Anand Giridharadas on Israel: ‘There Was Something, in a Way, Very Humiliating for American Power Over the Last Year’

EXCERPT:

GIRIDHARADAS: "I think what’s really interesting about this moment of two presidents who don’t much like each other working together, and maybe that pushing this over the line, is that it feels like America discovered its power and leverage in this moment, after 15, 16 months of being the most powerful country in the world, and sort of asking Netanyahu nicely to stop doing things he was doing in the way he was doing them, and not really going much further than asking nicely and sending strongly worded letters and continuing to send money and sending weapons. There was something, in a way, very humiliating for American power over the last year plus, where the most powerful country in the history of the world seems to not be able to control a very small country who is its financial dependent. And so maybe it is this kind of thing of presidents working together, where we rediscover our power and leverage to say, if we think this is a moral and humanitarian catastrophe, which I believe it is, we should act like it, we should put conditions on everyone we help, not just Israel. We shouldn’t be writing checks to support things we think are disasters. So I hope the notion of power and leverage is sustained through whatever phases come."