Is Biden willing to exploit US influence over Israel?

WASHINGTON – When the president Joe Biden Saying he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, his blunt language raised a natural question:

Would this attack, even if it were a tragic mistake, lead him to impose conditions? Of the weapons sent to Israel?

The White House has so far remained silent on whether Biden’s anger is bringing the prime minister to a breaking point. Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom all interactions were tense. According to a senior Biden administration official, the two will speak today.

But at least in public, Biden has limited his responses to increasingly angry statements.

Launching a bombing campaign in the southern city of Rafah would cross a “red line,” Biden insisted, without outlining the consequences.

The attack on the convoy Central World Cuisine It is further evidence that Israel “has not done enough to protect aid workers,” he said Tuesday, without specifying how it should change its behavior.

“I hope this is the moment the president changes course,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., one of Biden’s most enthusiastic supporters, who for months has pushed for conditions on U.S.-supplied weapons.

“Netanyahu ignored the president’s requests, yet we sent 2,000-pound bombs with no restrictions on their use.”

“We shouldn’t send pumps first and wait for some guarantees afterwards”, he concluded.

Conditions

Conditions on how American weapons are used are typically standard, some imposed by Congress and others by the president or secretary of state.

TO UkraineFor example, it is not allowed to launch American-made weapons against Russia, and although it has generally complied with the measures, there is still an ongoing debate within the administration over whether to deliver more powerful missiles to Kiev in case Congress approved an aid package.

But Israel has always been the exception.

Even when Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, gave an impassioned speech calling for new elections in Israel (a clear attempt to unseat Netanyahu), he refused to call for gun limits.

Pressed the next day, Schumer said he didn’t even want to discuss the issue.

There are other measures that Biden may require.

The United States, for example, could insist on aid convoys escorted by the Israeli military, or that nearby Israeli military units remain in constant communication with aid providers, an issue that two U.S. senators raised with Netanyahu in February.

The prime minister, one participant said, told an aide at the meeting that in his opinion the problems related to the safe passage of food and medicine had already been resolved.

But he assured Senators Chris Coons of Delaware and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, both Democrats, that he would raise the issue with his military commanders.

Monday’s attack suggests that these problems were never fully resolved.

Pressed by reporters on Wednesday about Biden’s thoughts on the issue, John KirbyThe White House spokesperson for national security highlighted to reporters the president’s statement condemning the attack on aid workers.

“I think you could hear the frustration in that statement yesterday,” Kirby said.

Biden’s defense secretary Lloyd Austinhe reiterated this frustration in a phone call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday, marking a significant shift in tone from previous conversations with his Israeli counterpart that the Pentagon summarized.

Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said Austin “expressed outrage over the Israeli attack” and “underlined the need to immediately take concrete measures to protect aid workers and Palestinian civilians in Gaza after repeated failures.” help.” groups”.

Austin also told Gallant that the attack reinforced U.S. concerns about the possible military campaign in Rafah.

Orders

On the day of the attack, Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivanand the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkenheld a previously scheduled conversation with Israeli officials via secure video.

Kirby said the Americans urged the Israelis to have a comprehensive plan to evacuate the 1.5 million refugees in the Rafah region.

He also said talks would continue on “what Rafah looks like now and what their intentions are for operations against the Hamas battalions that are still there.”

Although Kirby did not say, officials familiar with those discussions said the United States still feared that the Israelis did not have a credible plan for a full evacuation, a process they said could take months.

But officials noted that Netanyahu has not yet launched the Rafah attacks, perhaps because Israeli forces are nowhere near ready, or perhaps because of American pressure.

There were other moments in the six months following the October 7 Hamas terror attacks when the United States hit a wall in its relationship with Netanyahu and when declarations of common goals failed to hide the fact that the two countries are profoundly disagree on how to wage war.

But the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy, one of the most successful efforts to prevent famine in Gaza, may have been a breaking point for Biden.

I personally know the famous Hispanic-American chef behind the operation, José Andréswhose restaurants in Washington are regularly frequented by the city’s powerful.

Biden called the chef on Tuesday, shortly before Andrés published a guest essay The New York Times declaring that “Israel is better than the way this war is being fought.”

“It’s better than blocking civilian access to food and medicine,” he continued. “It is better than killing aid workers who had coordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces.”

But Biden consistently it doesn’t break openly with Netanyahu, a confrontation he says will only make the prime minister harder to manage, his advisers say. The result is that Biden finds himself in a box, criticized by the progressive wing of his party – and increasingly by moderates – for acting too cautiously and not wanting to be perceived as limiting Israel’s ability to defend itself.

Indeed, it left a bad taste among some of Biden’s critics that the president’s most visceral expression of anger at Israel’s military campaign came with the killing of seven foreign aid workers rather than the deaths of the many thousands of Palestinian civilians who preceded them.

“For me, the language of outrage is noteworthy because it is the furthest he has gone in his language, but it is also noteworthy that he has only gone this far when it comes to Western aid workers “said Yousef Munayyer, head of the humanitarian organization. Palestine Israel Program at the Arab Center in Washington DC

“Of course it’s scandalous,” he added, referring to the latest incident, “but we’ve seen these types of attacks repeatedly and the White House doesn’t appear to be outraged by it.”

Munayyer said the disparity is especially glaring given Biden’s reputation for personal compassion.

“He presented himself as this empathetic leader; that’s the great quality about him,” Munayyer said.

“And yet, when it comes to Palestinian life, it seems unable show empathy towards the Palestinians.”

Bell

In recent weeks, Biden has tried divorce his campaign to pressure Israel about its power, if it chooses to use it, to limit the country’s arms supply.

Indeed, some veteran diplomats doubted whether it was time to change Biden’s approach, despite his strong words.

“You would think that outrage would translate into a strong political response, but so far that doesn’t appear to be the case,” said Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former ambassador to Israel.

“Despite Israeli apologies, this attack will substantially increase pressure on aid providers and thus worsen the humanitarian situation.”

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