Decision to Relocate Embassy Shows US Administration’s Subservience to Israel: Analyst
"The decision by the Trump administration to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem represents the administration’s complete subservience to Israeli interests,” Keith Preston told IQNA in an interview.
Keith Preston was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. He received degrees in Religious Studies, History, and Sociology from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the founder and director of American Revolutionary Vanguard and the chief editor of AttacktheSystem.Com. He has also been a contributor to LewRockwell.Com, Antiwar.Com, Anti-State.Com, Taki’s Magazine, Radix Journal, and AlternativeRight.Com. He is the author of six books, and was awarded the 2008 Chris R. Tame Memorial Prize by the United Kingdom’s Libertarian Alliance. Keith has been a featured speaker at conferences of the National Policy Institute, H. L. Mencken Club, and Anarchapulco. He has been interviewed on numerous radio programs and internet broadcasts, and appeared as a guest analyst on Russia Today, Press TV and the BBC.
Following is the full text of the interview:
Q: As you know, the US plans to move its embassy to occupied Jerusalem (al-Quds) later this month. What is your take on the move? What is the main reason behind this decision?
A: The decision by the Trump administration to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem represents the administration’s complete subservience to Israeli interests. During the course of Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, he was unusually humble when he spoke to the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, which is one of the most powerful and influential political organizations in the United States, and which consistently assumes the (Israeli) Likud Party’s line on issues pertaining to relations between the United States and Israel. Trump has arguably been the most pro-Zionist president the United States has ever had, with George W. Bush being the only close contender for that label. During his time in office, Trump has repeatedly embraced and endorsed the expansionist positions of Benjamin Netanyahu, indicating that his administration has zero interest in peace in the region, or in formulating a settlement to the Palestinian question. One can only speculate on what Trump’s personal reasons are for taking these positions, but his stances are thus far consistent with those of the right-wing Zionists that dominate the making of US foreign policy in the Middle East.
Q: How would or should the world, particularly the Muslim world, react to the move if made?
A: The Muslim world will, of course, react with outrage if the move is made, which it probably will be, because of the claim that Muslims have on Jerusalem as a holy city along with comparable claims made by Jews and Christians. World opinion should condemn such a move by the Trump administration because it will be an indication that the United States is abandoning any pretense of even-handedness when it comes to the conflict between Israel and its Muslim neighbors generally, or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict specifically. Efforts to move the US embassy away from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem represent a bold insult to the Muslim world, and a signal that the US will essentially kowtow to the wishes of the Israeli government.
Q: Do you believe that the Quds bid by the US would be the final nail in the coffin of Zionism in the Middle East as many experts believe?
A: The move will not be the end of Zionism, but it will have the effect of further escalating the hostilities between the Israelis and the surrounding nations, and the polarization that now exists in the Middle East will become even more pronounced. Israel clearly has an expansionist objective, and this is made clear by the ongoing expansion of the Israeli settlements. The United States has largely been uncritical of this objective. There is no foreseeable end to these conflicts at present.
Q: The United Nations General Assembly on December 21 overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution that calls on the US to withdraw its controversial recognition of al-Quds as the occupying regime’s capital. Do you think it is enough?
A: No, it is certainly not enough. The United Nations has issued many resolutions condemning Israel’s polices in a range of different areas with no effect at all. The United States has likewise been complicit in most of the actions that Israel has taken in the past by refusing to support UN resolutions that have condemned such actions, and by offering uncritical support to the ongoing acts of expansionism that Israel has consistently pursued.
