Phyllis Bennis on Rising Up with Sonali on Biden’s Middle East Trip and the Murder of Shireen Abu Akleh

“Nothing in the US policy focuses on equality, we should be very clear about that. And in that context I think the fact that raised Shireen ’s killing only in the context of, ‘It’s a tragedy,’ nothing about actual accountability — it was very much a reflection of the same kind of discussion he had had with MBS about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, where in that case he was willing to say directly to the Crown Prince, ‘I think you’re responsible for it.’ The Prince responded by saying, ‘No, I’m not,’ and Biden allegedly came back with, ‘Well, I think you are.’ And then they dropped it. That was the end of the conversation. … Similarly, in Israel, when he named Shireen and spoke of it as this tragedy, but said, you know, we hope that there will be more investigations, something very general, there’s no question of accountability there.”

Listen to the full interview with Phyllis Bennis on Rising Up with Sonali, in which she speaks about Biden’s trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, and his limited discussion of the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh.