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The Biden administration and its Democratic allies continue to hamstring Israel’s war in Gaza by undermining Israel’s war generally, contemplating withholding aid from Israel, and favoring the overthrow of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Undermining War Effort
The Biden administration continues to undermine Israel’s war effort. President Biden has stated that an Israeli invasion of Rafah would be a “red line,” that he needed to have a “come to Jesus meeting” with Bibi, and that Bibi was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in commanding the war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israel looks like it will continue with its invasion of Rafah to root out Hamas, as the Israeli defense minister stated that “…there is no safe place in Gaza for terrorists” and that “…[t]hose who think we are delaying will soon see that we will reach everyone.” An estimated 75 percent of Jewish Israelis support the IDF invading Gaza. In Rafah, the IDF recently killed a commander in Hamas’ Operations unit in Rafah who was responsible for scouting IDF positions and also for stealing aid intended for Gazans. While there have been some reports that the Biden administration may allow a limited IDF attack in Rafah to pursue “high-value” Hamas targets, the administration has yet to show that it will allow the IDF to defeat Hamas in Rafah and in Gaza generally.
In fact, a recent intelligence report released by the Biden administration further undermines Israel’s war in Gaza, basically writing off Israel’s right to defend itself as pointless. Specifically, the report predicts that “Israel probably will face lingering armed resistance from Hamas for years to come, and the military will struggle to neutralize Hamas’s underground infrastructure, which allows insurgents to hide, regain strength, and surprise Israeli forces.” Interestingly, while the report notes that the Israeli public “broadly supports” Hamas’ destruction, the report does not endorse these views on behalf of the US defense establishment.
The report also equivocates the October 7 attack and Israel’s response to that attack, stating that both have “increased tensions throughout the region as Iranian proxies and partners conduct anti-U.S. and anti-Israel attacks, both in support of Hamas and to pressure the United States.”
Conditioning Aid
While maintaining that “[t]here’s no red line [in which] I’m going to cut off all weapons so that they don’t have the Iron Dome [missile defense system] to protect them,” President Biden is reportedly in fact mulling conditioning future aid to Israel if Israel goes forward with an invasion of Rafah. Israel Bernie Sanders, along with Elizabeth Warren and six other Democratic senators have called on President Biden to suspend military aid to Israel, which includes “assistance for missile defense, such as the Iron Dome, or other defensive system.” The letter calls on military aid to Israel to be conditioned on Israel “immediately and dramatically expand[ing] humanitarian access and facilitat[ing] safe aid deliveries throughout Gaza.” Such calls sound eerily similar to Sanders’ and AOC’s 2019 support of cutting Israeli aid as a means to pressure the Jewish state.
Trying to Overthrow Bibi
The Biden administration has telegraphed that it wants to see Netanyahu’s government overthrown. A “serious administration figure” has reportedly asked an Israeli expert what it would take to force the collapse of Netanyahu’s government. Additionally, the intelligence report mentioned above states that:
Netanyahu’s viability as leader as well as his governing coalition of far-right and ultra-orthodox parties that pursued hardline policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in jeopardy. Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections. A different, more moderate government is a possibility.
In response, a “very senior official” in Israel, described in Israeli media as “the most senior Israeli political source you can imagine,” (i.e., most likely Netanyahu) stated that Israel is an independent democracy that elects its own government and not a “protectorate of the US,” and called for “our friends” to help to “overthrow the terror regime of Hamas and not the elected government of Israel.”
Israel should continue to resist counter-productive forces trying to stymie its war effort, and pursue total victory of Hamas. Only then can there be durable peace between Gaza and Israel.
