WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration keeps pressing Israel to reengage with Palestinians as partners once fighting in Gaza is over and support their eventual independence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeps saying no.
Even on actions to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians, the two allies are far apart.
That cycle, frustrating to much of the world, seems unlikely to end, despite U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s fourth urgent diplomatic trip this week to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war started. Though the United States, as Israel’s closest ally and largest weapons supplier, has stronger means to apply pressure on Israel, it shows no willingness to use them.
Support of Israel is a bedrock belief of many American voters. Biden’s presidential reelection bid this year puts him up against Republicans vying to outdo one another in support for Israel. For his part, Netanyahu is fighting to stay in office in the face of corruption charges.
“It’s a self-defeating policy,” said Brian Finucane, a former policy adviser in the State Department on counterterrorism and the use of military force.
“What may be expedient in terms of short-term domestic politics may not be in the long-term interests of the United States,” said Finucane, who is now a senior adviser to the International Crisis Group research organization. “Particularly if it results in the United States involving itself in further unnecessary wars in the Middle East.”
Since Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, the U.S. has rushed arms and other aid to Israel, deployed forces to the region to confront escalated attacks by Hamas’ Iran-backed allies, and quashed moves in the United Nations to condemn Israel’s bombing of Palestinian civilians.
On Thursday U.S. time, the same day Blinken was wrapping up his diplomatic mission, U .S. warships and aircraft hit targets in Yemen, hoping to quell attacks that the country’s Iran-allied Houthis have launched on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since Israel started its devastating offensive in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
American officials claim modest success for Blinken’s latest diplomatic efforts. He secured limited, conditional support from Arab leaders and Turkey for planning for reconstruction and governance in Gaza after the war ends. But prospects are uncertain because Israel’s far-right government is not on board with several key points.
The Biden administration has placed a particular premium on Israel reducing the number of civilian casualties in its military operations. The U.S. urging seemed to have some effect in recent days, as Israel began to withdraw some troops from northern Gaza and moved to a less-intensive campaign of airstrikes.
