Is Biden Toning Down Support for Israel as Gaza Crisis Deepens?
© AFP 2023 JIM WATSON
Subscribe
Biden says that it would be a “big mistake” for Israel to occupy Gaza. The warning came as Israel tries to evacuate over a million Palestinians in north Gaza ahead of a possible ground assault.
US President Joe Biden will be paying a visit to Israel on Thursday to demonstrate his “steadfast support” for Israel amid Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military campaign in Gaza Strip in the wake of Palestinian movement Hamas attack on October 7.
The White House has said that Biden will also travel to Jordan to hold talks with King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“He will reiterate that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination and discuss the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza,” the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid his second visit to Tel Aviv in a week, holding talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.
According to US State Department, Blinken’s discussions focussed on “Israel’s right to defend itself” as well as “safety and protection” of civilians in Gaza and speedy release of 200-250 hostages held by Hamas
Significantly, the focus on safety and protection of Palestinian civilians, or re-affirmation of Palestinians’ right to self-determination, was missing from official American readouts in the immediate aftermath of IDF’s military campaign in Gaza.
However, there has been growing global criticism of Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip amid a rising death toll of Palestinian civilians and worsening humanitarian situation due to snapping of water and electricity, which was only restored in parts of south Gaza this week.
The UN has said that getting aid to Gaza is its top priortity. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that Israel’s directive asking over a million residents in northern Gaza to evacuate was a “death sentence” for over 2,000 hospital patients.
While the death toll in Israel due to Hamas attack has risen to over 1,400, close to 2,800 Palestinian civilians have been left dead in IDF airstrikes, which continue till date.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Netanyahu in a call on Tuesday that it was critical for the situation to “normalize” to prevent a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has also criticized Israel’s response, saying that it has gone “beyond the scope of self-defense”.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized Israel’s response as “disproportionate”.
Some North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies, including Belgium and Spain, have also urged Israel to respect international law.
‘De-Escalating Tensions in US’ Interest’: Strategic Affairs Analyst
Major General (retired) Shashi Bhushan Asthana, the Director of New Delhi-based think tank United Services Institution (USI) of India, told Sputnik India that “de-escalating” the situation in the Middle-East was in the “long-term strategic interest of the US”.
“The US is realizing that de-escalating the hostilities is in line with its long-term strategy towards the Middle-East. As far as Netanyahu is concerned, he is looking at short-term gains, which is to please his domestic constituency,” Asthana remarked.
The Indian Army veteran explained that Hamas has likely achieved its objectives behind the deadly attack against Israel.
“The aim appeared to provoke Israel beyond limits. It was also likely anticipated that the retaliatory IDF strikes in Gaza would result in civilian casualties among Palestinians. Hamas already seemed to have anticipated that Israel would respond very strongly, which it did. Moreover, the aim seems to have been to disrupt the Arab-Israel normalization process, or the Abraham Accords, which the US was trying to achieve,” he reckoned.
Asthana stressed that an IDF ground operation in Gaza would inevitably worsen the humanitarian situation and lead to “anti-Israel hatred” not just among future Palestinian generations but across the world, most prominently in Israel’s immediate neighbourhood.
He said that this would affect any prospects of Israel-Arab reconciliation.
Asthana expressed concern that the measure of IDF’s response was already “disproportionate”, in terms of death toll of innocent Palestinian civilians, including nearly 700 children and women.
“As a result of Israel’s actions, the casualties of innocent Palestinians killed in IDF strikes is almost double that of Israeli citizens killed in the Hamas attack. What’s happening now is that Israel is receiving criticism from across the world for its disproportionate response, including for violating international humanitarian obligations by blockading Gaza,” the Indian think-tanker stated.
US’ Support for Israel Focused on Preventing Escalation of Conflict: Asthana
Asthana reckoned that America’s military and logistical support for Israel was just aimed at keeping the conflict from expanding by keeping other regional players from joining from the side of Hamas and ensuring the recovery of hostages under Hamas’ custody.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has already warned that it would consider “pre-emptive measures” in view of an imminent ground assault in Gaza by IDF.
Besides stationing two aircraft carries in the Middle-East and Mediterranean region, the US is supplying Israel with air defense, precision-guided munitions, artillery, and medical supplies, Pentagon’s deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said on Tuesday.
“The US’ level of support is just meant to ensure that nobody else joins the conflict. At the same time, the US fully backs Israel’s right to defend itself against any attacks. So, air raids targeting Hamas hideouts falls within the purview of proportionate response,” Asthana said.
Asthana reckoned that the Biden administration officials would try and persuade Netanyahu to “see sense” on the dangers of carrying out a ground assault.
He assessed that “obliterating” Hamas, a stated goal of Israeli PM, was not achievable.
“As far as the US is concerned, it has learnt the lesson the hard way in Afghanistan. The US and allies entered Afghanistan to annihilate Al-Qaeda*, but it failed to do so even in 20 years and ultimately had to leave the country,” Asthana recalled.
In the context of Hamas, the Indian military expert noted that Hamas’ leadership was based in Qatar and other foreign countries.
“The US seems to have understood that Netanyahu’s rhetoric about destroying Hamas completely is a very dicey one. As IDF operations gets translated on the ground, what we are witnessing is that innocents are the worst sufferers. Invading Gaza by sending troops, as seems to be IDF’s strategy, could prove to be counterproductive,” Asthana cautioned.
* under UN sanctions for terrorism
13 October 2023, 10:50
