Relations between Israel and the Biden administration are becoming increasingly tense. The American president has announced that he will block the shipment of weapons to the Jewish state if the latter launches a full invasion of Rafah. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven't gone to Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I will not provide the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities,” he said on Wednesday. Joe Biden during an interview on CNN. “I made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet: they will not get our support if they attack these population centers,” she added.
The reaction of the Jewish state is harsh. “This is a difficult and very disappointing statement to hear from a president to whom we have been grateful since the beginning of the war,” Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations said, Gilad Erdan. Criticisms a Biden they also came from various Israeli parliamentarians, while – according to the Times of Israel – a Jewish state official reportedly reported that “the US decision to withhold weapons from Israel for its plans to attack Rafah could force Israel to change its operational plans”.
The announcement of Biden it also split American domestic politics. The Republicans have in fact gone on the attack on the president. “The dishonest Joe Bidenwhether he knows it or not, has just declared that he will not supply weapons to Israel as it fights to eradicate Hamas terrorists in Gaza,” he thundered Donald Trump. “Hamas has killed thousands of innocent civilians, including children, and is still holding Americans hostage, if the hostages are still alive,” he continued. “And yet, dishonest Joe stands with these terrorists, just as he has stood with the radical mobs who are taking over our college campuses, because his financiers are funding them,” he continued, invoking the Reagan principle of “ peace through strength.”
While waiting for further developments, what emerges is once again the irresoluteness of the Biden administration. The question is in fact upstream. To facilitate a truce agreement, it is first necessary to create the concrete conditions within which such an agreement can possibly be concluded. And this is where the mistake of the current White House lies. In these months of Middle Eastern crisis, Biden has continued to maintain a particularly bland and compliant approach towards Iran: the same Iran which, let us remember, is in turn the main financier of Hamas and Hezbollah. It is also true that the American president recently imposed some sanctions on Tehran. However, he was careful not to revive the policy of “maximum pressure” on the Khomeinist regime, which had been introduced by the Trump administration.
Not only. Just two weeks ago, the US State Department refused to deny that Biden is still holding indirect talks with the ayatollahs to try to restore the controversial Iranian nuclear deal. Coincidentally, a few hours ago, a councilor of Ali Khamenei, Kamal Kharrazi, said: “We have not decided on the creation of a nuclear bomb, but if Iran's existence is threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine.” It is clear that if he had restored “maximum pressure” on Tehran, Biden it would have first reassured the Saudis and, secondly, it would have had greater bargaining power to push Benjamin Netanyahu to reduce Israeli military pressure on Gaza. This is because the “maximum pressure” on Tehran would have indirectly weakened the Iranian regional network, starting with Hamas. However, the American president finds his hands tied because, dusting off his predecessor's line, he would have to admit that he got everything wrong in the Middle East in the midst of the November presidential election campaign. Among other things, precisely by looking at the presidential elections, the occupant of the White House hopes to be able to win the sympathies of the pro-Palestinian wing of the Democratic Party. However, this is a pious illusion: that world is often placed on radical positions, as well as viscerally anti-Israeli, and will continue to demand increasingly harsh actions towards the Jewish State.
The result is that, for the umpteenth time, Biden it conveys an image of contradiction to the world. On the one hand, he has just signed a package for new military aid to Israel. On the other hand, the American president threatens to block the shipment of armaments to the Jewish state. Such contradictions damage Washington's international credibility, above all hampering its ability to deter Iran. A circle bottism, that of Biden, which will not bring peace to the Middle East and which will only push the ayatollahs to become more resistant. With great joy, needless to say, of Russia and China.
