The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
If President Joe Biden had listened to demands from the left to condition aid to Israel, publicly condemn its war operations or demand an immediate cease-fire, there is little chance any hostages would have been released or humanitarian aid increased. Biden understood two things his critics (including anti-Zionists) didn’t.
First, despite the assumption of Israel’s critics (including those who mischaracterize the state in the historic homeland of the Jewish people as a “colonizer”), the United States has no power to order Israel around as if it were a vassal state. Israel will do what it must to survive. Even without U.S. approval, it has conducted and will conduct military operations that its government considers essential to its national security.
Second, any Israeli government, no matter how arrogant, must be concerned with Israeli public opinion. If the Israeli public trusts and embraces the U.S. president, it will be inclined to support his views on the region and his strategic thinking. A U.S. president who they think has their best interests at heart can convince Israelis that they are best protected if their government cooperates with the United States.
Given those two factors, Biden knows better than any world leader, most Republicans and some Democrats that there is a right way to influence Israeli decision-making. Republicans wrongly think that encouraging Israel’s most grandiose and aggressive inclinations is the way to achieve peace; some Democrats seem to think public heckling of Israel will bring about peace (not understanding Israel’s inclination to double down unless it feels secure).
The current situation confirms the wisdom of Biden’s tactics, honed through decades of foreign policy experience and tenure as vice president (during a presidency that too often wound up in unproductive public fights with Israel’s prime minister).
Recall how the past few weeks unfolded. After the Oct. 7 pogrom, Biden immediately rose to Israel’s defense. He rightly condemned the atrocities and defended Israel’s right to root out Hamas while cautioning that Israel must observe the laws of war. He emphasized that Palestinians were victims too and made clear a solution to the underlying conflict would be necessary to prevent further attacks. He also went to Israel in wartime (the only president to do so). Unsurprisingly, Israelis lionized him.
Then began the slow, steady, meticulous two-track approach. Publicly, Biden never wavered from support for Israel’s war aims. Biden increasingly joined his message of support, however, with the second part of his message: Palestinians are victims of Hamas as well. That meant greater care had to be taken to minimize civilian casualties, to get humanitarian aid to Gaza and to achieve Palestinians’ aspirations for self-determination. And he flat-out warned against Israel’s permanent reoccupation of Gaza.
In private, meanwhile, Biden used that political capital to pressure Israel for a pause and to increase humanitarian aid. Few Middle East experts think Netanyahu ever would have agreed to a pause absent all hostages’ release if not for Biden. Likewise, it is unlikely the hostage-exchange process would have gotten back on track Saturday night if not for Biden’s intervention.
Had Biden earlier demanded a cease-fire, as critics urged, he probably wouldn’t have been successful. And his effectiveness in pushing for the pause and hostage release would have been over. Though he got little credit domestically, his willingness to ignore unrealistic demands from left-leaning lawmakers and groups were essential to his diplomatic success.
Though the U.S. mainstream media, as it does too often, could see the weeks of diplomacy only in terms of partisan, horserace politics, Biden was accomplishing what progressives wanted: a cessation (however brief) in hostilities and the return of hostages, both necessary to end the war.
Biden has again managed to outperform expectations. Turns out he understood Netanyahu and the Middle East dynamic much better than the punditocracy and the left wing of his party.
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