Analysis. Two tragedies intertwine. The first is that of Israel, which is obliged to militarily disable Hamas because the October 7 attack on its territory destroyed its concept of national security. The second is that of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, whose suffering under the Israeli bombs and the blockade is reaching unprecedented levels.
The Biden administration shows how difficult it is to take both aspects of the drama into account. It has used its credibility and resources to support the Jewish state, whose government is dominated by arsonist and xenophobic nationalists and whose army commits war crimes in Gaza.
For Joe Biden, this support is not a question of partisan political calculation, but of necessary moral clarity in the face of the evil that Hamas terrorism embodies. But the more these war crimes committed by the Israeli army accumulate, the more the horror suffered by the Jewish state a month ago appears to be weakening in public opinion.
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“If you want to solve the problem, you have to consider the truth in its integrity,” said former President Barack Obama Excerpt from a podcast published soon. And then we have to admit that no one has clean hands, that we are all complicit to some extent. » These cold and analytical remarks provide an unprecedented contrast to the position of his former vice president.
The alliance through proof
After the shock caused by the October 7 attack, the Biden administration provided full political and military support to Israel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and then Joe Biden himself visited the site. Weapons deliveries were decided urgently. A spectacular deployment of naval aviation in the eastern Mediterranean served as a deterrent message to Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran. Bilateral exchanges in the area of intelligence and military analyzes have intensified. This support is the alliance through proof. Fulfilling America’s decades-long bipartisan commitment to stand with Israel when its security is threatened.
But the perception of this commitment turns against the White House and isolates it. His way of questioning the official reports of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, even though it is under Hamas control; his way of placing full responsibility for the deaths on the Islamist movement because its fighters are hiding among the civilian population; His way of not publicly questioning the extent and relevance of the Israeli bombings: all of this creates a divide with Arab opinions, but also with a large part of the Democratic electorate in the United States. The November 4 demonstration in Washington, attended by tens of thousands of people in support of the Palestinians, highlighted this phenomenon.
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