It’s a shame upon shame that it took the deaths of six foreigners in Gaza, humanitarian workers for the U.S.-based World Central Kitchen, to finally, maybe, shake President Biden to reconsider his acquiescence — his complicity — in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s apocalyptic war there.
By the time the convoy from chef José Andrés’ organization was annihilated by an Israeli drone strike last week — killing three Brits, a Pole, an Australian and a Canadian American, along with a Palestinian driver — nearly 33,000 Gazans were dead after six months of Israel’s pummeling, two-thirds of them women and children. More than a million more Gazans, half the strip’s population, have been displaced. Most of those refugees have targets on their backs, crowded as they are around Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, which Netanyahu says is next in his sights despite Biden’s talk of “red lines.”
There are two more casualties of Netanyahu’s war. The first is the global goodwill toward Israel in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists from Gaza savagely murdered 1,200 Israelis and took more than 240 hostages, many of whom remain in Hamas’ hands. And the second: the international standing of the United States, given Biden’s seemingly unquestioning support to date of Israel’s right-wing government.
That support is no longer unquestioned, at least. Not since Biden’s reportedly tense call with Netanyahu on Thursday in which we’re told the president demanded that Israel take “specific, concrete and measurable steps” to alleviate civilian suffering and deaths in Gaza. U.S. policy hinges on Israel’s response, Biden told the prime minister. Also, Israel must agree soon to another hostage exchange with Hamas. For the first time, Biden called for “an immediate cease-fire.”
Still, so far Biden’s words remain just that, words — which the self-regarding Netanyahu will likely dismiss.
For months “Bibi” has snubbed Biden’s admonitions to show restraint, to negotiate a hostage swap, to avoid a major assault on Rafah and to stop inhibiting the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which now faces famine and the collapse of medical care. But Netanyahu has paid no price for thumbing his nose at the nation that’s been Israel’s main defender, financial backer and arms supplier for a half-century.
On the same day as the World Central Kitchen bloodbath, Biden’s State Department reportedly authorized the transfer to Israel of thousands more bombs that Congress had approved long before the war against Hamas. The administration is now pressing Congress to approve the sale of F-15 fighter jets. The weaponry wouldn’t arrive in Israel for years, but that prospect means Netanyahu can wage war now knowing more materiel is in the pipeline.
When the U.S. sells Israel weapons, it does so without conditions; it is the only U.S. ally to get such a deal, and Biden could modify that immediately.
Only a day before Biden’s phone call with Netanyahu, national security spokesperson John F. Kirby told reporters the administration was planning no change in its support of Israel. But afterward, Kirby and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken publicly echoed Biden’s new message. As Blinken put it, “If we don’t see the changes that we need to see, there’ll be changes in our own policy.”
We’re left to wait and see. Martin Indyk, a former Middle East envoy and U.S. ambassador to Israel, predicted we won’t wait long. If Netanyahu doesn’t soon make some “dramatic moves,” he said, “Biden will be required by his own rhetoric to take sanctions.”
Note that Indyk said “dramatic moves.” That doesn’t describe Israel’s initial steps. On Friday, Netanyahu’s war Cabinet agreed to temporarily open a single new crossing for aid into northern Gaza and to use an Israeli port, Ashdod, to receive assistance. And the Israeli Defense Forces dismissed two officers for the attack on the aid convoy.
Biden, who fully two months ago said Israel’s military response to Oct. 7 was “over the top,” should not accept Band-Aid measures as compliance.
After a half-century at the center of U.S. foreign policy debates, Biden is steeped in this nation’s tradition of bipartisan, unwavering support for Israel, even though he’s experienced firsthand Netanyahu’s proclivity for driving a wedge between our two political parties and humiliating American presidents, especially Democrats.
President Clinton famously groused after being lectured by Netanyahu, “Who the f— does he think he is? Who’s the f— superpower here?” In 2015, Netanyahu brazenly addressed Congress at House Republicans’ invitation to oppose Obama’s multinational nuclear agreement with Iran. And five years earlier, Biden was Netanyahu’s victim, when Israel authorized new settlements in the West Bank, in violation of U.S. and international policy, just as the then-vice president arrived in Israel for an official visit.
It’s an open secret that Netanyahu would like his fellow right-wing narcissist Donald Trump to return to power; he justifiably assumes Trump would give him carte blanche in Gaza. To that end, Netanyahu welcomes the erosion of Biden’s support among Arab Americans and young voters because of the president’s backing for Israel.
Biden knows this, yet his support for Israel overrides his domestic political calculations. He also knows, however, that Netanyahu’s policies are not in Israel’s best interests, or the United States’. He can take actions without waiting for Netanyahu’s responses. Such as shelving for now the pending arms transfer and jet sales, or at a minimum, putting strict conditions on their use, as some senators have begun seeking. And getting Netanyahu’s assurance that Rafah won’t be razed and refugees there displaced yet again.
On Friday, Blinken said “the real test is results” in increased aid to Gaza. That’s essential but insufficient. If that’s all Thursday’s call accomplishes, it’s not enough.
Jackie Calmes is an opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times.