Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has some thoughts in his Backchannel column:
(the link should allow full access)
It’s not a secret that many people are upset that President Biden has not stopped Netanyahu from carrying out a response to the October 7, 2023 atrocities in Israel that has devastated the Gaza Strip and killed thousands of civilians, while still not freeing the hostages. By now, the actions taken by Israel far exceed any legitimate response and are becoming counterproductive. It’s not just that they amount to war crimes and genocide; it’s also achieving a Hamas goal. It’s making Israel an international pariah, it’s slammed to a halt efforts that might have seen Israel achieve better relations with its Arab neighbors — and it’s also dragging down the United States.
Marshall offers this, after some background on why we send aid to Israel:
...A huge amount of the debate in the U.S. has been driven by the assumption that the U.S. can dictate policy to Israel. But that’s simply not the case and demonstrably not the case, certainly not after an event like the October 7th massacres. But cutting off or restricting the resupply of weapons and munitions sends a clear signal even if it doesn’t force a change of policy in Israel. Maybe we can’t force Israel to change policy but we can make ourselves no longer on the line for it. Whatever the rationale at the outset of the war, and even if Israel would be doing the exact same things without it, the ongoing U.S. resupply of weapons and munitions implicates the U.S. in every Israeli decision in Gaza.
If I were running U.S. policy, I would announce that the U.S. believes that the military operation has run its course, that it’s time to move to post-war, reconstruction and government in Gaza with the Palestinian Authority taking a leading role. So more weapons transfers aren’t necessary. Would that force Israel’s hand? I don’t know. But it would certainly put the U.S. in a far better position. And I suspect it would change the situation fairly dramatically.
emphasis added
As it is, Israel under Netanyahu shows little sign of listening to U.S. concerns.
...Yesterday I took a huge amount of flak for not calling the food convey shootings in Gaza a “massacre.” But today one of the current government’s far-right ministers literally cheered the killings and said it was a good reason to cut off all food aid into Gaza. These are unconscionable statements that should be deemed wholly incompatible with ongoing U.S. resupply of the IDF and diplomatic cover for Israel. President Biden should say that that ministers goes or those shut offs happen immediately. Let the Israeli government decide whether that forces a change in policy.
There is much more we should demand. But that is the absolute minimum.
Marshall goes on to point out what seems to be happening is typical Democratic blind adherence to trying to ignore political aspects while treating something purely on policy concerns. The professionals are in charge and the politicians are being kept to the side — but Marshall argues that’s simply wrong. It may be praiseworthy, but that, as he says, is not how the world works. There are strong domestic reasons for being more active — and also on the international stage.
As Marshall puts it, the Netanyahu government is brittle, weak, and unpopular. “The U.S. has the room here to throw its weight around. The White House has great need of doing that domestically. Not mostly because of potential disaffection among Arab-Americans in Michigan but because this is profoundly divisive for the Democratic coalition generally and for the U.S. standing globally.”
The current U.S. policy is going nowhere. Biden is joining Jordan and France in air-dropping supplies into Gaza, but that’s not enough. Israel should receive no more aid that will let it keep doing what is essentially become useless in resolving the Hamas threat in Gaza, but is vital to propping up Netanyahu and his right wing coalition.
You can read all of Marshall’s thoughts on the situation here.
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