Biden’s capitulation to Netanyahu is a betrayal of his values
Gideon Levy, HaaretzAugust 21
(DeepL translation)
Only a few hours separated Antony Blinken and Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting in Jerusalem and the American president’s moving and impressive speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. But the distance between Joe Biden’s sublime words and his Secretary of State’s capitulation is inconceivable.
In Chicago, the president banged his fist on the lectern with determination and conviction: “We are working around the clock to fiercely and with conviction: “We’re working around the clock […] deliver humanitarian health and food aid to Gaza […] and finally, finally, finally, get a ceasefire and end this war,” he said with uncharacteristic pathos. Yet just hours earlier, Mr. Blinken had done the exact opposite: He aligned himself with Netanyahu, acting as a thoroughly dishonest proxy, ensuring the war and the atrocities would continue and refusing a ceasefire and the return of the hostages.
The American capitulation to Netanyahu is the cause. The distance between Biden’s rhetoric and Blinken’s diplomacy could not be greater or more painful.
Not that the secretary of state doesn’t share the president’s noble goals. But what happened during his visit here was nothing short of astonishing: Israel said what it thought the broad outlines should be, and the United States toed the line to say that Israel agreed, so that it could blame Hamas and buy quiet until the November elections.
Less than two days have passed, and the optimism that the United States spread like confetti has been replaced by reports that the negotiations have reached an impasse. the optimism the United States sprinkled like confetti was replaced by reports that the talks had stalled. America may have wanted a deal, but it did everything it could to thwart it. It praised a deal, but did not even consider putting real pressure on Israel, with actions, not words.
This raises the almost eternal question, which has no answer: What is going on here? What is behind the puzzling behavior of the United States? Who is the superpower and who is the client state?
Either America does not want war in Gaza and is horrified by its destruction – and in that case it knows exactly what it must do and how to pressure Israel effectively – or it wants war. Judging by its behavior, America wants war and genocide. Its hands are already dipped in the blood of Gaza. Those hands are Israeli hands, but the weapons are made in the United States, as is the diplomatic support, which is also unconditional.
Mr. Biden is approaching the end of his term in almost spectacular fashion, and he will be remembered as a benevolent president. He can also boast of many accomplishments; the war in Gaza is not one of them. He will always be criticized for that. He could have stopped it long ago. He didn’t, and even now, when everything is already hopeless, he is letting Blinken surrender to Netanyahu’s demands. Netanyahu’s demands.
He who opposes a war does not arm one side to the teeth. He who wants to end a dangerous and unjust war ends the supply of arms or at least conditions it on measures that will lead to its end. He who wants to stop a war does not use his veto power to protect those who want to continue it until the end of time. He who arms and protects wants the war to continue. Biden’s emotional words, which were surely sincere, make no sense when it comes to his administration’s arms and aid policy.
Blinken should have stubbornly stuck to the original proposal. The current proposal, according to reports, allows Israel to resume the war after a brief lull, not release dozens of prisoners, and, most importantly, not withdraw the Israel Defense Forces from the Gaza Strip. There is no deal without all of these elements, and it is impossible to demand that Hamas accept them. That is not how you end a war, that is how you inflame it, Mr. President. You have betrayed the exalted values that you surely continue to believe in.
