Outgoing President Biden surprised onlookers when he visited a store on Black Friday and picked up a copy of a book that described the creation of the state of Israel as “colonialism” that was met with “resistance” from the Palestinians. The book's author lamented the acquisition as “four years too late.” ”
Mr. Biden, 82, held a copy of Columbia University professor emeritus Rashid Khalidi's book “Palestinian Hundred Years' War: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017'' in front of reporters. Left Nantucket Bookworks.
The book explains, “The modern history of Palestine can be understood in terms of a colonial war waged against indigenous peoples by various parties, forcing another people to abandon their homeland against their will.'' “is the best,” he argues.
Khalidi, who is of Palestinian and Lebanese descent, called President-elect Donald Trump's first administration Israel's “spokesperson” and said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led the “most extreme government” in his country's history. He accused her of being
The Arab studies scholar denounces what he describes as biased reporting in favor of Israel.
“I haven't spoken to the Post (or the Times, for that matter), so this isn't something to publish, but my reaction is this is four years too late,” Halliday told the Post. spoke. Conditions that condition that response as off-the-record or background.
It wasn't immediately clear whether Mr. Biden had purchased the book or whether it had been given to him in the store, but Mr. Biden and his eldest son Hunter Biden, 54, went to a nearby Brother store down the road. The incident came after dining with his eldest daughter Ashley Biden and other family members at the Hood of Thieves restaurant. The annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the island.
Biden has repeatedly described himself as a Zionist, a supporter of the Jewish movement that encouraged immigration to the Holy Land and led to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
“You don't have to be Jewish to be a Zionist. I am a Zionist,” Biden told visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the Oval Office on November 12.
But fervent supporters of the Jewish state in the United States criticized Biden for suspending shipments of 2,000 pounds of heavy bombs to Israel earlier this year after criticizing the war's humanitarian toll. Despite the withholding of munitions, other US aid continued.
The outgoing commander-in-chief visited Israel to show support shortly after Hamas terrorists killed nearly 1,200 people on October 7, 2023, but furious activists called him a “genocide” in support of him. After that, he was forced to reduce his public appearances. Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Last November, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators stormed the White House, chanting “fuck Joe Biden” and “Genocide Joe must go,” with their nickname displayed alongside red handprints on the White House gates. Some people drew
Biden has been increasingly critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the past year over civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip, reportedly using abusive language against him behind closed doors.
The Zionist movement began in the 19th century when European immigrants purchased the land of the ancient Jewish homeland, then owned by the Ottoman Empire, and continued under British Mandate after World War I.
Khalidi's book criticizes President Trump for enacting various policies, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights from Syria. The piece was published in early 2020, before President Trump brokered diplomatic relations between Israel and five Muslim countries.
“Trump's people have abandoned even the shoddy old pretense of impartiality. With this plan, the United States ceases to be 'Israel's lawyer' and instead becomes the mouthpiece for the most extreme government in Israel's history,” Khalidi said. he wrote.
This book sets out “a path based on equality and justice'' that ends “the oppression of one people by another.'' Khalidi points out that Palestinians come from both Muslim and Christian backgrounds, and cited Israel's discriminatory policies against them.
“Conflicts between settlers and indigenous peoples in colonies can only end in one of three ways: One is to eliminate the complete subjugation of indigenous peoples, as in North America. It is extremely rare for a colonizer to be defeated and expelled, as in Algeria, or to give up colonial advantages in a context of compromise and reconciliation, as in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Ireland. ” he writes.
“If the removal of the native population is an unlikely outcome in Palestine, why not dismantle colonial supremacy to make true reconciliation possible? The advantage enjoyed was that the fundamentally colonial nature of the Palestinian encounter was invisible to most Americans and many Europeans.
Khalidi wrote that Palestinian “popular resistance” is “expected to continue to grow.”
The author praises the first Palestinian intifada against Israel. The intifada left more than 2,000 people dead after about six years of riots and stone-throwing from 1987 to 1993, and ended with the Oslo Accords, which granted limited autonomy to the occupied West Bank. And Gaza.
“The First Intifada was a remarkable example of popular resistance to oppression and can be considered the first merciless victory for the Palestinian people in a long colonial war that began in 1917,” the book says. .
He is less positive about the subsequent Second Intifada, which is best known for suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians, but which resulted in the infamous security fence separating Palestinian enclaves. “The second intifada was a major setback for the Palestinian national movement,” he wrote without saying a word.
The military action on Nantucket comes as the Biden administration continues to push for the release of American and Israeli hostages held by Hamas to end the war in Gaza. This took place just three days after the ceasefire was announced.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to the Post's request for comment.
