Thread by @IlhanMN

This administration has cozied up to the most brutal dictators in the world—damaging our alliances and image in the world.

Here are my thoughts on how deep the damage is and how Biden can repair it. (Thread) thenation.com/article/world/…

Trump began his presidency by backing out of the Iran nuclear deal, imposing crippling sanctions on the people of Iran, and further empowering the brutal regime there, and risking a nuclear conflict.

Iran now has 12 times more enriched uranium than would have been permitted under the agreement.

Meanwhile, he cozied up to Saudi Arabia, a regime responsible for some of the worst human rights atrocities of our young century—including routing murder of human rights advocates and war crimes in Yemen.

He recently inked so-called “peace deals” between the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and Israel. The only problem? They weren’t peace deals. They’re arms sales to human rights abusers, designed to empower the Gulf States and increase the risk of war with Iran.

Trump proposed a staggering $23 billion in arms sales to the UAE, which the administration admitted was linked to the deal. (I introduced resolutions this week to ban these sales.) politico.com/news/2020/11/1…

We must ask: What do these agreements mean to the millions of Palestinians who continue to live under Israeli military occupation?

Rather than make statehood or self-determination more likely, they have normalized the occupation and made real peace for Israelis and Palestinians increasingly unlikely.

President Biden has a tremendous opportunity to reverse this. Instead of siding with one group of dictators over another, we should position ourselves at an equal distance from both.

We can hold Iran accountable for its human rights violations while also holding Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the UAE accountable.

This applies to the occupation as well. 

We must reinsert the call for a two-state solution with full human rights and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians back into the public debate with urgency.

We can create an America that means what it says when we claim to stand for human rights and democracy.

- An end to arms sales to dictators.
- An end to collective punishment of innocent civilians.
- And renewed support for multilateralism and accountability.