Yesterday, Joe Biden deigned to take a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was reportedly their first conversation in more than a month. This was probably an awkward conversation for Biden and the only topic of discussion was undoubtedly the war in Gaza. The result of the call was an agreement for Bibi Netanyahu to send a delegation of Israeli officials to Washington to meet in person with some of their counterparts from the Biden administration. They will reportedly discuss Israel’s upcoming offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. While it’s possible that some productive work might be accomplished, it’s unclear why such a trip needed to be made in person during this critical juncture in the war. It will also highlight the deteriorating relationship between Biden and Netanyahu, neither of whom will attend the meeting. (Associated Press)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss with Biden administration officials a prospective Rafah operation as each side is looking to make “clear to the other its perspective,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
The agreement to hold talks about Rafah came as Biden and Netanyahu spoke Monday, their first interaction in more than a month, as the divide has grown between allies over the food crisis in Gaza and Israel’s conduct during the war, according to the White House. Sullivan said the talks will happen in the coming days and are expected to involve military, intelligence and humanitarian experts.
The White House has been skeptical of Netanyahu’s plan to carry out an operation in the southern city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as Israel looks to eliminate Hamas following the militant group’s deadly Oct. 7 attack.
This meeting obviously could have been conducted online through secure communications channels, so there is more than a little political theater playing out. American intelligence agencies are always collecting data from the Middle East, so perhaps they might have something of value to share with their Israeli counterparts. But the IDF has quite the intelligence-gathering network also and they’re right there on the ground.
Perhaps this meeting is intended to demonstrate that the relationship between Israel and the United States hasn’t cratered completely. But Netanyahu surely was unable to ignore Joe Biden’s politicized decision to endorse Chuck Schumer’s call for new elections in Israel, potentially leading to Netanyahu’s removal from office in the middle of a war. Bibi has already offered a polite rebuke to Schumer, so that rebuttal could be seen as having been directed to Biden as well.
Unfortunately for all concerned, Joe Biden is playing politics while Netanyahu is fighting for his nation’s literal survival. Uncle Joe’s plunging support among Islamic and Arab-Americans, particularly in the swing state of Michigan, is driving his reactions at this point. He’s expressing concern over the possibility of civilian casualties and famine in Rafah, where well over a million Gazans are currently taking shelter. It’s a legitimate concern and one that Netanyahu is clearly already taking into consideration. But Rafah is also where the last battalions of Hamas fighters are reportedly hiding out. If you want to destroy Hamas utterly, you must go to where they are, and that, unfortunately, means Rafah. As we’ve said here endlessly, bad things happen in war.
The Biden administration doesn’t see it that way. When Jake Sullivan addressed yesterday’s phone call, he said that American officials were prepared to offer Israel “an alternative approach that would target key Hamas elements in Rafah and secure the Egypt-Gaza border without a major ground invasion.” But what would that look like? The Hamas fighters aren’t going to simply come walking out of their terror tunnels with a white flag and turn over the remaining hostages. They have no plans to surrender. They’ve had months to do that but have refused. If Biden’s team actually has a viable plan to accomplish all of Israel’s strategic goals in Rafah without a full invasion, I’ll be the first to applaud them and I’m confident Netanyahu would be all ears. But it just doesn’t seem likely at this point.