Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

The word “folly” has become associated with only one policy decision in all of our nation’s history. That policy decision was to purchase Alaska from Russia immediately after the end of the Civil War. The primary advocate of the purchase for $7,000,000 was then Secretary of State William H. Seward.

After much heated public debate and opposition, the sale was ratified by the U.S. Senate and consummated by Mr. Seward who was ridiculed and heavily criticized at the time in the American press. The purchase, coming so close to the end of the Civil War, was seen as a needless and foolish government expenditure and became known as “Seward’s Folly.”

Fortunately, for the U.S. and for Mr. Seward’s legacy, gold was discovered in Alaska some 33 years later; and as subsequent history would prove “Seward’s Folly” became his “genius.”

The Biden Administration’s foreign policy initiatives in the Mideast start out with a default premise that the Trump Mideast policy was macroscopically flawed, and needs immediate reversal in many areas.

Without seeking concessions from the Palestinian Authority regarding its continuing “Slay for Pay” policy of compensating families of terrorists killed or jailed, the U.S. government is seeking to unconditionally re-establish U.S. financial aid to the P.A., ignoring the Taylor Force Act which prohibits such compensatory payments as a condition of U.S. aid.

The Biden administration has already resumed financial support to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian descendants of refugees. This aid was cut off by the Trump administration because this agency had become a conduit for antisemitic and delegitimizing Israel propaganda through its hate-laced text books used in its schools.

The resumption of financial aid was based on a flimsy future promise to eliminate this kind of content in its Palestinian-run elementary, middle and high schools throughout the Mideast.

The Trump Administration closed the PLO diplomatic office in Washington, D.C., because the PLO was not fulfilling its obligation to participate in direct negotiations with Israel; to engage in good-faith diplomacy; to discourage and not engage in terrorist acts; and to abandon charges for war crimes against the U.S. and Israel before the International Criminal Court, a court which has no jurisdiction over either nation.

The re-opening of the PLO office by the Biden Administration is without any pre-condition demand to withdraw these charges or to fulfill its obligations that led to the original opening of a PLO diplomatic mission in our nation’s capital.

The Biden administration has rejected the Trump Initiative for Peace between the Palestinians and Israel and resurrected the failed and unrealistic two-state solution.

While giving lip-service support to the Abraham Accords, the gratuitous reversal of the Trump polices toward the Palestinians in fact undermine these accords; and restores false hope that the Palestinians can achieve statehood without compromising their rigid goal of making Israel disappear.

During the four years of the Trump Administration, the Palestinians and their terrorist partners were relatively quiet, with terrorist activities at a low level despite the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal capital, recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and legal recognition under International law of the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.

The wholesale reversal of the Trump Mideast policies absent a single concession by the Palestinians, was meant as a goodwill gesture to entice the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

On the contrary, we have seen a steady increase in Palestinian terrorism and riots in both Jerusalem and Israel and in the self-governing areas of Judea and Samaria.

The foreign policy Mr. Biden is pursuing in the Mideast will prove his folly in that region, and unfortunately for America and Israel, time will not morph “Mr. Biden’s Folly” into “genius.”

If you wish to comment or respond you can reach me at melpearlman322@gmail.com. Please do so in a rational, thoughtful, respectful and civil manner.

Mel Pearlman holds B.S. & M.S. degrees in physics as well as a J.D. degree and initially came to Florida in 1966 to work on the Gemini and Apollo space programs. He has practiced law in Central Florida since 1972. He has served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando; was a charter board member, first vice president and pro-bono legal counsel of the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Central Florida, as well as holding many other community leadership positions.