Why Biden’s Israel visit was successful
Tom Rogan
President Joe Biden completed a successful short visit to Israel on Wednesday. Biden declared that Israeli “bravery is stunning. I’m proud to be here.” He claimed that the U.S. would ensure Israel had “what you need to defend yourselves.” And the president emphasized a U.S. assessment that Israel was not responsible for the explosion at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday. Quickly blamed on Israel by Hamas and many others, that explosion was actually the result of a Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket failure.
The political risks entailed by Biden’s visit were significant. Had Israel been responsible for the hospital strike, Biden’s visit would have been perceived as having endorsed it. The coverage in Arab and global Islamic media would have been catastrophic, putting particular pressure on America’s close ally Jordan’s King Abdullah II. It would also have increased the risk of terrorist attacks against U.S. diplomats and citizens around the world. Instead, Biden showed Hamas up for its lies over the hospital incident and secured Israel’s support for a humanitarian aid corridor from Egypt into southern Gaza.
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This was not an easy concession for Israel to make. Hamas will steal at least some of that aid and very likely smuggle munitions across the border. Still, a ground offensive into Gaza will be bloody for civilians even if Israel takes great caution to protect them. In turn, if Washington is to support that offensive, it must also ensure that its Arab and European allies see it encouraging Israel to mitigate civilian suffering. To emphasize the point, Israel cannot accomplish its strategic objectives against Hamas without a sustained ground offensive into Gaza. Urban warfare is always brutal, but especially so when Hamas regards its own civilian population as shields for its maneuver forces and armament depots and swords for its international diplomacy. This aid corridor thus gives both a political and moral consolidation for Israel and the U.S.
The international politics of this conflict matter.
While the U.S. is absolutely right to support decisive Israeli action, that support has strained U.S. relations with Abdullah and the Saudi government. Abdullah canceled a visit by Biden to Amman that was organized for Wednesday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was snubbed then lectured by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to Riyadh, for example. As far as is feasible, it is also crucial that Hamas be denied its efforts to secure moral initiative as the conflict progresses. The risks in this regard were perfectly encapsulated by the Western media rush to blame Israel for the hospital explosion on Tuesday. Is it unfair that Israel is more easily blamed for atrocities than Hamas? Of course. But it is the reality and one that must be dealt with.
Going forward, the key U.S. strategic interests are threefold. First, to enable Israel’s securing of its objectives: the dramatic degradation of Hamas as a political and military entity. Second, to deter and, if necessary, help defeat the enjoining of this war by Iran, Syria, and/or the Lebanese Hezbollah. Third, ensure U.S. alliances are preserved without a descent into regional political chaos.
Biden’s visit supported those interests on Wednesday and, as such, should be regarded as a success.