The sanctions have infuriated Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who characterized them as a draconian obstruction of Israeli sovereignty. In response, the far-right lawmaker threatened to take steps in his capacity as head of the treasury that would significantly impede the Palestinian economy, the Israeli official added, confirming a Thursday report in the Israel Hayom daily.
Ostensibly wary of such retaliatory actions, the US administration agreed to send a letter to the Finance Ministry clarifying that the sanctions were not intended to cut off those targeted from the entirety of their assets.
Sure but then the headline reads the other way “Biden Administration allows Israeli Government to cut Palestine off from banking, destroying their economy.”
I mean ideally Uncle Sam would put his size 14 boot on Israel’s neck and tell them to knock it the fuck off, but that’s very difficult to do when it comes to sovereign matters like how they run their banking system internally. Plus it then spins out another half dozen headlines that look terrible.
In this case I think that the Biden Administration made the correct choice, as bad as it was.
Can israel blackmail America? Do they hold the leverage? In the words of another war criminal:
In 1996, Bill Clinton remarked privately after his first meeting with Bibi