Mohammad Mahdi Abbasi, researcher in the field of American Studies
Just a few months ago, it seemed improbable that today a key focus for the US government would be a foreign policy matter. In the past, global issues didn’t play a big role in US elections and rarely caused significant changes in presidential popularity. Nevertheless, the Gaza war has emerged as a significant anomaly in the United States’ political landscape. For the very first time, due to the ongoing conflict and President Biden’s continued support for Israel, recent polls show a substantial drop in Biden’s popularity among young Americans. In addition, Biden’s approval ratings have fallen even lower than Trump’s. Furthermore, Arab American support for Biden has dwindled by 42% compared to 2020, reaching a mere 17%. The increasing political tensions related to backing the Zionist regime have peaked in Washington, with more than 40 members of the US Congress and Senate now expressing their support for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Nevertheless, the decline in popularity and rise of domestic issues in the United States constitute only a fraction of the challenges that the Gaza war has thrust upon the US government. The incurred costs stemming from the Al-Aqsa Flood and the 50-day conflict in Gaza against the Zionist regime are irreparable for the Americans. According to Imam Khamenei, this war altered the region’s political landscape, steering it towards the expulsion of the United States and causing a disruption in the US policy agenda in the West Asia.
1. US initiative to normalize relations between Islamic countries and Zionist regime faces setback
The principal and most significant policy of the United States in the region, which encountered a setback during the recent conflict, is the effort to normalize relations between Arab and Islamic nations and the Zionist regime. This initiative, widely known as the “Abraham Accords,” was launched during the Trump administration and actively pursued up to a few days before October 7 in the Biden administration. According to Frederick Kempe, president and chief executive officer of the Atlantic Council, there is now no chance of success for this initiative. In a recent interview, Kempe stated: “I think a big victim is the efforts at Saudi and Israel normalization ... There was a prospect of a deal; people were giving it a 50/50 chance. Right now, you have to give it zero chance.”
Zineb Riboua, a senior researcher at the Hudson Institute in the United States, asserts that the primary achievement of Hamas and the Axis of Resistance from the recent conflict is a pause in the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Additionally, Thomas Friedman, a renowned columnist for The New York Times, views the ongoing ground attacks by the Zionist regime on the Gaza Strip as equivalent to the complete collapse of the Abraham Accords.
It is noteworthy that the atrocities committed by the United States and the Zionist regime in Gaza have roused certain advocates of normalizing relations in Islamic countries from their state of ignorance. For example, Dr. Osama Al-Ghazali, one of the most fervent proponents of normalization with the Zionist regime in Egypt, has issued an apology for supporting the normalization and expressed remorse and apology for the people of Egypt and the martyrs of Gaza. He stated: “I say that I apologize for my good opinion of the Israelis, who revealed a hateful, criminal, racist spirit.”
In addition, public opinion in the Arab world strongly opposes the recognition of the Zionist regime. Recently, the Doha Institute published a survey in which people from 14 Arab countries were asked about the extent of their support for establishing relations with the Zionist regime. According to this survey, 90% of the people in Tunisia, 92% in Iraq, 87% in Qatar, 84% in Egypt, 85% in Kuwait, 84% in Lebanon, and 94% in Jordan, which shares a border with Israel, expressed their opposition to this matter. Even in Morocco, which has had diplomatic relations with Israel since 2020, explicitly more than two-thirds of the people are against establishing relations with the Zionist regime. Another reputable survey also indicates that only two percent of residents in Saudi Arabia support the normalization of relations with the Israeli regime.
2. Weakening of Zionist
“If there were not an Israel, we’d have to invent one [to ensure a supporter of our interests in the region].” This (in)famous statement belongs to Joe Biden, the President of the United States, who has reiterated it multiple times. The US presidential contender Nikki Haley has also made a controversial remark a while ago, stating: “It’s not just that Israel needs America. America needs Israel.” These statements effectively highlight the unbreakable bond between the United States and the Zionist regime, illustrating how much the US relies on a strong proxy force in the region.
Now, according to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, “the Zionist regime has been under severe pressure for over 50 days, resulting in a heavy blow to its reputation.” Statistics reveal an unprecedented toll since October 7, with 400 military personnel of the Zionist regime killed and over 1,000 others injured, including 202 in critical condition. Additionally, the Gaza war has inflicted nearly $53 billion in financial costs on the Netanyahu cabinet, and it is anticipated to cause a 1.4% reduction in Israel’s economic growth in 2023. The Zionist regime’s army has faced substantial damage in terms of weaponry, with 335 armored vehicles being completely destroyed during the ground offensive on Gaza. Importantly, Israel’s massive intelligence failure should not be underestimated. According to The Week magazine, the October 7 attack by Hamas within the occupied territories marked the “end of the Israeli intelligence service's vaunted reputation.” Consequently, it can be asserted that the Al-Aqsa Flood and the 50-day long resistance by the people of Gaza have tarnished the international reputation of this longstanding ally to the US, and significantly weakened the United States’ proxy force in the region, namely the Zionist regime.
3. Escalation in regional countries’ opposition to US
The Biden administration’s robust backing of the atrocities committed by the Zionist regime in Gaza has resulted in a notable surge in opposition to the United States among regional governments. This has been coupled with widespread public resentment toward the United States within Islamic nations. The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khamenei, emphasized this shift in a recent speech, stating: “A notable aspect of the change in geopolitical map of the region is the initiation of de-Americanization. Some countries that were previously entirely aligned with American policies have now begun to chart their own course in relation to America — as you can observe, this process has started and is set to continue.”
In this regard, CNN reported that the Biden administration has received serious warnings from American diplomats in the Arab world about the United States’ support for Israel’s deadly military campaign in Gaza, cautioning that it will come at the cost of losing the public sentiment of a generation of Arab people toward the United States. A recent poll from the Washington Institute confirms this claim. According to the survey conducted in six Arab countries, only 7% of the population in these countries believe that the United States played a positive role in the Gaza war. Additionally, Abd Al-Mohsen Salama, the board chairman of the Egyptian state daily Al-Ahram, explicitly remarked that the United States is now the number one enemy of the Arab world! The negative votes of regional countries towards the recent resolutions of the United States and its allies at the United Nations further underscore this issue.
In conclusion, the Gaza war not only dealt a significant blow to the illegitimate existence of the Zionist regime but also hastened the decline of the United States and disrupted the agenda of US policies in the West Asia. This conflict, both domestically and internationally, proved to be a significant setback for the US government, signaling the promising news of for a complete withdrawal of America from the West Asia region among the local populations.
(The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Khamenei.ir.)
