President Biden’s undefined Redline threat to Israel follows repeated attempts by Netanyahu to rebuff all of the United States and international warnings on civilian casualties, aid increment, avoiding Rafah invasion, and post-war plans. That is why, the US level of trust in the Israeli government is dwindling as a U.S. official told Barak Ravid of AXIOS: “We are in a week with a significant decrease in the aid that is going in. This is precisely the kind of thing we warned the Israelis against…which is why we don’t trust them at all to do Rafah right”.
Biden has legitimate reasons to be frustrated by Benjamin Netanyahu who has pledged to continue operations against Hamas despite U.S. President Joe Biden’s threat to withhold arms for Israel’s planned military assault in Rafah. The White House spokesperson John Kirby said such actions would instead strengthen Hamas’s position in hostage negotiations, contrary to aiding Israel. The administration insists its stance does not signify abandoning Israel but seeks a more strategic approach to depleting Hamas without escalating military conflict, especially given the significant impact of past conflicts on civilian lives and regional stability.
For Republicans, Israeli apologists, and AIPAC, defusing Biden’s Redline shows how hard it is for the White House to define their Redline, and that’s why the United States and Biden have been resisting changing US policy since October, despite Netanyahu defying and hitting him at every turn, even as he continued to lose support among Black and Arab American voters, along with young progressives, who are dismayed by his backing of Israel’s slaughter.
The Redline threat is an opportunity for Biden. He should double down on that this is not about trying to micro-manage the war between Hams and Israel, it’s about putting an end to the war and securing an after-the-war peace plan based on the long-standing U.S. policy of two-state solution for Palestinians and Israelis and ever lasting peace in the Middle East.
Biden’s Red Line on linking weapons to an attack on the city of Rafah, emphasizes his administration’s beliefs in the assumption that defeating Hams would be achieved by other means than the never-ending war and killing of more innocent Palestinian citizens and by achieving long-lasting peace to the Israeli Palestinian bloody conflict.
Biden’s criticism of Israel’s conduct, especially on humanitarian aid, seems much louder in recent months due to opposition to the war amongst his constituencies across the U.S. and across the world in an election year. He is walking through the complex muddies of local and international policies, especially for those paying close attention to his 2024 presidential election campaign.
Biden should take some pages of the U.S. and Isrsel relationship to support his Redline policy. “If it was reasonable for the Republican presidential icon [Reagan] to limit arms to impose his will on Israel…, it should be acceptable for the current Democratic president [Biden] to do the same.” Peter Baker wrote.
Moreover, Israel’s failure, so far, to achieve its major goal of a total defeat of Hams in Gaza, should give Biden all the reasons to keep pushing for serious re-passement of Israel’s war plans. “One thing is clear: the fact that the IDF has had to go back into Jabalya, Zeitoun, and soon Khan Younis is a reminder that no plan existed for what would replace Hamas. Yes, Hamas is weakened but without an alternative to it, it will fill the vacuum. And Israel needs an answer.” As Dennis Ross tweeted yesterday.
Amid unwillingness to revisit his Middle Et policies, “Biden is going to have to take Netanyahu’s best punch – the AIPACs, ADLs, Republicans and Sabans and more all slamming him – and hold his ground. If he folds, it would be even more foolish than waiting all this time to do anything.”
Israeli’s conduct of the war in Gaza and the persistence in pursuing apartheid policies in the Occupied Palestinian territories do not provide the U.S. any hope to achieve its first principle of stability and peace in the Middle East in which there could be a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike. “We know there is no hope for two states for two peoples if Israel remains the occupation military power ruling over the West Bank and Gaza with an apartheid system after the war. So, it is fair for the American public and the work public at large to ask Biden: Mr. President, do you support the two-state solution, and do you support the end of Israeli occupation? Clarity on this issue cannot be muffled.”
At a time that Netanyahu continued crossing the line, including the Rafah invasion, Jack Sullivan never missed a chance to double down on U.S. support for Israel’s major goal to defeat Hams in Gaza. In the White House readout Sunday evening of a conversation with his Israeli counterpart Tzachi Hanegbi, Sullivan “affirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to Israel’s security and the defeat of Hamas in Gaza.” t of Hamas in Gaza.
What has been obvious since October 7, 2023, is that the Biden Administration refusing to realize that it is for the first in the history of the Palestine – Israel conflict that “This is the first generation in 100 years that does NOT look at the Israel-Palestine issue through a distinctly Israeli/Zionist lens.”
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