I was in Vietnam earlier this month where they celebrate that country’s victory in what they call “the American War.”
The former US Information Agency Building in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) became the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes until our two countries established diplomatic relations. Now it is the War Remnants Museum, with an emphasis on American war crimes and atrocities.
I also went to the countryside to see some of the tunnels and traps in the jungle and B52 bomb craters. That was where the mightiest and most technically advanced army in the world was defeated by a much smaller force both on the battlefield and in global media. Remember the village that had to be destroyed in order to save it and pictures of children with napalm burns? The superpower, hobbled by arrogant leadership, suffered a humiliating defeat.
I couldn’t avoid seeing parallels to the war in Gaza.
Hamas’s brutal attack on October 7 terrorized a nation, exposed the weakness of the region’s preeminent power and its leadership, and killed more Jews than any day since the Holocaust. And worse.
Hamas’s immediate goal was to derail Israel’s normalization with the Arab world, notably Saudi Arabia, on the verge of an American brokered deal that would give it the upper hand in the regional rivalry with Hamas’s patron, Iran.
Hamas also put the Palestinian issue back on the international agenda. The issue had been shelved by the Abraham Accords when moderate Arab states, weary of Palestinian maximalist demands and refusal to compromise, made their own peace with Israel. They wanted to focus on their own economic and security interests, offering little more than lip service to the Palestinian cause.
After October 7, the Saudis said Palestinian statehood was a prerequisite to full diplomatic relations with Israel, but they’ve begun backing off, talking instead about seeing progress toward that goal.
At this writing, Israel has reportedly agreed to an Egypt-Qatar-US brokered ceasefire of about six weeks and a hostage-for-prisoner exchange, but Hamas refuses even to identify the hostages while it keeps raising the ante, indicating that it feels it is winning and sees no need to give Israel what it wants most.The terror organization has one great advantage over Israel. It is willing to sacrifice thousands of Gazans to advance its cause because it is confident that Israel will bear the blame in the eyes of world opinion. The grim pictures of starving children, the growing pressure on Israel to stop the fighting, and the accelerating conflict between Israel and its friends, all work to Hamas’ advantage.
Joe Biden is the latest American president to complain that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu treats the United States as if it were there to do his bidding, sending more arms and less advice. Biden has a half-century record of support for Israel. He is the only president to go to Israel in wartime to express full support, but has done nothing to temper Netanyahu’s counterproductive policies.
As Netanyahu repeatedly ignored American concerns and advice given in private, Biden decided he had to go public. He said he felt the prime minister is not paying enough attention to “the innocent lives lost” and his conduct in the war is “hurting Israel more than helping.” Netanyahu responded by going on the anti-Biden Fox News to tell the president “he’s wrong.”
Biden said that an assault on Rafah, with 1.3 million or more Palestinians, is a “a red line.” A defiant Netanyahu again ignored him and said plans for the attack are going ahead, as if telling Israel’s more important ally, “You’re not my boss.”
Netanyahu is treating the US, UK, Egypt and other friends as if their relationships are expendable. How much longer will Biden use his UN veto to protect Israel? Is Netanyahu turning a strategic asset into a liability?
It is no secret that Biden has lost confidence in Netanyahu. Actually, he never did trust him very much. This week, US intelligence leaders reported to the Senate that “Netanyahu’s viability as leader... may be in jeopardy,” citing widespread Israeli public distrust of his “ability to rule.”
One of the more interesting headlines this week was on the news site Axios: “Biden breaks with Netanyahu but sticks with Israel.”
Biden’s efforts to begin focusing on planning for the “day after,” for moving toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians, have repeatedly been rebuffed. Netanyahu’s vision calls for long-term Israeli military presence in Gaza and a weak local Palestinian administrative presence. He is stridently opposed to the two-state solution supported by Biden and recent Republican and Democratic presidents.
DEEP SCHISMS are opening in Israel’s support in its traditionally most important constituency: the Democratic Party, the Congress, and the American Jewish community. Congress is debating putting conditions on military aid to Israel. Critical elements of Biden’s political base – Arab and Muslim Americans, Blacks and young voters – are eroding as a result of his pro-Israel policies as he faces a tough election battle this year.
Netanyahu, who considers himself a master political and media manipulator and public relations genius, is implementing policies that badly undermine Israeli diplomacy and public relations. Hamas and its supporters have been more effective in using the news and social media to spread their message, resulting in a shocking eruption of widespread antisemitism.
Who is winning this war?
Hamas is not interested in a ceasefire because it feels it is succeeding. It is confident that Israeli bombing during Ramadan can further inflame anti-Israel sentiments in the Muslim world and beyond. It is pleased about public disagreements between Israeli and American leaders and the cooling of relations between Israel and moderate Arab states. So too, Hamas is basking in the prime minister’s sinking approval ratings and growing talk in Congress about restricting aid for Israel and even stopping the transfer of offensive weapons. And it gets bonus points for sinking support for Israel among the American electorate.
Hamas’s allies have opened fronts in Lebanon, the West Bank [Judea and Samaria], and the Red Sea, where they’ve taken the war to international shipping, threatening a broader conflict that Israel can ill afford.
How can a reviled terrorist organization that carried off the October 7 massacre marshal so much international sympathy and support for its cause? Has everyone forgotten its goal remains to wipe out the Jews and their state and erect an Iranian-style Islamic republic? Haas took the Palestinian narrative away from the weak, corrupt, and inept rival Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Fatah; forced international focus on the Palestinian issue; and created sympathy for the cause and the victims.
Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister faces three criminal trials for corruption, is charged with ignoring the Hamas threat prior to October 7, stands accused of putting his own political fortunes ahead of the national interest, and is alienating his country’s most important allies.Is this Israel’s Vietnam?
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and former American Israel Public Affairs Committee legislative director.