In his never-ending attempt to cultivate the “Where would they go anyway?” Arab vote in Michigan and other possible swing states, US President Joe Biden has opened a Pandora’s box that he is likely to regret.
I suggest that he has just succeeded in creating for himself a “four-bag error,” one with potentially decisive significance, by refusing to arm Israel with kits to be used for providing greater precision for missiles and shells in attacking Gaza.
Biden's blunders
Specifically, Biden’s blunders are the following: First, he has demeaned America both as an ally and as a great power protecting the free world. He has sent a terrible message to current and would-be allies as to the risks and costs of siding with the United States.
Secondly, and ironically, he has freed Israel’s leadership of some of their reluctance to counter American dictates. He has just hit Israel with, if not his best shot, then something close to it. Israel will not stop as a result of this. Ironically, they might thereby be forced to use less precise weaponry, thus defeating the stated American goal of minimizing harm to civilians.
Thirdly, the American people will see this embarrassment for what it is: “fair-weather friending” a close ally and clearly showing a preference for its terrorist enemies.
And lastly, he has handed his opponent, former president Donald Trump, on a silver platter no less, an issue that Trump has already railed at, and which likely will become an integral part of his campaign.
Those observers who have been wondering where Trump stands on the situation in the Middle East will not be wondering much longer. Trump has been presented with a galvanizing series of American betrayals of its friendship with Israel; despite his often-expressed disillusionment with and dislike of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is certain to use these actions to create a glaring contrast.
That contrast was already seen recently with his walking back of support for a two-state solution. Now, on social media (Where else?) Trump quickly responded to Biden’s withholding of weaponry: “Crooked Joe Biden, whether he knows it or not, just said he will withhold weapons from Israel as they fight to eradicate Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
“Hamas murdered thousands of innocent civilians, including babies, and are still holding Americans hostage, if the hostages are still alive. Yet Crooked Joe is taking the side of these terrorists... Remember, this war in Israel... would have NEVER have started if I was in the White House... But very soon, we will be back, and once again demanding PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!” (Emphases are Trump’s).
So, Trump has been handed several gauntlets, all of which he has gleefully thrown down. He drew the connection between the withholding of weapons and the damaging of Israel’s pursuit of its mission to “eradicate” Hamas. He clearly blames and excoriates Hamas, and is astonished at the idea that Biden is giving them aid and comfort.
He then reminds us that had he been reelected none of this would have happened, and perhaps most tellingly, forecasts the way things will be – peace through strength – once he returns to office.
Now, of course, presidential elections are all about each of the candidates demonizing the other guy. But here, the issue at hand is one that will resonate with a huge swath of the American people. Polls consistently show that most Americans support Israel, and indeed support the goal of eliminating Hamas.
It is one thing to lobby for care and concern in how the IDF pursues Hamas (a care and concern that the IDF has respected to an unprecedented degree in the history of warfare) but to arrogantly assert that if Israel does not do what we want, we won’t respect our commitments to arm them is something else, entirely.
In one fell swoop, Biden has unintentionally reversed the prevailing progressive David and Goliath narrative. Now it is the Left’s Goliath, Israel, that is being told to use rocks and slings because they won’t be given proper missiles and shells.
Biden vs Trump
One can be reasonably certain that Trump will be invoking something similar on the campaign trail. He doesn’t have to swoon over Israel, he just has to repeat his hatred of Hamas, something that he will likely do often, while always reminding Americans that Hamas is being assisted and protected by Joe Biden.
Assuming that this raising of the issue by Trump is in fact what happens, it has the potential to be a great boon for Israel. Trump is likely to increasingly put Biden on the defensive on a subject that he should be on the defensive about. While Biden can and might double down on his condemnation of the war effort by Israel in all its manifestations, it is at least as likely that he starts walking some of the antipathy back.
One does not have to be a Trump supporter to support what he is doing and is likely to continue to do, in highlighting how counterproductive and yes, how un-American Biden’s vilification of Israel is.
The American people are not stupid and the vast majority of them have finely honed moral sensibilities. These should and will be brought to bear in assessing how it is that their nation is unwilling to stand with Israel in fighting a scourge that threatens not just Israel, but also the entire West.
The author is the chairman of the board of Im Tirtzu and a director of the Israel Independence Fund.