President Biden’s full throated early support – both vocally and military aid-wise – for Israel’s avowed goal of eliminating Hamas’ role in Gaza following the Oct. 7 pogrom was critical to Israel’s pursuing it. However, bowing to Arab world pressure over mounting Palestinian casualties, he soon watered down his important support, although it continues. Thus, while Mr. Biden always duly lamented the collateral civilian deaths, he was careful also to cite Hamas’ policy of using civilian shields as the primary cause and emphasize Israel’s right – nee duty – to defend its citizens, by making sure it wouldn’t happen again. All in the name of getting rid of Hamas.
Inconsistently, though, he has lately taken to suggesting that IDF operational imperatives must take a back seat to the safety of Palestinian civilians which, under the circumstances, practically guarantees a lingering Hamas presence in Gaza. Indeed, his diplomats have recently urged Israel to curtail their military actions in Gaza.
To be sure, he has rarely directly accused Israel of excessive force – except perhaps for his one quickly walked back gaffe that Israel engaged in “indiscriminate bombing.” But his cautions to Israel make virtually the same point. And on top of this the President is also calling on Israel to support a post-war Gaza controlled by the unpopular, corrupt and ineffective Palestinian Authority, to be included in a future Palestinian state alongside Israel. Has he forgotten how the pathetic PA was eclipsed by the ideologically driven Hamas zealots the first time around?
Further, the Biden team obviously knows that Iran is pathologically opposed to the existence of Israel and that its proxies – Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi’s – are currently doing its business in this regard on the front lines. Do they think that Iran will somehow now tolerate a Jewish state to continue to exist? Yet, incongruously, the President has eased economic sanctions against Israel and unfrozen billions of dollars’ worth of their assets.
And in the broader sense, how can it be that while he has supported Israel against Hamas and taken direct action against Hezbollah and more recently, the Houthis, he has largely ignored Iran despite its being their sponsor and enabler and with a history of provocations all is own?
We are not unmindful that directly confronting Iran would substantially move the goal posts, and the U.S. is hardly interested in that. Iran does not seem interested in anything of the sort either. In a long analysis on Monday, the New York Times quotes American and European diplomats and other officials to the effect that Iran has pushed its proxies to make trouble for the American military, to pressure Israel, the West, and the shipping lanes of the Red Sea, while going to some lengths to avoid provoking anything more serious.
It is also believed that although Hezbollah and the Houthis have been involved actual military operations against the U.S. and Israel, they too are said to be content with the current level of confrontation, and in any event would take their cues from Iran which now has the best of both worlds.
What we find fascinating is, despite its engagement in the region, the silence of the U.S. about the reported progress in Iran’s nuclear program. It wasn’t too long ago that the Biden Administration declared that it would do everything necessary to prevent Iran from getting the bomb. Yet dealing with it after the fact is obviously a far bigger deal than before it happens. And the consequences for the Middle East in particular would be tectonic.
In sum, the Biden Middle East policy is a hodgepodge of inconsistencies and unrealistic judgments. It’s time for a serious review.
