Ex-US Diplomat Calls Israeli Conference in Bahrain ‘Fiasco of Century’

“The upcoming conference on Donald Trump's "Deal of the Century" in Manama, capital of repressive Bahrain, may well be termed the Fiasco of the Century,” Michael Springmann, the former head of the American visa bureau in Saudi Arabia, said in an interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

“The entire Palestinian leadership has condemned the project, dreamed up by Trump's Orthodox Zionist son-in-law Jared Kushner,” he added.

J. Michael Springmann served in the US government as a diplomat with the State Department's Foreign Service, with postings in Germany, India, and Saudi Arabia. He left federal service and currently practices law in the Washington, DC, area. Springmann’s works and interviews have been published in numerous foreign policy publications, including Covert Action Quarterly, Unclassified, Global Outlook, the Public Record, OpEdNews, Global Research and Foreign Policy Journal. He has written Visas for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked The World and a second book Goodbye, Europe? Hello, Chaos? Merkel’s Migrant Bomb. Both are available on Amazon. The books’ website is: www.michaelspringmann.com

The following is the full text of the interview:

Tasnim: Israeli soldiers last Friday shot and wounded at least 16 unarmed Palestinian protesters, including a volunteer and medic, according to Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra. As you know, Palestinians have staged the weekly anti-Israeli protests dubbed the “Great March of Return” along the Gaza border for more than a year. According to media reports, more than 270 people, including 52 children, have been killed since the demonstrations began in March 2018. Most of the dead and the thousands wounded were unarmed civilians against whom Israel was using excessive force. What do you think about the Israeli regime’s crimes?

Springmann: Apartheid Israel and its policy of violence towards Arabs, Muslims, and fellow Jews is changeless. It is like the sun which always rises in the east and sets in the west.

Look back to the 1930s and 1940s.  Zionists were moving into Palestine, fighting the British and native Arabs for control of the Mandate. In 1948, having successfully grabbed more of Palestine than the United Nations had allowed, they drove out 85% of its population--750,000 people--at gunpoint. 

Over the years that followed, they fought repeated wars, annexing more Palestinian land and ejecting more Arabs.  In 1918, there were 60,000 Jews in Palestine, 8% of the population.  In 1948, there were 716,700, 82% of the inhabitants.  In 2019, there are 6,697,000, 74% of the populace, thanks to the increasing Arab birthrate.

So, given the sordid history of the Zionists, the casualties resulting from the year-long, weekly anti-Israeli protests dubbed the “Great March of Return” should come as no surprise. As you mentioned, according to media reports, more than 270 people, including 52 children, have been killed since the demonstrations began in March 2018. Most of the dead and the 29,000 wounded were unarmed civilians against whom Israel was using excessive force.

This is collective punishment against a people seeking the return of their own country. Moreover, it is murder, war crimes, and human rights violations.

Worse, the United States, always quick to condemn other nations' efforts to control their own territorial integrity, such as Russia, or to resist outside efforts to weaken it, such as Iran, is strangely silent about the Zionist Entity.

Tasnim: Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas leader, recently said Palestinians have united to reject the so-called “deal of the century” plan initiated by the US government, saying there is a consensus among them to restore the Palestinians’ rights. He also said the Palestinian people are unified to boycott an upcoming US-Israeli conference in Bahrain. What is your opinion about the remarks and the upcoming conference in Manama? How do you predict future developments? 

Springmann: The upcoming conference on Donald Trump's "Deal of the Century" in Manama, capital of repressive Bahrain, may well be termed the "Fiasco of the Century". The entire Palestinian leadership has condemned the project, dreamed up by Trump's Orthodox Zionist son-in-law Jared Kushner. Additionally, Palestinian businessmen have refused to participate in the meeting.  It is said, correctly, that the ordinary Palestinian will not support the plan.

Why? It's astonishingly simple. The leaked details show that the scheme is one designed to destroy the remainder of the Palestinian people. In exchange for giving up the right of return of the exiled populace and accepting some Sinai land which will remain under Egyptian control, Palestinians will live in a shrunken version of the bit of the country they have now. 

How? Israel will expand its colonies on the West Bank, unifying them. And what will the Palestinians get?  No state with its own armed forces and foreign policy.  And, allegedly, they will receive billions of dollars for businesses and other sorts of unspecified economic opportunities.

The plan is designed to fail, to cause the Palestinians to reject it, and thus incur the blame for its collapse.  The object is to impoverish, exile, and eliminate as many Palestinians as possible.  It is the natural result of Trump's previous policies: 

•             Dismantling the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), ending US contributions to its budget

•             Trying to remove the Palestinian refugees' right of return

•             Claiming that the children of refugees are not refugees

What will be the result?  More violence.  Another Intifada could well be in the offing.

Tasnim: As you know, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan each year, Muslims and anti-Israeli activists hold worldwide demonstrations to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemn the Israeli regime’s continued inhumane acts against the defenseless people. This year, Muslims around the world marked the International Quds Day on May 31. What do you think about the importance of the day? Why has the international community, particularly the Western mainstream media, made a muted response to the Tel Aviv regime’s human rights violations against Palestinians so far?

Springmann: Why is this day important? It highlights Apartheid Israel's efforts to destroy the Palestinian people and to obliterate the memory of their existence.  The Western mainstream media do their best to ignore Palestine and the Palestinians.  When they're mentioned at all, it's always in connection with resistance to Israeli violence.  But the media twist and turn their reports about Palestine, asserting that it was not the Israelis but the Palestinians who first engaged in bloodshed.  Many of the journalists, editors, and broadcasters are Jews who slant their news favorably to the Hebrews.  

There's never a word about how the Palestinians lack tanks, jet fighters, combat helicopters, and other advanced weapons of war.  Instead, there's great emphasis on Palestinians (if they are Palestinians and not Zionists) firing small, inaccurate rockets into Israel.

There's never a word about how the fanatical Zionists stole an entire country from its people, with the support of Europe and the United States.  Supposedly, the countries which gave Palestine to the thieves were wracked by guilt for allowing the Nazis to kill so many Jews.  Or, was it, instead, a way to get rid of their own Jews?

In the end, it was the scheming Zionists who began work to get Britain to give them Palestine at the beginning of the last century.  At mid-century, it was the clever, well-connected Jews who promised (US) President Harry Truman an election victory in 1948 if he supported the abolition of Palestine, turning it into a Zionist homeland.

That's why Al-Quds day is so important. It reminds the world of a shameless crime, a crime the world does its best to forget.