History will, no doubt, judge Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States, harshly. However, it is impossible to dispute his steadfastness, worthy of the best causes, behind his unwavering support for Israel in the war against Gaza, which has been ongoing for nearly 15 months now.
Such an unwavering support, without which the hostilities in Gaza would have had to at least diminish in intensity, is the product of one of the Democratic leader's equally unwavering commitment, as he has long declared himself to be a "Zionist."
The commitment may well have been forged half a century ago, in the bygone days of the Israeli Labor Party's hegemony over the country, but Biden remains steadfast in the face of all opposition, whatever the recurring tensions in his relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be. Indeed, the American president has considered that his loyalty to Israel must, due to its unshakeable nature, transcend political considerations.
He has, therefore, not shied away from provoking unrest among part of the Democratic base, thus playing into the hands of Trump, whom Netanyahu had openly banked on.
Humanitarian 'red lines'
The war unleashed by Netanyahu against Gaza, in retaliation for Hamas's unprecedented attacks in Israel, on October 7, 2023, initially consisted of an equally unprecedented wave of bombings over 20 days, ahead of the escalation of the new ground-based occupation of the Palestinian enclave.
This second phase of the conflict, which featured extreme violence, forced a large part of Gaza's population to flee to the center, and then the south, of the territory. More than a million civilians eventually crowded into Rafah, in the area up against Gaza's border with Egypt. On March 9, 2024, President Biden stated that a general offensive on Rafah would represent a "red line" that Israel must not cross.
Such a "red line" can only seem like an echo of the one that had been drawn by Barack Obama to dissuade the al-Assad regime from using chemical weapons against its own population, in August 2013 – to no avail. The "red line" laid down by Biden, at Rafah, was no more respected by Netanyahu, who, on May 6, 2024, decided to launch the assault on Rafah, deploying Israeli troops along the border with Egypt, violating agreements that had been signed with Cairo.
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