President Joe Biden has postured himself as an ally of Israel since the Oct. 7 massacre, but he has made it clear that he wants Hamas to survive more than he wants Israel to be safe from future terrorist attacks.
Biden froze a shipment of U.S.-made ammunition to Israel with no explanation, with the White House declining to comment on the matter. If we are being left to infer what reason could be behind this, Israel’s looming mission into Rafah, where Hamas is holed up, offers the best explanation.
Hamas continues to use Palestinian civilians as human shields, hiding out in Rafah, where Israeli leaders encouraged civilians to head as the war moved south throughout Gaza. Hamas has nowhere left to run but continues to reject all ceasefire agreements that include giving up all Israeli (and American) hostages, leaving Israel with no choice but either to go in or to surrender and allow Hamas to rebuild itself once again. (Hamas went on to agree to a “ceasefire” this morning, negotiated without Israel’s involvement, in case you are wondering how serious the group is when it comes to negotiating for peace.)
Biden wants Israel to choose the latter. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, and national security adviser Jake Sullivan all have said that Israel going into Rafah would lead to the United States making changes to policy toward Israel, a direct threat to Israel for daring to treat Hamas like the terrorist group that it is. All the while, Biden wants to build Hamas an aid pier, putting American lives on the line to transport aid to Gaza that will inevitably be picked over by Hamas before actual civilians even get a look at it. And yes, Hamas continues to hold American hostages, or at least is pretending to, assuming they are still alive.
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This has been Biden’s problem since Oct. 7. He wants to split the baby between a U.S. ally that respects human rights and a terrorist group that is genocidal and antisemitic by its nature. His idea of “support” for Israel to defend itself has a limit in both duration and scope, and he has made it clear that he would undermine Israel the moment it started defending itself too well. That is why he claimed that Israel is doing exactly what Hamas wants by fighting this war and apologized for not believing Hamas’s made-up casualty numbers.
If Biden has his way, Hamas will survive to commit more Oct. 7 massacres in the future, even if that means cutting off support for Israel through the changes Biden and his team are hanging over the Israelis’ heads. Biden would rather have this crisis repeat ad infinitum than suffer through a few protest chants he thinks will lose him an election.