Blinken is urged by Arab-American leaders to hold Israel accountable

In a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, representatives of various Arab-American organizations expressed their worries about the rising violence between Israelis and Palestinians and demanded that the Israeli government be held accountable.

Over 29 Palestinians have died and numerous more have suffered life-altering injuries in the last four weeks. Friday saw the purported shooting deaths of several Israeli Jews by a suspected Palestinian shooter.

Blinken is slated to arrive in the Middle East on Sunday, January 29, and will meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. In the previous two weeks, he had visited the area twice as a representative of the Biden administration. National security adviser for the White House Jake Sullivan visited the region two weeks ago.

The group asked the secretary to impose "consequences" on the Israeli government for the violent activities targeting Palestinian people, according to Jim Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, the AAI, one of the leaders present at the briefing with Blinken in Washington, D.C.

The emphasis, according to Zogby, was on the need for repercussions. "We were glad for the opportunity to make our views known to the secretary," Zogby said to Arab News.

"Israel acts with impunity when there are no consequences for irresponsible behavior, and Palestinians lose hope. We provided precise recommendations for what they could accomplish. Consequences matter a lot. Israel needs to be held accountable for its misbehavior.

According to Zogby, the group challenged Blinken on the subject of the US Embassy's building in Jerusalem, saying that Palestinians, including Palestinian Americans, own the land where the embassy is being built.