What Israel has been doing with this Gaza war has done a lot of damage— not only to Gaza but ultimately to Israel as well. And also to President Biden.
Biden’s immediate response to the Hamas Atrocities looked like a brilliant diplomatic move: he won the heart of Israel for his compassion and support, and then he undertook to influence how the Israelis would respond.
The effort to push Israel in certain directions — like thinking through the end game, like making constructive gestures elsewhere, like minimizing civilian casualties — has been visible publicly from the outset.
For a while, it was uncertain whether the Israelis would exercise the restraint that Biden was encouraging. In the end, the Netanyahu government gave Biden the finger and went pretty nearly all-out toward vengeance and destruction.
Biden tied himself firmly to Israel, betting that this would enable him to keep the Israelis from blowing up the region, and antagonizing much of the rest of the world.
Had Biden been dealing with the non-Netanyahu government in power in 2022, I would bet there would be a good chance Biden would have succeeded. But the Netanyahu government represents the very worst Israeli spirit one would want to have making decisions in a situation like this. It’s a government that
- fails to show even the minimal concern for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people;
- is controlled by factions with a fascistic spirit, with its propensity for conflict and violence;
- is led by a man who has self-serving interests in perpetuating the conflict, and has shown that he will put what he wants for himself ahead of the good of the nation;
- and who would regard damage to Biden, as the 2024 Election looms, as a plus.
Israel’s actions have put the American President who has tied himself to Israel on the other side of a line from some major parts of his support base. Those on the left whose sympathies are habitually more with the Palestinians than with the Israelis are upset that the President they used to support is being so supportive of Israel as it lays waste the cities of Gaza.
Much of the damage has been done. But it would help repair that damage if Biden could be seen either by moving Israel more fully in the right direction, or by separating himself from Israel.
Yet one reads— e.g. in the New York Times — that the United States does not have leverage over the Israelis.
Is that true?
The Biden Administration is repeatedly giving Israel what it needs no less than it would give it if Israel decision-makers were acting in accordance with American desires. Why? Is it really true that America has “no leverage” — giving more or less support, in weapons and diplomatically — over Israel’s conduct?
At the very least, make public the split if the Israeli ally insists on acting destructively, making a bad situation worse.
The world needs Biden to defeat Trump in November, and steps should be taken to simultaneously push harder for sanity from the Israeli side and shore up the Biden base so that it doesn’t get weakened over the Israeli/Hamas war.
