In a new Time magazine interview, Joe Biden is asked whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war against Hamas for political reasons. “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion,” the president contends.
Boy, I would love to hear the audio of this interview, because even the “lightly edited” transcript has the president struggling to cobble together coherent thoughts. Here is the full answer from Biden:
I’m not going to comment on that. There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion. And I would cite tha as — before the war began, the blowback he was getting from the Israeli military for wanting to change the constitu — change the court. And so it’s an internal domestic debate that seems to have no consequence. And whether he would change his position or not, it’s hard to say, but it has not been helpful.
Or, in other words, Biden is blaming Netanyahu for prolonging a war that he won’t let Israel finish. Hamas would have been effectively gone if it weren’t for the administration.
Does Biden not recall that last month he “warned” Netanyahu against any major Rafah offensive that would have effectively dismantled remaining Hamas battalions holed up behind human shields? Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett that if Israel invaded the city the U.S. would stop supplying Israel with offensive and precision weapons. Surely this was the first time in history a president tried to stop an ally from destroying a terrorist organization. And not just any terror organization, but one that murdered, sexually tortured, kidnapped — and likely still holds — American citizens.
Does Biden not recall sending Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “warn” Netanyahu not to launch an assault on Rafah? How about National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who also “warned” Israel against an invasion of Rafah? Does he not recall top Middle East expert, Vice President Kamala Harris, insisting that Israel’s invasion of Rafah was “huge mistake” and warning that there would be “consequences?”
If this is the public pressure, you can imagine what was going on in private. Biden claimed that Israel had no plan to protect civilians. So, Israel came up with one and sent it to Biden. It began allowing supplies to enter Gaza, which were immediately stolen by Hamas, as everyone paying attention predicted. Then Israel began moving civilians out of the area, attempting to isolate and destroy the terror organization. That still wasn’t enough.
Now, Biden is treating Hamas and Israel as moral equals involved in a legitimate land dispute, concocting “ceasefire” deals that would allow the entity that started the war to retrench and survive. The very notion that these eliminationist theocrats are going to abide by peace deals is preposterous. Even as of this writing, the president is floating a deal that would necessitate the IDF pulling out of Gaza while the parties continue to negotiate to try and save the civilians that Hamas tortured and kidnapped.
Hamas keeps rejecting these overtures, by the way, and the president keeps blaming Netanyahu. “Endless conflict in Gaza in pursuit of some idea of total victory is not going to make Israel safer,” lectured State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. This administration is teeming with unserious people.
Biden is, as Obama was, far more interested in getting rid of the Israeli prime minister than he is in eliminating Hamas or weakening Iran. You may recall prominent Jewish politician Chuck Schumer doing Biden’s dirty work by explicitly calling for new elections in a foreign democracy. Like many things Democrats do these days, it was unprecedented. For all the grousing about foreign interference in American democracy, Democrats have little compunction attempting to dictate the leadership of other countries. Well, some countries. Not Iran. Israel.
It’s also quite telling that Biden accidentally claims that Netanyahu is prolonging the war because he was involved in a debate over the “constitu,” which doesn’t exist in Israel and is the central problem with the system. There is no genuine separation of powers and the court acts unilaterally and without any enshrined legal guidelines. That was the debate. Free nations often have contentious debates.
The problem for Biden is that there is no coalition or major party in the Jewish State that can afford to capitulate to Hamas and Iran. There is a unity government. The Israeli war council has the leader of the opposition party on it. As widespread fires sparked by Hezbollah missiles rage in the north and Iran points its missiles from the east, Israelis see this as a moment of survival. If voters in Israel change their minds, there is a process that allows them to bring about a new election at any time.
But what’s most galling about Biden’s comment is that he doesn’t want Netanyahu to finish the war. He wants Israel to end hostilities without achieving its goal so he can mollify the pro-Hamas faction in his party in the lead-up to the 2024 election.