Professor Jeffrey Sachs, professor of political economy at Columbia University, believes that the United States will not continue its support for Israel forever, and that the latter is committing massacres and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.

He believes - in an interview with Haaretz newspaper in Hebrew - that Israel is carrying out genocide against thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, rejects the two-state solution, and believes that it is able to control all the lands between the river and the sea forever.

Sachs - who is considered one of the most important economists in the world and one of the most influential economists and thinkers on the American left - added that Tel Aviv is happy with the full support it receives from Washington, but it completely misses the true picture of the situation, which states that almost all countries in the world strongly oppose its policies,  and it has become completely isolated, except for the support it receives from Washington and small countries such as Micronesia and Nauru, but the winds are changing, and even the American people are turning their backs on it.

The American academic expected that America would stop its military aid to Israel sooner or later, for several reasons, including popular opposition in the United States to financing the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, American youth’s disapproval of the Israeli position, Israel’s isolation in the world, and the United States’ inflated debts that are increasingly burdening it. 

In this regard, he drew attention to the fact that America will soon step down from the international stage as the undisputed leader of the global system, in light of the rise of new powers, led by China.

Don't make the Washington mistake

He said that the Israelis do not understand that they will soon be left alone, and they do not understand that the brutality shown by the Israeli army in Gaza exposes Israel to an existential threat.

He asserts, "Every day that passes, the Israelis become more and more outcast, and Israel loses the rest of the international support that it enjoyed. I see this in my work as a professor, and I see it in the United Nations, and I am begging you: Do not make the mistake of believing that the United States will continue to support you. You must be wise, or you will be left alone with Micronesia.”

Professor Sachs continued, "The same people who are now supporting you in Washington are the ones who created the chaos in Ukraine. Biden, Sullivan, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. These are the people who moved in 2014 to oust the then Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, because he did not support joining NATO," Professor Sachs continued. “This is what created the catastrophe that is happening now in Ukraine.”

He considered, "These are a group of amateurs. How many countries relied on American support and were left behind? Vietnam, Afghanistan after the Taliban, Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Libya after Gaddafi, and the list goes on. For years I have been warning the Ukrainians: Do not rely on American support, because you are in the end, you will end up like Afghanistan. Now I warn you (the Israelis): Do not rely on American support, because in the end you will end up like Ukraine."

No surprise

The newspaper says that Sachs has many relatives in Israel, and over the years he has visited it many times, has relationships with his colleagues at universities, and, in general, gives the impression that he is an expert on Israeli politics at the level of a veteran parliamentary advisor.

Like most American Jews, Sachs spent the morning hours of last October 7 in panicked phone calls to his relatives in Israel, according to the newspaper. He says, "It was a terrible feeling. There was great concern. The first thing I did was make sure that our family members in Israel were okay. Fortunately, none of them were directly harmed. The second thing I did was try to understand why this happened. Hamas did a terrible thing." “But as someone who has been investigating similar situations for 50 years, this does not come as a surprise to me.”

Sachs expressed his belief that Israel cannot continue its war in Gaza, even for days, without American armament, and that its insistence on its position will lead to moral decadence, as many Israelis are no longer able to distinguish between security measures and mass slaughter against the Palestinians.

Speaking about the Abraham Accords, Sachs said that normalization with Saudi Arabia before last October 7 seemed to be just around the corner, and he added, “I do not know what Saudi Arabia’s plan was, but I do not believe any report published by the American administration, nor anything Netanyahu says.” Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has made it explicitly clear that there will be no normalization at the expense of the Palestinians. Does anyone really believe that the Palestinian issue can be hidden? What, will the issue disappear just because Jake Sullivan or Jared Kushner decided so, or will American money hide it? I do not think so".

Lessons of September 11

The academic noted that there is deep global disgust at Israel's actions, noting that "this is not anti-Semitism, but rather opposition to Israel's bombing of civilians, killing tens of thousands, most of them women and children, and the bombing of schools, hospitals, mosques and universities, and often the bombs are Itself is accompanied by videos of cheering soldiers.”

He added, "Israeli government ministers speak at public events about the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and for some reason they believe that their banal words are not heard around the world, or that they simply do not care."

Regarding Israel’s behavior following the October 7 attack, Sachs believed that it had to take lessons from the events of September 11, and explained, “Biden told you directly, learn from our experience after September 11. We made every possible mistake because we believed that the attack gave us permission to do everything we wanted to those who “We consider them enemies, and this is perhaps the only case where I agree with the president.”

The American professor said that the United States should not have invaded Afghanistan, nor waged a war in Iraq, and what we should have done was investigate the failures that existed before the attacks, strengthen border security, and initiate an intelligent political response, and the same applies. Israel had to study the reasons for the catastrophic failure, strengthen security on the borders, and think about a long-term solution.

The veteran politician and economist concluded that the Palestinian issue cannot be ignored or even attempted to overcome it, calling on the Israelis not to believe that America will continue to support their control over the Palestinians by rejecting the two-state solution. In the end, the Palestinians will withstand the Gaza war despite the losses, but Israel, in return, may find itself facing a boycott from the international community.

Source: Haaretz