In recent weeks President Biden’s full-throated support for Israel’s “duty” to do all that is necessary to destroy Hamas’s ability to wage military operations or govern Gaza has been tempered by a call for an early end to the war, and that Israel must now make more of an effort to avoid collateral civilian casualties, while more specifically and strategically targeting Hamas. Given Hamas’s notorious practice of using human shields the latter is surely a most formidable – if not impossible – task for the IDF. And the President has to know that.
But clearly stung by the Arab world and leftist/progressive criticism of the relatively high number of civilian deaths alleged by the Gazan health authorities (albeit unconfirmed), Mr. Biden was insistent that there must be a change in the IDF’s modus operandi, if only to be on record that he was in favor of less civilian casualties. Indeed, the President shocked us and undoubtedly many others when he made a wholly inaccurate passing reference to Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza.
To be sure, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby tried to walk this back. According to the Times of Israel, Kirby said some of the steps the IDF has taken to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza went further than what the U.S. would have done if it were in Israel’s place. He highlighted the map that the IDF publishes, alerting civilians as to which neighborhoods it is planning to attack so they can evacuate ahead of time.
Kirby said, “That’s basically telegraphing your punches. There are very few modern militaries in the world that would do that. I don’t know that we would do that.” He also stated that Israel has reduced its airstrikes in the south, relying more on ground forces than it did in Northern Gaza.
“They moved into southern Gaza on the ground in a way that was much smaller than they planned to do,” Kirby said. “We think that was an output of some of the advice and counsel we provide them about urban warfare.”
Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser also tried to play down the idea that the U.S. and Israel were at odds over how the war should be fought. He said Israel, “was clear from the beginning that this war would proceed in phases and would “transition” “high intensity” confrontations which generated high casualties, to one that is focused on targeting the leadership, on intelligence operations.”
But the notion that the Biden team thinks that Israel needed American lecturing on its conduct of the war persists, and that is untrue as well as unfortunate.
Finally, the pressure on Israel to wind down the war before the complete neutralization of the Hamas structure runs directly counter to President Biden’s obsession with a two-state solution. We don’t share his dream, but can it ever be realized if anything of Hamas remained? We don’t think so and we thought he didn’t either.
