on September 29 Jake Sullivannational security advisor US President Joe Bidenhe declared at a conference: “The Middle East region is calmer today than it has been for twenty years.” Sullivan moved out satisfaction And passion for victory With the visible fruits of the Democratic Administration betting for the regionUS-backed negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Israelstandardization“relationships and”Regional integration“, a path following the Abraham Accords, which has already signed agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan under Donald Trump’s mandate, and which Biden aims to do the same stop iran Like China’s advances.
Sullivan also turned around and realized that his analysis needed to be emphasized “for now” because Everything can change“And eight days later, everything actually changed.
attack Hamas inside Israel Last Saturday and the strong military response by the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu launched the worst crisis in the region in decades. Biden strategybasically He ignored the Palestinian problem and he didn’t park but he didn’t do either There is nothing to encourage a two-state solutionshown defective. And now, Just over a year until the 2024 presidential electionsgets to test all foreign policy After Trump’s unilateralism and isolationism, Biden’s commitment to multilateralism but now add this crisis to the crisis it opened. Russia’s war in Ukraine waves Tensions with China.
Full Backup
Biden parked after Hamas attack Differences with Netanyahuespecially because it is controversial judicial reformTo increase the power of political parties extreme religious right and by Expand settlements in the West Bank. Since they met in the 1980s, when Netanyahu was serving at the Israeli embassy in Washington, then when he was Barack Obama’s vice president and watched him try to undermine the Iran nuclear deal, and finally when he came to the Oval Office. The relationship between the two was strainedThe fact that it took Biden months to call the prime minister, that he has not yet received him at the White House, and that he had his first meeting with him in September during the United Nations General Assembly in New York shows this.
Biden, who March assured Israelis “cannot continue on this path”“, he has repeatedly expressed with his words and actions in recent days. Strong and unequivocal support for Israel. It has already deployed the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford and its fleet and will add Dwight Eisenhower’s second strike group within the next two weeks. Ha expedited shipment of equipment and ammunition To Israel, a country visited every year $3.8 billion in military aid. and sent it to him Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Although Biden and his envoys have talked about respecting international humanitarian law, for now They do not emphasize the demand for control To Israel for its attacks in Gaza and yes to its right to defend itself. And the president who has He compared Hamas to the Islamic Statewon applause From the voices given these praises so little, Republican Jewish Coalitionwith ties to the Republican party and its biggest donors or David Friedman Trump’s Ambassador to Israel and what he saidextraordinary “moral, tactical, diplomatic and military support”“.
Multiple challenges
The challenges facing Biden are many. There Americans between hostages This is what Hamas stands for. HE greater fear is to open a New front with Hezbollah and let regional conflict that may be faced United States of America with Iran. Although Management is confident it can be reactivated Talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Currently, Riyadh is not responding to Washington’s calls to condemn Hamas’ actions, and experts such as Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies believe: “All normalization efforts in the near future are paralyzed“.
As the conflict drags on and Palestinian civilian casualties And human tragedyThe harder it will be for Biden to maintain unwavering support for Israel from allies. James Steinberg, dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of International Studies who worked in the Obama and Bill Clinton administrations, assured that the biggest diplomatic challenge right now is support, not support. focus on what happens when it’s over. “The challenge is how you reaffirm Israel and clearly send a tough message to Hamas and Iran without leading to escalation,” he told The Atlantic.
who is Biden Reactivated contributions to the UN agency in 2021 Providing humanitarian aid to Palestinians frozen by Trump (with US help) $150 million who joined others 75 million for economic and development aid to Gaza and the West Bank), was also able to rely on a r so farMost conciliatory and solid support for Israel within the Democratic Party more than is customary in education. Because in recent years, voices that dare to question Israel and highlight the Palestinian cause have increased; It’s a turn reminiscent of a movement that’s also taking place at the grassroots level. According to the research conducted by Gallup for the first time in March More Democrats sympathize with Palestinians than Israelis (49% vs 38%).
The crisis also comes at: Radical polarization in the USA And election campaign. Ultra-conservative Republican voices are pressuring Biden to stick to his support for Israel no matter what (even though approving any new aid has become absolutely impossible as Republican chaos has paralyzed Congress, leaving the Lower House without a speaker ). For example, Senator Tom Cotton said: “If he can be president stand by Ukraine no matter how long it takes I hope so same as israel“.
Republican candidates Like Senator Tim Scott, he called Biden ” blood on hands“Linking Hamas attack without evidence” $6 billion humanitarian aid to Iran that the US unlocked as part of a deal to release five Americans (although this Thursday Washington and Qatar once again freeze Tehran’s access to these funds).
Only former president is Republicans’ overwhelming favorite in 2024 embersBy doing this these days, he did Biden a voter favor. Controversial statements criticizing Netanyahu and Israeli intelligence and praising Hezbollah This brought him criticism from across the political spectrum.