NASSER: U.S. SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL IS THE PROBLEM

Today is the late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser's birthday.

A Pan-Africanist and Pan-Arabist, Nasser had ambitions of returning all of Palestine to the Palestinians. But he was dealt a blow by Israel's pre-emptive 1967 attack, as a result of which Egypt lost Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula. Tel Aviv also took the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria.

In this 1967 interview, he dished out some African advice that would serve US foreign policymakers well today - if they only listened to it. He argues that, as a simple matter of fairness, a superpower like the US shouldn’t take sides, but should equally listen to Arab voices and concerns.

Nasser's view that US support for Israel is the problem is even more relevant today than it was in 1967. President Joe Biden has come out strongly in support of Israel, whose armed forces have killed over 23,000 Palestinians since October 7 - supposedly acting in self-defence.

Moreover, the US supplies Tel Aviv with $3.8 billion worth of arms annually, giving it seemingly unconditional support on the diplomatic front. And as the world awaits the outcome of South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the ICJ, analysts say Washington's unconditional support makes it complicit.