‘Relocate Israel to the United States’, suggests hilarious WhatsApp forward

Didn’t the United Kingdom unilaterally decide to give away part of Palestine to create Israel? While the UNO partitioned Palestine in 1947 and Palestinians have been ceding more and more land of theirs since then for a ‘Greater Israel’ to come into being, is relocating Israel now a better solution?

The WhatsApp forward, which was presumably shared as a joke, has evoked sharp reactions, both for and against the solution prescribed. Israel and its supporters are obviously not amused. But the meme does suggest an innovative and literally out-of-the-box solution to the vexed issue.

Then again, as one of the responses pointed out, why would the arms lobby in the United States allow it? As President Biden has now publicly acknowledged, the Ukraine war has helped the American defence industry. The US ‘war on terror’ has fed the industry, by wreaking devastation in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine — during the last two decades alone. Another war in West Asia is a tempting prospect for the industry, and President Biden cannot be faulted for not doing enough to stand by Israel’s air strikes and an impending ground invasion into Gaza.

The ‘annexation’ of Gaza and the rest of Palestine by Israel is a matter of time.

On the face of it, therefore, the meme makes a lot of sense.

The United States, unlike West Asia, has a sparse population but abundant land. Israel can become the 51st state of the USA and Israelis will never have to bother about their security, surrounded by friendly states and Americans.

The United States will benefit from the Israelis’ tech, security and defence industry and it will no longer have to dole out every year US$ 3 billion in unconditional aid to sustain its ‘special relationship’ with Israel.

The Palestinians will get back their land and, indeed, their lives.

Oil prices will go down and West Asia will prosper again!

The volatile issue and this ‘final solution’, perfect or imperfect, has divided people on social media.

The following are just a few of the thousands of responses which have poured in.

First reactions of those who think it is an excellent idea:

• Giving North Dakota (minus the reservations) to Israel as part of a larger Middle East peace deal is a proposal my mother floated while working at State [the state department, presumably]. North Dakota has oil and borders on two countries.

• Not a bad idea if one thinks about it. Wonder how Americans will react to this brilliant out-of-the-box suggestion.

• Particularly true about the oil prices, but I'm not sure if Iowans will be all that welcoming. They've only just got there (300 years to the Palestinians 2,000+) and... what if they're kicked out and dispossessed too

• Neither Republicans nor Democrats will oppose such a proposal. They can only accord a bipartisan welcome!

• This would be an appropriate answer to the people who are suggesting all Arabs accommodate the whole of Palestine and give free land to Israel so that it can start another war to engage Syria, Jordan, and further.

• America and Britain should have done it long before.

The naysayers have been equally vocal. Some of their reactions are as follows:

• Seriously? Why not relocate Hamas to Canada? Canada anyways is known to give shelter to terrorists?

• There are 48 Muslim-majority countries in the world. Why don’t you suggest moving the Palestinians to one of them? Why none of the Muslim countries are opening their borders for Afghans, Syrians, Kurds, Rohingyas, Uyghurs or Palestinians?

• Israel is not only the promised land for Jews but is the holy land for Christians as well. Christian world wouldn't let their pilgrimage sites go into the hands of Muslims.

• Relocate so-called Palestine to Arab countries. 57 Muslim countries are there, take this one… what say?