US Condemns Settlements While Funding Their Expansion, Again
Israel's approval of 19 new settlements in the West Bank is framed by The Independent as a fresh blow to Palestinian statehood hopes, eliciting predictable 'condemnation' from the usual suspects. What the mainstream media rarely connects is the direct enabling of this expansion. For example, the Biden administration's 2024 supplemental request for over $14 billion in military aid to Israel,
approved by Congress with significant bipartisan support, directly subsidizes the military occupation maintaining these illegal settlements. This isn't a 'blow' to a peace process; it’s an active demolition, paid for through the US tax base, rendering any 'condemnation' little more than performative outrage. One might wonder how many times the US can express 'dismay' while cutting checks for the
very activities causing it. This is less a 'pathway to a Palestinian state' and more of an express lane to further dispossession, paved with diplomatic hand-wringing and taxpayer dollars. It's almost as if the 'two-state solution' is a bedtime story told to children before the adults continue drawing maps in concrete.