Biden Looks at Gaza from Both Sides Now
The President’s attempt to please contradictory constituencies is a boon to terrorists.
Imagine that in 1940, when the United States was not yet a belligerent in World War II, Franklin Roosevelt, concerned about the German vote in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois, had criticized the inhumane impact of the British blockade on Nazi Germany’s civilian population and then proceeded to airlift supplies to succor them while demanding a “humanitarian ceasefire”.
There are many reasons why that couldn’t have happened. The U.S. didn’t have global airlift capacity. Hardly any Americans of German descent sympathized with the Nazi regime. Roosevelt himself was an Anglophile. Even if he hadn’t been, he would have realized that embarking on such a mad scheme would ruin his reelection chances.
The situation is far different in 2024, when the President of the United States is giving aid and comfort to the enemies of an American ally, even as he insists that he is the ally’s firm friend.
Over fifty years ago, when he was a freshman Senator, Joe Biden was fluent in doublespeak about Israel. It was 1982, Israel was at war in Lebanon, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was in Washington to solicit U.S. support. He met with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where the reception was cool. As the New York Times reported:
Prime Minister Menachem Begin left the United States today after what was described as a highly emotional confrontation on Capitol Hill with senators critical of Israel’s policies in Lebanon and in the occupied West Bank of the Jordan.
“I think it is fair to say that in my eight years in Washington I've never seen such an angry session with a foreign head of state,” said Senator Paul E. Tsongas, Democrat of Massachusetts.
“I think there is a lot of concern among those who are supporters of Israel that their policies are in excess,”' he said, “'and support for Israel in this country is eroding.” . . .
The bitterest exchange was said to have been between Mr. Begin and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, who told the Israeli leader that he was not critical of the Lebanon operation but felt that Israel had to halt the policy of establishing new Jewish settlements in the West Bank. He said Israel was losing support in this country because of the settlements policy.
According to accounts by those present, the Senator went so far as to declare, “jabbing his finger at the prime minister and banging his fist on the desk”, that settlements might so erode U.S. support as to lead to a cutoff of U.S. aid to Israel.
Begin wouldn’t be cowed. “Don’t threaten us with cutting off aid to give up our principles,” he shouted back, according to Time magazine. Former Sen. Bob Packwood of Oregon later recalled that Begin went further: “I’m not a Jew with trembling knees,” he reminded Mr. Biden.
In the lore that has since developed, Begin’s response supposedly continued: “I am a proud Jew with 3,700 years of civilized history. Nobody came to our aid when we were dying in the gas chambers and ovens. Nobody came to our aid when we were striving to create our country. We paid for it. We fought for it. We died for it. We will stand by our principles. We will defend them. And, when necessary, we will die for them again, with or without your aid.”
We don’t know exactly what Begin said in the closed session. But the meeting was fiery. “I’ve never seen such an angry session with a foreign head of state.” said Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas. “It was a lively discussion,’’ Mr. Begin told the press afterward. “If you want to use other adjectives . . .” He paused, then reconsidered: “Lively is enough.’’
In 1982, Arab-Americans were a barely noticeable minority, and few had much sympathy for the dictatorships that they had left behind. Senator Biden’s complaints about Israel undoubtedly reflected his personal opinion of the Jewish state; his expressions of support, such as they were, were most likely motivated by his perception that offending Jewish voters would be detrimental to his political aspirations.
For years thereafter, Biden worked hard, and successfully, to convince Jews that he was Israel’s firm friend. Today, however, Arab-Americans are an important Democratic Party interest group: not huge in overall numbers but concentrated strategically in key states, most notably Michigan. Unlike German-Americans in 1940, their most vocal elements are vehemently on the side of our country’s enemies. Bear in mind that Israel is only the “Little Satan”.
The Michigan Presidential primary evidently spooked the President’s caretakers. Is it mere coincidence that the airlift to replenish Hamas followed hard upon it? If replenishing Hamas so that it can hold out until a weary Israel agrees to a ceasefire is not the Biden Administration’s conscious desire, it suffers from a naïveté next to which Pollyanna was an embittered cynic. Hamas has guns, needy civilians don’t, and Hamas has a long record of appropriating humanitarian assistance for itself.
At the same time that it aids Israel’s terrorist enemies, the Administration murmurs soothing endearments and claims that, as a simpering Time article declared, Joe Biden is “the most pro-Israel president in American history”.
“With friends like this, who needs enemies?” has become a cliché. It’s a pity that it wasn’t saved for when it was most needed.
If the pro-Hamas turn were simply political opportunism, it would be appalling enough, but Michigan seems to be more of an excuse than a reason. If polls are to be believed, assisting Hamas is a political loser. U.S. public opinion overwhelmingly supports Israel. Here are some results from the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll conducted in late February:
Other poll results:
Do you favor an unconditional ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that would leave everyone in place, or do you think any ceasefire should happen only after the release of all hostages and Hamas removed from power?
Unconditional ceasefire: 33%
Only after all hostages are released and Hamas is removed from power: 67%
Do you support Israel continuing its ground invasion into Southern Gaza to root out the final elements of Hamas or oppose it because 1.2 million civilians have taken shelter there and will be under significant risk of harm if Israel pushes forward?
Support continuing the invasion: 63%
Oppose: 37%
Should Hamas be allowed to continue to run Gaza or does Hamas need to be removed from running Gaza?
Allowed to continue running Gaza: 22%
Removed from power: 78%
Regardless of that sentiment, the President xTweeted last Saturday that “the amount of aid flowing to Gaza is not nearly enough”. He vowed to “continue to pull out every stop we can to get more aid in.” Can he really expect to gain political advantage from helping Hamas survive? Assuming that he is directing his Administration’s policy (which may not be the safest of assumptions these days), his chosen course looks very much like the triumph of his anti-Israel heart over his politically calculating head.