citizen journalism. The internet has fulfilled what the Bill of Rights enshrined as an inalienable right "Freedom of the Press". The oligarchs of the corporate monopoly MSPM hates the competition from ordinary citizens. They look down their nose and see an unwashed mob trampling on their turf.
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