Biden’s Demands and Israel’s Attacks on Iran: A Contrast in Courage

When Biden first began to make demands on Israel regarding the ways they were waging the war against Hamas, I wish I had tracked the number of times he had done so. Most recently, some are saying his demands were even more severe than before:

Biden ‘made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers,’ the White House said in a statement following the leaders' call. ‘He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.’

How he expects their actions to be specific, concrete and measurable, tracking that information for his benefit while they are trying to fight a war, is curious.

At this point, I’m beginning to suspect that Biden has finally realized that his threats are empty, and there’s good reason for that. First, he’s been making the same demands for months, and essentially nothing has changed in terms of U.S. support (although Israel has tried to improve its delivery of humanitarian aid). A big problem in delivering aid is that Hamas continues to steal aid and these activities put Israeli soldiers at risk when they are involved in the deliveries. Second, Biden demanded an immediate cease-fire:

Biden also told Netanyahu that reaching an ‘immediate cease-fire’ in exchange for the estimated 100 hostages that are still being held in Gaza was ‘essential’ and urged Israel to reach such an accord ‘without delay,’ according to the White House. Administration officials described the conversation as ‘direct’ and ‘honest.’

What makes Biden believe that Netanyahu has the power to make that happen? Doesn’t Hamas have something to say about the negotiations? And why isn’t he demanding that Hamas make a fair offer to release hostages? There has been nothing in the proposals of Hamas that are reasonable in these circumstances. And doesn’t all this trauma and destruction fall at the feet of Hamas?

And then, of course, there’s Rafah. I have no idea what provisions Netanyahu will take for the Palestinians to avoid killing all of them in Rafah. It’s all pretty frustrating, and we can only imagine the fears of the Israelis and the Palestinians.

There is one other reason that we keep hearing empty demands with little action. Although Biden is concerned with his pro-Palestinian voters who expect him to be more aggressive against Israel, he’s also concerned with the U.S. Jewish community and its supporters. If Biden were to cut back on vital supplies and munitions, the uproar could be predicted.

Now some people might say that the U.S. Jewish community is putting undue pressure on Biden. But from my standpoint, with the latest rounds of anti-Semitism in this country, I think the U.S. needs to take a clear stand of supporting its own citizens and their kinsmen in Israel. Israel is, after all, a key U.S. ally.

We could summarize Biden's words and actions as playacting. He looks like he is saying something important, and he hopes that Israel will “obey” him. At this point, I’m assuming that it’s unlikely that he will change his support of Israel in any significant way. Put simply: Biden is all words, no action.

In contrast, the Israelis decided to act against Iran, which they have done many times before. They have attacked them in the past, without taking responsibility, and Tehran has threatened revenge, without crediting Israel with the attack, a mutual deniability. But with Iran backing Hamas and the activities of their proxies, I think Israel believed it needed to take more incisive action. This attack appeared to be different from the past:

Soleimani's strategy was to fight Israel and the US through proxies, while dangling the promise of reining them in as a card in his deadly poker game with the ‘Great Satan’ and the ‘Zionist entity.’ Has that fragile balance of terror come to its end? Vibes from Tehran suggest that it has. One reason is that there is no personality with Soleimani's charisma and access to huge financial resources to continue marketing his idea of ‘kill the enemy with a thousand cuts,’ and the use of mercenaries as human shields. Another reason is that this time around, Israel has bombastically admitted having carried out a punitive attack against the Islamic Republic. More importantly, perhaps, this is the first time that Israel has attacked a building flying the official flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran. All previous attacks were on bases and buildings where Iranian officers and mercenaries were located as ‘advisers’ to the official Syrian army.

The Israelis served several valuable goals by carrying out this attack in this manner. It’s telling the world that it is prepared to defend itself against its true enemy, Iran. It will not sit by while Iran continues to ramp up its nuclear program, nor will it try to deny Iran’s support of Hamas, Hezbollah and all the other proxies. Unlike the U.S., Israel is letting Iran know that they are prepared to take them on, regardless of the consequences. I believe it is unlikely that if Iran finally decides to retaliate, they will use the nuclear option.

In other words, Israel is telling Biden that you can make demands of us as much as you wish, but you are feckless and weak. On the other hand, we are prepared to take on our enemies, whatever that may require.