Saving Biden or Netanyahu?

Various comments were quick to welcome President Joe Biden's criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, Israeli crimes, and what the US president called "indiscriminate bombing" in the war on Gaza. Israeli retaliation in response to the Hamas operation, which led to the killing of 1,200 Israeli civilians and soldiers, exceeded all the rules of “self-defense,” and Biden was forced to say that these actions were beginning to harm Israel’s image in the world and make it lose international sympathy.

The comments went in search of motives for Biden’s criticism, and whether it stems from concern for the image of Israel and its Prime Minister Netanyahu, or is it from concern for the image of the United States, whose position in support of Israel has faced international criticism, as was evident from its isolation in the United Nations General Assembly after it voted against a resolution “Not binding” on the ceasefire, and it was the only country that voted with a veto on the same resolution in the Security Council, and it became accused by broad Arab circles of “participating” in the war on Gaza through its full support and provision of weapons to Israel.

Biden expressed full sympathy for the Israeli operation in Gaza, and supported its goals of eliminating the Hamas movement and recovering the hostages that the movement took in its attack on October 7, despite the acknowledgment by American strategic experts who served in previous administrations of the difficulty of recovering the hostages without a ceasefire, as well as the difficulty of eliminating Hamas based on the experiences of past wars with it. Biden also provided Israel with the weapons and ammunition it requested and requested additional exceptional budgets from Congress for this.

That political and military cover is what made it easier for Israel to continue the war. During the past two months, it was clear the extent of the destruction being inflicted on the Gaza Strip, and the high numbers of civilian casualties, most of whom were women and children, who the Israeli newspaper Haaretz estimated constituted two-thirds of the death toll. The goals of the Netanyahu government were known and declared in this war, which were not limited to revenge against Hamas or the recovery of hostages. Netanyahu openly aimed to empty the Gaza Strip of its residents and displace them to Egypt via the Rafah crossing, a goal that was not achieved as a result of the Egyptian government’s courageous and strong stance against this plan. Netanyahu’s positions rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state and his boasting that he was the only politician in Israel capable of preventing it were well-known, and President Biden knew them just as he knew Netanyahu’s rejection of the Oslo Accords, and the insistence of his government, which includes fascists and extremists, to expand settlement in “Judea and Samaria” so as to ensure the impossibility of establishing it. Palestinian state.

Therefore, it is difficult to say that it was new policies of the Israeli government that prompted Biden to direct his recent and frank criticism of its racist members, whom he described as the most extremist in the history of Israel. For this reason, Biden's statements seem directed at the voting base in the United States in the last year of his term, and as part of his preparation for the renewal battle against Donald Trump, more than they aim to rescue Netanyahu from his predicament and seek a solution to the long conflict with the Palestinians. The reactions to the war in Gaza and to the images of child victims, the destruction of homes, and people being thrown into tents in the rain, all of this began to push the ranks of the Democratic Party in the United States to raise their voice against the support provided by Biden and his administration for Israel’s campaign against Gaza. Polls indicate that 63 percent of Democratic Party voters reject Biden's policy, while some of them tend to abstain from voting, or vote for independent candidates, or for Trump, which constitutes a major loss for Biden in states where Arab and Muslim communities constitute a significant size of the voters, such as Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Florida, and others.

It is difficult for Biden's recent statements to change the positions of members of these communities, especially since it is unlikely that his criticisms will fall on deaf ears among Israelis. Netanyahu, his foreign minister, and military leaders were quick to confirm that the war on Gaza was continuing “with or without international support.” They know that Biden is in the final year of his term, and that he needs Jewish votes in the United States more than they need him, even though prominent figures among the American Jewish community criticize Netanyahu’s policies, and are aware of the extent of the harm they are causing to Jews with the rising wave of indiscriminate anti-Semitism. (Like all racist waves) among Jews who support Netanyahu or those who sympathize with the Palestinian cause from a moral and humanitarian standpoint.

Moreover, Biden's calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state or the revival of a negotiation process between the Palestinians and Israel do not constitute a concern for Netanyahu and his group. This is because Biden has not been concerned with this issue since he entered the White House, and his argument was that the Barack Obama administration, in which he was second-in-command, did not succeed in any positive action in this regard after Obama collided with Netanyahu and decided not to press for any settlement, Contrary to what previous Democratic presidents, such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, did.

Adding to Israel's lack of concern about any pressure that Biden could exert is that he is in the final year of his term, and pressure from American lawmakers has begun to surround him due to accusations that he used his position as Vice President during the Obama era to facilitate business deals and commissions for his son Hunter in China and Ukraine.

Hence, Biden's criticism seems directed at investing in the Democratic voter in the United States, who is dissatisfied with the absolute support for the war on Gaza. As for Israel's leaders, they are the last to be concerned about these criticisms, as Netanyahu said: "We will continue with what we are doing, and we do not care about all of that."