OPINION:
In his recent State of the Union address, President Biden made clear that he opposes Israel’s effort to unqualifiedly defeat Hamas, the terrorist organization that launched the unprovoked attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and continues to hold hostages, including Americans.
Mr. Biden adopted many of Hamas and its allies’ talking points. Pointedly, he focused not on Israel’s determination to bring the terrorist threat to its existence to a definitive end but to the alleged humanitarian crisis.
In the midst of the address, he admonished the leadership of Israel to alter its focus: “Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.” In other words, Israelis should prioritize the welfare of the people who inflicted such harm on them over their own security.
Rather than focus on bringing the conflict in the Gaza Strip to a prompt end by having Hamas release the over 100 hostages it has been holding for over four months and ordering that Hamas surrender and relinquish power, he blamed Israel. He focused his attention on reproaching Israel for its alleged lack of humanitarian concern. He then vowed that he would remedy the problem.
Seemingly, Mr. Biden forgot about the complexity of conducting a fight in a concentrated urban area where the inhabitants overwhelmingly support terrorists. Perhaps he also forgot that he is totally lacking in any understanding of military strategy — he has never served in the military — and that he has systematically been wrong in regard to every foreign policy initiative he has ever supported as a politician.
It was easy for Mr. Biden to criticize Israel. This was especially true after a number of Gaza residents were trampled to death by their fellow Palestinians as they sought to loot an aid convoy, and Israelis were compelled to shoot at looters in self-defense as they attacked Israeli soldiers. In keeping with Hamas’ strategy, the press painted the Israelis as killers.
Mr. Biden suggested that he knows better than Israel how to cope with the violence and disorder in Gaza.
The foolishness of his position did not take long to emerge. Within a short time following the State of the Union address, it became known that various nations had decided to take the delivery of so-called humanitarian assistance to Gaza into their own hands. Instead of relying on Israel to handle aid delivery, a complex task that Israel understands, Western supporters of Hamas determined to do this on their own.
This first effort demonstrated a poor understanding of the situation.
Parachute drops of food and other items were carried out (seemingly with the active involvement of the U.S.). Civilians in Gaza died as a result of the effort. A number of the parachutes intended to bring the aid down slowly failed to open. Five people were killed when aid items fell on them.
Now, Mr. Biden has determined that he will not only send other air shipments but that he will also have the U.S. military build a pier at the Gaza shore in order to have U.S. and other ships laden with goods deliver those goods from the sea. The president has assured the American people that no Americans will be on the ground in Gaza — except, of course, the American hostages being held by Hamas there.
The implausibility of this proposition is self-evident. Building a pier that actually attaches to the Gaza shore, where there are no port installations, will assuredly require manpower. The odds that Israel will allow the Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom sympathize with Hamas, to get their hands on construction materials that would likely be immediately handed over to Hamas are virtually nil.
Of even more concern is the likely use of this pier. Hamas has systematically used supplies entering Gaza to promote its terrorist agenda. This is the reason that, in the past, Israel has refused to allow the creation of port facilities along the Gaza coast. There is no reason to believe that Hamas will act differently if port facilities are built. In fact, we can expect the opposite, with the American-built pier certain to be used by Hamas to feed its militants to the detriment of other Gaza residents.
While Mr. Biden may feel a need to placate the pro-Hamas, antisemitic progressives in his party, he must not do so at the cost of delaying the release of American and Israeli hostages and to the detriment of Israel’s security. Providing aid to Gaza can only delay an end to the conflict since it strengthens Hamas and requires Israel to pursue its fight for a longer period of time. Furthermore, creating new facilities to permit a greater inflow of supplies into Gaza ensures that Hamas will be able to resist for much longer, which will mean more violence and death.
As has been the case throughout his career, Mr. Biden is making a major foreign policy mistake. In the guise of placating his left wing and of being perceived as a humanitarian, he is likely to cause far more harm. While the deaths of civilians caused by the aid that tumbled from the sky are a minor incident in the ongoing war, they are an important symbol of what not to do.
We have often been reminded that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It is especially paved with seeming good intentions that are intended to promote political objectives.
Mr. Biden needs to change course if he does not wish to perpetuate and perhaps aggravate the hell that the people of Gaza have created for themselves.
• Gerard Leval is a partner in the Washington office of a national law firm. He is the author of “Lobbying for Equality: Jacques Godard and the Struggle for Jewish Civil Rights During the French Revolution,” published by HUC Press.
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