An article in the Washington Post reported that the international support that Israel received following the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7 turned into anger and accusations of the occupying state of committing war crimes.

According to the article's author, Karen DeYoung, the Washington Post's chief correspondent for national security affairs, many believe that the United States' support for the Israeli military campaign morally exposes the American administration, as it appeared complicit in the destruction and death that befell the Gaza Strip, according to the newspaper.

US President Joe Biden found himself stuck, at home, between members of the Republican Party demanding that he support Israel at all costs, and increasing numbers of Democratic Party supporters urging him to stop the steady sending of weapons to Israel, according to Karen DeYoung.

It quoted US administration officials as saying that things would have gotten worse if they had not succeeded in pressing for changes in Israeli warfare methods and convincing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to lift the ban imposed by his government on bringing food, water and fuel supplies into the Gaza Strip.

Internal problems

The writer stated that the ruling right-wing coalition in Israel, led by Netanyahu, is facing internal problems, adding that most Israelis, “who are filled with anger and shock” at the Hamas attacks, want to see Gaza destroyed.

But many Israelis also blame their prime minister for those attacks in the first place, and accuse him of failing prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance.

In her article, Young provided a historical overview of the United States’ positions in support of Israel since its founding in May 1948, when it was the first country in the world to recognize it.

However, the author says that the circumstances of the current conflict, the devastation it has caused in Gaza, and the length of the war are all developments that shed a bright light on the restrictions that Washington may have thought it had to control Israel’s actions.

Aaron David Miller, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former diplomat, believes that the influence of any outside party - including one that theoretically has a huge amount of influence over Israel - remains limited.

He said that "the Middle East is still, in fact, under the influence of the remaining influence of the great powers, which believed that they could restrain" the actions of the countries of the region.

American commitment to Israel

According to the Washington Post article, there are many factors that make the situation in the region unique, as it is said that the US President has a firm and deep-rooted commitment to Israel, dating back to his early membership in the Senate, regardless of his complex relationship with Netanyahu.

In contrast to Washington's previous interventions to achieve peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the United States has no influence at all on the Hamas movement, according to Young.

De Jong continues that the conflicting pressures that have afflicted American politics since the outbreak of the current crisis were evident in two simultaneous events, namely Biden’s first visit after the war - specifically on October 18 - in which he met with Netanyahu to show Washington’s support for him, while reminding him that “democracies like Israel "The United States is stronger and safer when we act according to the rule of law."

The second event - according to the article - that coincided with that visit, was that the United States was the only country that objected to the UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire, using its veto power.

De Jong noted in her article that the content of the US administration’s appeals to Israel changed, six months after the fighting in Gaza, from reprimand to anger-filled resentment.

Despite all this, the White House clings to hope that a truce can be reached in the fighting, and evidence of this is the presence of senior Israeli and American intelligence officials in Cairo to continue negotiating a new temporary ceasefire, allowing the release of prisoners, and allowing more aid to enter Gaza. .

Source: Washington Post + Al Jazeera