Biden's double game acknowledged
This Washington Post article confirms what’s been obvious for almost two weeks: Joe Biden is playing a double game when it comes to the war between Israel and Hamas. Biden uses public pronouncements of support for Israel’s effort to destroy Hamas as cover for his private pressure on Israel to eschew measures necessary for that destruction.
Here’s how the Post puts it:
In public, President Biden and his top officials have indicated support for a planned ground offensive if Israel concludes that that is its best move, while adding that they are asking “tough questions” about the idea. The private advice is a significant departure from the administration’s public posture, and it is a distinct shift from the administration’s position in the days immediately after the Hamas attack inside Israel. . . .
Right.
What, though, is Biden’s private advice to Israel? According to the Post, Biden’s advice is that instead of an invasion of Gaza, the Israelis should “opt for a more ‘surgical’ operation using aircraft and special operations forces carrying out precise, targeted raids on high-value Hamas targets and infrastructure.” This, according to “five U.S. officials familiar with the discussions” between the Biden administration and the Israeli government. (I guess that private advice isn’t so private any longer.)
But the danger Hamas poses to Israel can’t be eliminated through the “narrowly tailored” methods Biden recommends. That danger will remain unless the terrorist outfit’s weaponry is destroyed; its vast web of tunnels is eliminated; and its foot soldiers are killed or captured (preferably killed).
None of this can be accomplished with “surgical” operations against high-value Hamas targets and infrastructure. That approach is similar to what Israel has attempted in response to past aggression by Hamas. It didn’t work then and it won’t work now.
All Hamas targets and infrastructure must be destroyed if Israel is to end, at least for a decent interval, the threat from Gaza. And this can only be accomplished through a full-scale invasion.
Sure, there are disadvantages to Israel associated with such an invasion. The Israelis are smart enough to know what these disadvantages are, but I have no problem with Biden pointing them out — as I’m sure he and his team have done ad nauseum by now.
But even Biden must understand the inadequacy of the alternative he’s proposing. The U.S. operation against ISIS, which began when Biden was Vice President, was not limited to surgical strikes against high value targets and infrastructure. Instead, the U.S. used boots on the ground to attack the ISIS “Caliphate.” And remember, that Caliphate posed less of a threat to the U.S. than Hamas poses to Israel.
Under President Trump, the mission against ISIS was accomplished. ISIS wasn’t destroyed — it still exists. However, it was driven out of the large territory it controlled and its terrorists were dealt an enormous blow.
This is what Israel apparently has decided it needs to do to Hamas in Gaza. Now that the war-time government has heard Team Biden’s arguments and attempted to answer its questions, it would be nice if Biden returned to his initial stance in this war — that “Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Full stop” — and adhere to that stance both in public and in private.