FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW YORK – The United States is sending additional naval ships and warplanes to the eastern Mediterranean to show support for Israel. The head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, also announced the delivery of ammunition: The first military aid package “will leave today and arrive in the next few days.”
The naval fleet includes the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford, the guided missile cruiser Normandy and several destroyers. As a deterrent measure, the presence of F-35, F-15, F-16 and A-10 fighter jets will be increased in the region.
After at least six phone calls between the two leaders on Saturday, Biden spoke to Netanyahu yesterday to confirm that help is on the way and more will arrive in the coming days. He expressed solidarity “for the missing, wounded and killed and pledged full support to the government and people of Israel in the face of the shocking and unprecedented attack by Hamas terrorists.” American citizens were among the dead (at least four) and those abducted . Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called all the region’s leaders, reiterated on television that the goal was to provide Israel with “everything it needs.”
This war between Israel and Hamas is a crucial geopolitical test for Biden, who faces Ukraine’s complicated relationship with Netanyahu (whom he has criticized in the past for seeing his reform of the justice system as a threat to democracy). helps and copes with the crisis 2024 Republicans who now call his foreign policy a failure.
Part of the framework of the White House’s strategy is collapsing as the explosion of conflict is paralyzing Middle East normalization that should allow him to focus on Russia and Ukraine, China and Asia. A week ago, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said: “The Middle East is calmer now than it has been in decades,” a phrase now being thrown at him by the right, even though – to be precise – he had underlined: “For now. Everything can change.” And things have changed. But a “long war” like Netanyahu fears is not in American interest.
Blinken said it would be “no surprise” if “the worst attack since the Yom Kippur War” was motivated in part by a desire to prevent normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia (he added that there was no evidence of this that Iran was directly behind the attack). ). Deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said normalization efforts should continue. But Israel does not like a statement in which Riyadh reportedly warned that “continued occupation and deprivation of Palestinian rights” would cause the situation to explode.
Now Trump and Republicans are accusing Biden of funding Iran (and therefore Hamas) by releasing $6 billion in exchange for the release of five prisoners. The White House responded that it was not US money, but rather proceeds from Iranian oil that would only be released for humanitarian purposes.
For now, the ammunition sent to Israel was in stock or paid for with already approved funds. The Pentagon downplays the risk that this will jeopardize aid to Kiev: They use different weapon systems. The lack of a speaker of the House of Representatives and the fact that the Senate has not yet approved the nomination of the US ambassador to Israel do not help.