Is President Biden complicit in Israel’s war crimes?
It pains me to ask the question, in part because an insecure and demented man, who consistently polls evenly with or better than Biden, is set to run away with the Republican nomination.
If Biden does not rise to the occasion fast, and pull the plug on Israel’s massacre of the Palestinians, that could leave the Nation to choose in November between an accomplice to war crimes and an insurrectionist. That neither has been convicted does not alter what we all know.
One irony is that Donald Trump is closer than Biden to Netanyahu, and could hardly care less about the Palestinians. But that might not keep millions of Americans from voting for a third party candidate. I especially have in mind Muslims, young voters, and liberal Jews who have long believed that Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinians is a betrayal of their Jewish heritage.
Biden has repeatedly called on the Israeli government to take greater care to spare civilians in its war. Early on he may have forestalled a preemptive Israeli attack on Hezbollah. He talks about getting on with a two state solution. He has criticized the “indiscriminate bombing” and sent his Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense to Israel to ask the government to consider scaling down its war. He has pushed for humanitarian pauses in the war.
But twice last month, with no sign of let-up in Netanyahu’s “mighty vengeance”, the Biden administration bypassed Congress to rush offensive weaponry to Israel.
Biden’s defenders will say that he had no choice, with his request for $14.3 billion in military assistance to Israel stalled in Congress. But it is clear that the Israeli government has no internal mechanism to restrain itself. At the outset of Israel’s reprisal, Biden could have placed firm conditions on aid that growing numbers of legislators are calling for.
The message received in Tel Aviv is clear: Don’t worry about our qualms, proceed with your plans.
It might be different if the civilian toll was far less, and if it were possible to eradicate Hamas by military means. But we all should know that is not possible. The President and his many advisors have been around long enough to know that Hamas or something even worse will survive. Presumably they are familiar with America’s misadventures in the Muslim world.
Biden and his advisors are fully aware that this mass slaughter will send thousands of more Palestinians to the recruiting offices of Hamas.
And when Hamas so clearly intends a fight to the finish, what sort of foolishness is willing to oblige that?
What part of this disaster is President Biden missing?
Middle East policy veteran Dennis Ross cautions that putting conditions on our military aid to Israel could backfire, leaving Israelis convinced that they will have to go it alone.
Really? It seems that freezing military aid would tell the Israelis they better try a different strategy. Hamas is not especially popular in Gaza; it would be no trick to undermine the terrorist group politically.
How about taking seriously Palestinian aspirations for self-determination and security? For starters, Israel could reverse its settlement policy. There are plenty of Jews who still take to heart the warnings of the prophets, that those who ignore justice and oppress others may not be long for this world.
There is no peace without justice. It’s time we get that in our heads.
Please get the word to Washington.
Update. On December 30, 2023, the Associated Press reported that in the previous 24 hours another 165 Gazans were killed, bringing the total deaths accounted for to 21,672, with an additional 56,165 wounded. If 70 percent of those deaths have been women and children, unlikely hardcore militants, we can estimate that something like 120 to 150 of those 165 killed were innocent, assuming from Hamas’ poor polling that even most men are not hardcore militants.
The number 165 is about half of the daily toll for the first half of the war. The brutality of the October 7 Hamas attack notwithstanding, including horrific sexual violence (despite Hamas denials), the Israeli response has flagrantly violated international law. This is indisputable. Just as indisputable is America’s complicity in this colossal war crime.
Get Real with Israel 