Some left-wing groups and writers who claim to be “pro-peace” when it comes to the Middle East are criticizing a potential peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel because of their enmity toward the Israeli government.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman have all been talking up the prospects of a deal between Israel and the most important Muslim country.
But the Biden administration is reportedly stalling the talks by insisting on concessions to the Palestinians that even the Saudis are not demanding, and left-wing Jewish organizations have said Biden should not make a deal unless it “include[s] measures that tangibly advance prospects for a two-state outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
On Wednesday, J Street, the left-wing, George Soros-funded organization that frequently criticizes Israeli policies, applauded 20 Democratic Senators who insisted that the administration push for concessions to the Palestinians — whose current leaders continue to spout antisemitism and to deny Jewish rights to religious worship in Jerusalem.
“As an organization that supports the establishment of normal relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, J Street strongly agrees that any normalization agreement should be leveraged to promote the ultimate resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” J Street said.
J Street vocally opposes Netanyahu, calling him a liar and a demagogue because of his judicial reform proposals.
Separately, radical left-wing pundit Peter Beinart said that a Saudi-Israeli peace would destabilize the Middle East.
“Both countries are deeply repressive,” Beinart said, failing to distinguish between Israel’s open, liberal democracy and Saudi Arabia’s authoritarian, hereditary monarchy.
Peace and normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia would strengthen these countries, which are not directly threatening each other, while squandering Palestinians leverage to force Israeli concessions, Beinart argued.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.