Team Biden’s headline rhetoric — slamming Hamas’ barbaric attacks and backing Israel — has been excellent. Yet observers across the spectrum are already seeing reason for think Washington will go wobbly before the Israeli Defenses Forces finishes their job.
President Joe Biden has largely kept his vow, “The United States has Israel’s back,” by supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, sending two carrier strike groups to the region, warning other nations to butt out and promising to provide Jerusalem whatever it needs.
Yet even before the launch of Israel’s expected ground offensive, Biden already had hinted (several times!) at the need for restraint.
And apparently applied pressure, too.
Washington’s goal, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan noted Sunday, is to ensure “innocent Palestinians get access to . . . basic necessities and are protected from bombardment.”
Plus, Biden on Sunday warned, “It would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again,” as if Jerusalem has any desire to, though the IDF must temporarily take territory to eradicate Hamas.
And this followed his claim: “Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people.” Huh? All of Hamas is “extreme”; it’s dedicated to Israel’s destruction.
And a Washington Institute for Near East Policy poll last summer found an overwhelming majority (58%) of Gazans had a “somewhat” or “very” positive view of the terrorist group.
Biden has also repeatedly warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to violate the “rules of war.”
Yet Israel never targets civilians; it goes out of its way to protect them.
After giving Gazans 24 hours to evacuate, it repeatedly extended the deadline.
(Hamas, by contrast, has tried to stop evacuations — to use its own people as human shields.)
Biden & Co. know the Israeli operation they claim to back will inflict major pain on civilians in Gaza — and that forcing the IDF to show excessive “restraint” risks the operation’s failure, leaving Hamas alive to perpetrate more atrocities down the road.
Again, by the laws of war, Hamas — by using civilians as shields — bears the responsibility for Gazans’ suffering and loss of life.
The terrorists laugh at the idea of restraint: America’s leaders mustn’t get suckered into letting them use it as an added shield.