by Samuel Leizerman
Introduction
Analysis of the Biden Administration’s decision to restore foreign aid to Palestine is complex. Conduction of the analysis has proven to be rife with barriers to proper analysis that include, but are not limited to, issues of bias, restrictions on access to relevant information by the U.S. Federal Government, limited academic research of any credible value, as recency of the actions. As a result, this analysis pivoted to the address the attendant circumstances surrounding aid and terrorism in the region in general as this is the main factor behind the Taylor Force Act of 2019 that barred aid to the Palestinian Authority until their program that funds payments to the families of terrorists ceases.
Even this refocusing of the analysis proves difficult to explicate due to the significant constellation of problems that are contributing to the failure to control the internecine violence originating out of Palestine. However, there several factors of particular importance that can be seen. Factors such as Islamist entities within and without the Israeli/Palestinian borders injecting resources to further ulterior motives1, weak-to-non-existent democratic institutions and corrupt governmental institutions2, limited oversight and excess permissiveness by the U.S.3, socioeconomic problems within Palestine4, Israeli political issues and unilateral activity5, security failures surrounding al-Aqsa Mosque. Due to the multitude of the factors, it is hard to say what is the most influential factor in this problem but the failure to address each of these only serves to perpetuate the internecine war that continues to extract a high toll, of which the billions in U.S. foreign aid spending is the most trivial.
UNRWA Aid and Oversight
While this analysis began with the role of UNRWA and its history of antisemitic rhetoric within its schools, it quickly became the clear that UNRWA aid was the least complicated issue regarding American foreign policy and American use of foreign aid as a policy tool. Much of the concerns regarding the role of UNRWA in the perpetuation of violence by way of antisemitic rhetoric within their schools were addressed by a pair of U.S. Government Accountability reports from 2009 and 2019 and one report from the NGO United Nations Watch in 2021.6 Collectively, these reports indicate that the federal oversight of UNRWA has/had significant gaps that result in incomplete monitoring and intervention to address what incitory rhetoric is found within UNRWA schools or diversion of monetary aid to terrorist organizations.
The GAO reported a failure to meet recordkeeping standards for contract funding and incomplete records regarding the content of school textbooks, in both instance the GAO claimed that the State Dept implemented the recommendations they had made. However, these recommendations are anemic in their nature as they only focus on a lack of antisemitic racism and incitory violence, they do nothing to combat the influence of broader incitory rhetoric in Palestinian society at large. Moreover, the GAO recommendations have proven ineffective at addressing the role of teachers in the dissemination of racist rhetoric that has been shown to incite violence.7
Another problem with respect to UNRWA’s oversight appears to be a lack of will or interest in holding the agency accountable to an effective level. The effort appears to be an exercise in satisficing intended to simply meet the letter of the legal requirements for oversight, which is imperfectly done. Additional information is required to determine if this lack of will is ideological or a function of limited resources. However, as noted by the GAO, UNRWA is only responsible for a portion of the schools in Palestine, therefore even if UNRWA addressed the failure to remove teachers who violate regulations on antisemitic rhetoric, it would not address the issues that perpetuate the conflict.8 Therefore, even when viewing UNRWA in the most favorably light possible, the evidence suggests strongly that they are not equipped to address the problem. This inability on the part of UNRWA to address the problem shows that the United States needs to reassess the problem as it exists, and its foreign policies aimed at addressing the problem of extremist violence by Palestinians.
Areas of Interest Relating to Policy Failures
Islamists with Ulterior Motives
Islamist groups such as Hamas are one of the largest problems obstructing the path to peace and prosperity for the Palestinian people, which is the claimed goal of UNRWA9 and U.S. foreign aid to Palestine10. These entities are more concerned with extremist and revisionist views of Islam’s role in Israel or claims of resisting “Zionist colonial projects”11. By fomenting hatred and celebrating violence and presenting it as both a religious duty and a nationalist endeavor, these entities contribute significantly to the problem in Palestine.12 These endeavors and efforts are of particular importance because the fingerprints of the religiopolitical rhetoric can be found in the words of those who engage in terrorism, be it through interviews or post-mortem linguistic analysis of suicide bomber writings.13 Also, communal contentment with a person’s martyrdom being a requirement for admission into paradise, according to some Islamic sects.14 This religious influence suggests that the regular acts of communal celebration in the wake of terrorist attacks provide further explication of the role of Islamist extremist groups in the continuation of the internecine violence that is incited by their agendas15; agendas that have no realistic connection to the improvement of the quality of life and rights of Palestinians.
Democratic Failure and Corruption
Within the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas, there exists a breakdown in the democratic institutions that are supposed to guide Palestinian governance.16 As Palestine’s Basic Laws require that it be, the failure of Abbas, the leader of Fatah, and Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, to allow elections since 2006 represents a major roadblock to any path to peace. In 2021, Abbas canceled the elections again, assigning blame to Israel.17 Given Fatah’s violent oppression of opposition, this justification is suspect at best.18 However, in conjunction with research done by the Palestine News Network that showed that 93% of Arab Eastern Jerusalemites preferred living under Israeli laws and jurisdiction, there are serious questions about whether the leaders of the Palestinian Authority are acting in good faith (which simply refers to acting in ways that they feel are in the interests of Palestinians instead of the interests of themselves).19 The Legislative Council and the Palestinian constitutional court have both been rendered non-functional or dissolved.20
In addition to the breakdown of anything resembling the standard three-branch system of democratic institutions, the U.S. State Department has reported a litany of human rights violations and failures to provide basic government services.21 State noted several reports of extrajudicial killings, 113 reports of torture or abuse (particularly in the detention facilities in Jericho), arbitrary arrests and detentions among other allegations. Israel faces similar allegations, which warrant scrutiny to determine validity of said claims. However, it should be noted that the complaints against the PA are made by Palestinians, who generally lack an incentive to make a false accusation against the PA, especially in light of the history of human rights abuses. The State Department report details a similarly distressing list of civil rights violations by Palestinian authorities, violations that generally centered around threats to the supremacy of Hamas or Fatah. According to the State Department Report, the PA does not actively censor academic freedom within their jurisdiction, but self-censorship is regularly reported.22
It is doubtful that the Palestinian Authority could fulfill its role as a strong state actor tasked with effecting police powers against terrorist entities or to provide for the general welfare of the Palestinian people even if they were inclined to try. This report also contained instances of questionable behavior by Israel, the relative severity of the claims was incomparable and most of the allegations related to Israeli security policies that exist in response to Palestinian terrorism23. While any violations of the laws of war on Israel’s part should be addressed, the responsive nature of the actions cannot be ignored with respect to policy analysis because they are indicative of a greater underlying problem that serves as the root cause of their actions. If one can address that root cause, there is no realistic reason to expect Israeli policies to remain at their current levels of severity; Israeli policy towards its own Arab citizens and its Arab neighbors supports this conclusion.
Contingencies and Determinants of Terrorism within Palestine
Having identified the Islamist influences and the collapse of democratic institutions, the question now becomes, “How do these problems translate into terrorist violence?”. To answer that, one must look to the attendant circumstances surrounding the terrorist acts as well as the stated motives. There has been limited research on this matter, but the empirical research that exists is illuminating and follows accepted theoretical logics.24 This research appeared to separate between two categories of terrorist actors: independent actors and affiliated actors. The distinction between these categories is important to understand if one is to adequately address the root causes. For independent terrorist actors, mental health issues were present at a much higher rates and the desire to die dominated the motives, not the desire to kill.25 Research further substantiated this claim by identifying the differences between the levels of preparation and methods used and the degree that religious-nationalist motives influenced the decision.26
For independent actors and affiliated actors such as suicide-bombers (both successful and would-be), social pressure along with religious and nationalist ideals drove the decisions to commit acts of terrorism, with the defense of al-Aqsa regularly presenting as justification.27 Would-be suicide bombers also reported much higher rates of hesitation28, suggesting that most were not suicidal and were manipulated into such acts. If the evidence suggests that terrorists in Palestine were manipulated into such actions, then the question that needs to be answered is, “What was the method of manipulation used to inspire these acts of violence?”. In fact, that question was the impetus behind this policy analysis’ investigation of UNRWA’s involvement the fueling of violence based on news reports about possible indoctrination within their schools.29 However, evidence of indoctrination within UNRWA schools is scant (whether this is because it is not happening or because it is not being caught by those tasked with oversight could not be determined at this time). A broader search for antisemitic rhetoric within Palestine identified a series of children’s television series produced by Palestinian authorities that explicitly, and in no uncertain terms, taught children to hate Jews and to hate Israel.30
Additionally, due to the frequency that al-Aqsa Mosque was mentioned as a motivating factor in attacks, the fact that the programs called on Palestinians to defend al-Aqsa Mosque further corroborates these programs as a source of radicalizing indoctrination.31 Ultimately, the question of whether funding for UNRWA fuels antisemitism and violent indoctrination becomes irrelevant when the quasi-state actors within Palestine are openly broadcasting modern day blood libels over the air. The effect of this can be seen in public opinion surveys where the young adults between 18-22 were the largest supporters of armed insurgency against Israel.
Israel’s Contribution to the Problem
While there is no evidence-based justification to claim that Israel’s contributions to the conflict are remotely on par with the situation within Palestine, it would not be accurate to absolve the state of any blame. However, such blame or criticism must be accurate, it must be proportional to criticism levied toward other countries for similar actions, and it must be based on one single standard. Unfortunately, much of the criticism of Israel is rooted in the antisemitic rhetoric used by the Nazis and more broadly for centuries in Europe.32 With that in mind, there are things that Israel has done that have been of questionable legality and others that, even when perfectly legal, undermine long term peace for various reasons. Most notable of which is the Israeli policy of destroying the homes of those engaged in terrorism, regardless of whether the terrorist lived alone.33 This policy constitutes collective punishment and destruction of civilian property when other share the home, thus making such actions war crimes. Again, while these things are not comparable to the intentional targeting of civilians with lethal force, that argument falls flat for several reasons.
First, Israel has a far superior military force and while this does not remove their right to self-defense, it does remove any excuse for such behavior. Second, when much of the criticism against Israel is libelous in nature either due to complete factual inaccuracy or due to gross misrepresentation, there is no room for wrongdoing that gives extremists legitimate grievances to use for incitement of violence. Fortunately, the US has increased pressure on Israel to cease such actions. The State Department report discussed previously also detailed incidents of questionable levels of lethal force and questionable methods regarding detaining of youthful suspects34; these issues are not as cut and dry. Regardless of legality, it is recommended that the US help Israel to understand the consequences of blowback, a concept that the U.S. military has an unfortunate abundance of experience with. Short term security at the cost of long-term stability is a losing proposition that can lead to populist resistance and only makes the problem worse, as was seen in the events in 2015 where reports of violence and animosity against Israel spiked.
The Paradoxical Distribution of Political Support/Opposition
Accomplishing any sort of effective policy interventions will require marshalling of much greater resources and that requires political will that is currently lacking despite the fact that sixty-nine percent of Americans have a favorable view of Israel and seventy percent have an unfavorable view of the Palestinian Authority.35 To understand why this political will is lacking, it is important to understand the peculiarity of the distribution of support and opposition for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority by political ideology. When broken down by ideology, conservatives were 1.44x more likely to hold favorable views of Israel than liberals and liberals were 2.26x more likely than conservatives to hold unfavorable views of Israel, though all ideologies reported a majority of respondents holding a favorable view.36 When opinion of Palestinian Authority was evaluated by ideology, liberals were 3.18x more likely to hold a favorable view of the PA and conservatives were 1.40x more likely to hold an unfavorable view of the PA.37 This distribution, as shown below, is peculiar because American conservatives and liberals levels of support and opposition are skewed in the opposition of what one would expect them to be based on a qualitative analysis of the values and ideals of conservatives, liberals, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority.38 The reasons for this become clear once does a qualitative analysis of the two groups’ relevant histories, ideologies, and values.
***Disclaimer: Before illustrating these similarities, it is important to understand that it is not possible to compare ideological groups to state actors without heavily stereotyping and generalizing the ideological groups. Ideological groups are not homogenous and even if they were, the following comparative analysis is qualitative in nature and, under absolutely no circumstances, should American conservatism be viewed as being anywhere near as severe as the Palestinian Authority. Any attempts to quantitatively equate the magnitude support or opposition of political issues would be erroneous at best and malicious at worst. Lastly, American Conservatism is quite diverse in its views and millions of conservatives do not share some or even any of these views.***
To understand both conservativism’s strong support/opposition for Israel/Palestinian Authority and liberalism’s relatively split support/opposition for Israel/Palestinian Authority, it is important to understand why it is paradoxical. For American conservatives, the paradox comes from the fact that American Conservatism tends to oppose, and the PA does oppose equal rights for LGBTQ people39, abortion access40, abolition of traditional gender roles, separation of church and state, voting rights41, among other things. In contrast, Israel, having been re-established primarily by labor Zionists42, shares ideals that are virtually identical to American liberals (which includes social-liberals and progressives, its inclusion of true socialists is unclear43). So, why does this paradox exist?
Again, there are factors with both ideologies that contribute to this paradox. For American Conservatives, the intersection between Christian Zionism and the 85% of American Conservatives who are Christian is one potentially major factor.44 Another factor is the divergent trends of conservatives and liberals regarding the belief that Islam is more likely to encourage violence among its followers; in 2017 70% of conservatives held this view but only 26% of liberals did.45 For American Liberals, the paradox comes primarily from the progressive and leftist part of the group46 and from Israel’s growing rightward shift.47 For progressive and leftist Americans in particular, the issue stems from broad leftwing-antisemitism and a more specific effort by the USSR to position Israel as a Western colonialist endeavor that advanced capitalism and Western Imperialism.48 Arab countries still opposed to Israel have doubled-down on this rhetoric in the wake of the rise of anti-imperialism and anti-racism efforts in the West, with the latter not having any logical connection to the conflict.49
While it is not necessary to understand all the factors for why each group takes the positions that they do on Israel or the PA, there is one last factor that is extremely important; partisan identity politics. With the partisan divide being at an all-time high and partisanship being the biggest factor in political values among Americans, the nature of the American political system only serves to reinforce extreme views that are disconnected from reality.50 The longer this divisive feedback loop continues, the harder it will be to get Americans to support any action that will be just and equitable for both Israelis and Palestinians. Given the linkages between the IP conflict and antisemitic violence against Jews in America, this is not just a foreign policy issue; it affects both the victims and the perpetrators of the violence being fueled by rhetoric and disinformation.
Recommendations for American Policy Action
There are several areas that need to be addressed if resolution of the conflict has any chance of being resolved. Some more realistic than others. The main themes include: 1. Educate the public on the realities of the conflict and the state of affairs within Palestine, including their actual causes. 2. Take measures to actively combat the extremist rhetoric within Palestine; simply ensuring that UNRWA and public schools do not contribute is not sufficient to achieve American foreign policy goals 3. International coalition to replace Hamas and Fatah with actual democratic institutions.
Combat Antisemitic Rhetoric within Palestine
This recommendation is simple in its suggestion, but likely difficult in its implementation. As long as indoctrination into hatred and violence is allowed to continue, there is no realistic hope of peace. One tangential policy action is to work with Israel, Jordan, and, to whatever extent possible, Palestine to properly secure al-Aqsa Mosque in order to prevent Islamist extremists from using it at a defensible position from which to attack people beneath the mosque at the Western Wall.51 The reality is that it does not matter how justified Israel’s decisions to enter the al-Aqsa Mosque may be, it will only ever result in widespread condemnation of Israel that is then used to fuel the rhetoric that al-Aqsa mosque is in need of defending from Jews, which is one of the primary rhetorical tools used to fuel violence against Israel and Jews. For this reason, it is not possible for Israel or Jews to be responsible for the safety and security of the mosque, regardless of how well intentioned the efforts may be. It is ultimately recommended that the Arab world take responsibility for preventing extremists from using the mosque as a tool of propaganda by extremists and to ensure free and safe access to the mosque by Muslim worshippers.
Education of American Public (and Others)
In light of the aforementioned biases and prejudices toward Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs, and conservatives and liberals, implementation of potentially effective and equitable policy interventions will be all but impossible within a democratic system so long as the rhetoric and echo chambers that drive hyperpolarized political discourse and policymaking driven by emotions and identity instead of evidence and data. Unfortunately, because the nature of this division is such that facts are of little importance to one or both sides, it is unlikely that simple education of the facts will suffice as a solution to the question of building political will in support of a just and equitable solution. As anathema as it may be to scientists and educators, the tool that is needed now is not an educational campaign to show both sides that the reality of the PA is antithetical to everything each side claims to support and harms the people each side claims to support. And though there will be a day when that education will be needed, it is not today. The troubles of today require fighting fire with fire, fighting rhetoric with rhetoric. The tools of rhetoric are like any tool, they are neither good nor bad until places into the hands of people.
It was the tools of rhetoric in the hands of people that led people to stop believing that facts mattered or to believe in falsehoods and it is the tools of rhetoric that are necessary if we hope to reverse course on this path of destructive division. As such, the first course of action to address the problems in Israel and Palestine is to address the biggest problem we face domestically. The U.S. Government needs to employ a campaign of rhetoric and, for the lack of any better terms, indoctrination that gets people to care about facts, about civility, about communication across political lines, about compromise and collaborative citizen governance. The U.S. Government needs to commit resources to teaching our youth, and adults where possible, to think critically, to think skeptically even when it means confronting their own biases.
Once progress has been made on this country’s ability to “democracy properly”, the remaining policy recommendations might be plausible.
International Coalition Building
A third potential option is the formation of an international coalition. This requires both significant cost and cooperation and is therefore unrealistic; nevertheless, it is listed here to demonstrate a possible outcome. As unfortunate as it is to state, the reality is that the UN and UNRWA have failed to build a sustainable and democratic state where Palestinians can enjoy self-determination, peace, and prosperity. While the historical record shows many contributing factors that would be subject to significant debate, the reality is that what brought the world to this point is a fixed issue. The past cannot be changed and regardless of what the actual path to peace ends up being, the evidence presented in this analysis make it clear that the current regimes in control of Gaza and the PA areas within Judea and Samaria (West Bank) are the primary obstacle to peace. They are the primary obstacle to a Palestine where Palestinians can enjoy basic human rights. They are the primary obstacle to Palestinian self-determination.
Even if Israel ceded all land beyond the 1967 borders or even simply did not exist, there is no objective evidence that Hamas or Fatah would relinquish, peacefully, their authoritarian control over the Palestinian people, and they seemingly have zero interest in lasting peace with Israel.
Admittedly, any actual intervention would likely be a political non-starter, but the growing normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab world, it is becoming increasingly plausible to get the Arab world to lead the any effort to address the extremist problem in Palestine. If one approach could be feasible it would be to have independent Arab officials administer the services of government as Palestinian laws actually require, free of corruption, to work toward a point in time where they can have a peaceful democracy that is not tainted by the corruption of religious extremism.
Conclusion
The reality of the situation in Palestine is that the single greatest barrier to peace and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians alike isn’t actually the extremists controlling Palestinian areas; it’s the lack of any political will to actually address the problem as it actually exists. Until the world can see the real and objective reality of Israel and Palestine, the Palestinian people will continue to suffer under the oppression of Hamas and Fatah, Jews will continue to be killed over extremism, and Israel will continue to be forced to choose between its own security and policies that cross the line more than they should. Peace will only become possible once we all resolve set aside partisan, ethnic, and sectarian identity politics and actually work to actually bring the values of self-determination, equality, due process, justice, and everything else that Palestinian laws require, that the UN requires, that we require for ourselves. Until the world is willing to do that, there is no hope for peace and the price will be paid in the blood of Jews and Palestinians alike.
Endnotes
1. Jim Zanotti, “The Palestinians: Background and U.S. Relations,” Congressional Research Service Report (Congressional Research Service, October 27, 2022), 40–42, https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL34074.
2. Zanotti, “The Palestinians: Background and U.S. Relations.”
3. U. S. Government Accountability Office, “West Bank and Gaza: State Has Taken Actions to Address Potentially Problematic Textbook Content but Should Improve Its Reporting to Congress,” June 4, 2019, https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-448.
4. Ariel Merari and Boaz Ganor, “Interviews With, and Tests of, Palestinian Independent Assailants,” Terrorism and Political Violence 34, no. 8 (November 17, 2022): 1595–1616, https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2020.1821668; World Bank, “Coordinated Efforts Are Required to Avoid a Worsening Economic and Fiscal Outlook in the Palestinian Territories,” World Bank, September 18, 2022, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/09/16/coordinated-efforts-are-required-to-avoid-worsening-economic-and-fiscal-outlook-in-the-palestinian-territories.
5. Zanotti, “The Palestinians: Background and U.S. Relations.”
6. U. S. Government Accountability Office, “West Bank and Gaza”; Government Accountability Office, “Measures to Prevent Inadvertent Payments to Terrorists under Palestinian Aid Programs Have Been Strengthened, but Some Weaknesses Remain” (Government Accountability Office, May 2009), https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-09-622.pdf; United Nations Watch, “United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Staff Incitement of Antisemitism and Terrorism Violates United Nations Principles,” February 1, 2021, https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AHRC46NGO136_170321.pdf.
7. United Nations Watch, “United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Staff Incitement of Antisemitism and Terrorism Violates United Nations Principles.”
8. U. S. Government Accountability Office, “West Bank and Gaza.”
9. “General Assembly Resolution 302,” UNRWA, accessed February 1, 2023, https://www.unrwa.org/content/general-assembly-resolution-302; Bureau of Public Affairs Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, “1948 – UN General Assembly Resolution 194” (Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs.), accessed February 1, 2023, https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/nea/rls/22566.htm.
10. U. S. Government Accountability Office, “West Bank and Gaza.”
11. While these claims are not supported by the historical record and the expansion of Arab imperialism throughout the Middle East and North Africa is well documented and this false rhetoric does contribute to the problem, it will not be addressed within this analysis as its of limited relevance to this analysis except to state that it exists.
12. Zanotti, “The Palestinians: Background and U.S. Relations”; Merari and Ganor, “Interviews With, and Tests of, Palestinian Independent Assailants.”
13. Merari and Ganor, “Interviews With, and Tests of, Palestinian Independent Assailants”; Shuki J. Cohen, “Mapping the Minds of Suicide Bombers Using Linguistic Methods: The Corpus of Palestinian Suicide Bombers’ Farewell Letters (CoPSBFL),” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 39, no. 7–8 (July 2, 2016): 749–80, https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2016.1141005.
14. Cohen, “Mapping the Minds of Suicide Bombers Using Linguistic Methods”; Merari and Ganor, “Interviews With, and Tests of, Palestinian Independent Assailants.”
15. Cohen, “Mapping the Minds of Suicide Bombers Using Linguistic Methods”; “Palestinians Celebrate Deadly Terror Shooting in Jerusalem with Fireworks, Sweets | The Times of Israel,” accessed February 10, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-celebrate-jerusalem-synagogue-massacre-with-fireworks-sweets/.
16. Zanotti, “The Palestinians: Background and U.S. Relations”; “Palestinians Alarmed by Lawlessness in West Bank – Al-Monitor: Independent, Trusted Coverage of the Middle East,” August 3, 2022, https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/08/palestinians-alarmed-lawlessness-west-bank.
17. Reuters et al., “Palestinian Leader Delays Parliamentary and Presidential Elections, Blaming Israel,” Reuters, April 30, 2021, sec. Middle East, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/palestinian-elections-delayed-says-president-mahmoud-abbas-2021-04-29/.
18. Zanotti, “The Palestinians: Background and U.S. Relations.”
19. “إستطلاع رأي : 93% من العرب في القدس يفضلون بقاء الحكم الإسرائيلي,” شبكة فلسطين للأنباء – شفا (blog), accessed February 10, 2023, https://www.shfanews.net/post/102082; “Poll: 93 Percent of Eastern Jerusalem Arabs Prefer Israeli Rule,” JNS.org, December 14, 2021, https://www.jns.org/poll-93-percent-of-arabs-prefer-israeli-rule-in-jerusalem/.
20. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “WEST BANK AND GAZA 2020 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT,” Https://Www.State.Gov/Wp-Content/Uploads/2021/03/WEST-BANK-AND-GAZA-2020-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.Pdf (U.S. Department of State, March 2021).
21. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
22. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
23. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
24. Merari and Ganor, “Interviews With, and Tests of, Palestinian Independent Assailants”; Cohen, “Mapping the Minds of Suicide Bombers Using Linguistic Methods.”
25. Merari and Ganor, “Interviews With, and Tests of, Palestinian Independent Assailants.”
26. Merari and Ganor.
27. Merari and Ganor; Cohen, “Mapping the Minds of Suicide Bombers Using Linguistic Methods.”
28. Merari and Ganor, “Interviews With, and Tests of, Palestinian Independent Assailants.”
29. Eldad J Pardo and David M Byer, “Arabs and Palestinians in Israeli Textbooks 2022‒23,” September 2022.
30. MEMRI, “Children In Hamas TV Kids’ Show: The Criminal Jews Are Plotting To Replace Al-Aqsa Mosque With Their False Temple, But We Will Defend Jerusalem To Our Last Drop Of Blood; Jihad Is The Pinnacle Of Islam,” MEMRI, 2022, https://www.memri.org/tv/hamas-childrens-show-criminal-jews-plotting-replace-aqsa-with-temple-defend-until-last-drop-of-blood.
31. MEMRI.
32. Samuel Leizerman, “Antisemitism: Being Called a Kike Isn’t What Hurts The Most (Unpublished)” (December 4, 2021).
33. Jacob Magid, “US Now to ‘Prioritize’ Pushing Israel to Stop Demolishing Terrorists’ Homes,” July 2021, https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-apparent-shift-us-pushing-israel-to-stop-demolishing-terrorists-homes/.
34. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “WEST BANK AND GAZA 2020 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT.”
35. Jeff Jones and Lydia Saad, “Americans’ Views on the MiddleEast (Trends),” Gallup.com, February 20, 2019, https://news.gallup.com/poll/247394/20190306middleeast.aspx.
36. Jones and Saad.
37. Jones and Saad.
38. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “WEST BANK AND GAZA 2020 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT”; Jones and Saad, “Americans’ Views on the MiddleEast (Trends).”
39. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “WEST BANK AND GAZA 2020 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT”; Matt Loffman, “New Poll Shows Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Anti-Transgender Laws,” PBS NewsHour, April 16, 2021, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/new-poll-shows-americans-overwhelmingly-oppose-anti-transgender-laws; Jojanneke van der Toorn et al., “In Defense of Tradition: Religiosity, Conservatism, and Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage in North America,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 43, no. 10 (October 2017): 1455–68, https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217718523.
40. Sarrah Shahawy, “The Unique Landscape of Abortion Law and Access in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” Health and Human Rights Journal (blog), December 9, 2019, https://www.hhrjournal.org/2019/12/the-unique-landscape-of-abortion-law-and-access-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territories/; Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “WEST BANK AND GAZA 2020 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT.”
41. “Voting Laws Roundup: October 2021 | Brennan Center for Justice,” July 22, 2021, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-october-2021; Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “WEST BANK AND GAZA 2020 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT.”
42. “Mapai,” accessed February 25, 2023, https://en.idi.org.il/israeli-elections-and-parties/parties/mapai/.
43. For this parenthetical aside only, use the following definitions: Social-liberalism refers to social-liberalism as it is traditionally understood in global geo-politics and not its meaning within the American Vernacular by “fiscal conservatives” who support civil liberties and social justice. Progressives: Those whose socioeconomic views are to the left of social-liberalism without rejecting capitalism; a.k.a. social-democrats. True socialists: those who reject the private ownership of the means of production; contrast with the vernacular misuse of the term in America to describe social democrats.
44. Jewish Virtual Library, “Christian Zionism,” accessed February 25, 2023, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/christian-zionism; Pew Research Center, “Religious Landscape Study,” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project (blog), May 30, 2014, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/.
45. Pew Research Center, “7. How the U.S. General Public Views Muslims and Islam,” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project (blog), July 26, 2017, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/07/26/how-the-u-s-general-public-views-muslims-and-islam/.
46. Leizerman, “Antisemitism: Being Called a Kike Isn’t What Hurts The Most (Unpublished)”; Aila Slisco, “Reps. Rashida Tlaib and André Carson Protest Outside Biden’s State Department for Palestine,” MSN, May 12, 2021, https://www.newsweek.com/reps-rashida-tlaib-andre-carson-protest-outside-bidens-state-department-palestine-1590687; Asma Khalid, “Progressive Democrats Push Party To Rethink Relationship With Israel,” NPR, May 21, 2021, sec. Politics, https://www.npr.org/2021/05/21/998947853/progressive-democrats-push-party-to-rethink-relationship-with-israel.
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