As Ed pointed out over the weekend, talks between Hamas and Israel seem to have reached a breaking point. Hamas is demanding more aid for northern Gaza and Israel is demanding a release of all remaining hostages. Neither side seems to believe progress is possible at this point. But as of Friday, Joe Biden was still talking as if some sort of breakthrough could happen and explicitly warning Israel not to invade the southern city of Rafah.
US President Joe Biden on Friday appeared to caution Israel against launching an operation in Rafah while hostage negotiations were ongoing, in his administration’s latest warning over an Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city.
Asked at the White House whether Israel has presented the US with a plan for how it will protect civilians in the IDF’s planned operation for Rafah, as he again urged on Thursday during a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden responded, “I’ve made the case, and I feel very strongly about it, that there has to be a temporary ceasefire to get the hostages out, and that is underway. I’m still hopeful that can be done.”
But it appears Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t interested in taking Biden’s advice. Saturday, Netanyahu announced Israel was still committed to a total victory over Hamas and that meant an invasion of the southern city of Rafah was coming. This afternoon, Biden responded by announcing he would take his plans for a ceasefire to the United Nations.
Joe Biden is pushing for a United Nations vote on a “temporary ceasefire” in a break with the Israeli government as its troops prepare for an assault on the city, in south Gaza.
In a draft resolution, the US warns that a ground offensive into the city, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering, would have “serious implications for regional peace and security”.
The move comes as Israel has rebuffed efforts by frustrated Western allies to call off its planned invasion of Rafah, the only remaining city controlled by Hamas.
This is quite a reversal for the US and you have to wonder if Biden isn’t finally giving in to the progressive activists who’ve been demanding a ceasefire for months. Many of those people are younger Democrats who Biden needs if he’s going to win the election later this year so some kind of moderation of his pro-Israel stance seemed inevitable. Not everyone is happy about it though.
Richard Goldberg, a former NSC official during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital, “The United States should be vetoing pro-Hamas resolutions, not proposing them. By putting forward a resolution calling for a ceasefire and opposing Israeli military action in Rafah, the White House is effectively pushing for Hamas to survive to massacre another day. This is a complete betrayal of U.S. interests and values.”
I’m not sure what Biden thinks the endgame is here. Hamas has already vowed to continue attacking Israel. If Hamas militants and leaders survive in the tunnels under Rafah they will take the first available opportunity to rebuild the organization and start planning the next attack. Meanwhile, the US is expected to veto a rival ceasefire plan put forward at the UN by Algeria.
The United Nations Security Council is likely to vote on Tuesday on an Algerian push for the 15-member body to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, said diplomats, a move the United States signaled it would veto…
“The United States does not support action on this draft resolution. Should it come up for a vote as drafted, it will not be adopted,” Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement on Saturday.
Supposedly the US was vetoing the Algerian plan in order to allow time for sensitive negotiations over the release of hostages. But if the US is calling for a ceasefire at the same time, it seems clear we’re not actually that optimistic about the negotiations.