OPINION:
To call President Biden’s Israel policy incoherent is charitable at best (“Biden places restrictions on Israel, but not on Hamas,” web, March 13). I suspect, though, there is something else lurking behind the curtain that should worry most of the world.
Mr. Biden in foreign policy is Obama part three, and as such he has brought in most of the Obama team. His dislike of Israel is plain to see. but the outright hatred of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is simply out in the open. Hamas’ war against Israel has vexed the Biden administration, which has tried to satisfy the Jewish and Middle Eastern voter bloc alike.
The use of a floating dock supported by the U.S. Army, however, is a step that should be getting a lot of very close scrutiny. It puts U.S. military personnel in the war zone, and it is likely Hamas will try to stage an attack and blame it on the Israel Defense Forces to give Mr. Biden an excuse to drop Israel.
But there is also something else everyone is ignoring: Mr. Biden’s attempts to put former President Barack Obama’s Iran deal in place was a total failure, despite the $6 billion bribe. The Saudis brushed off Secretary of State Antony Blinken when the latter tried to take over the Abraham Accords. Now there’s the war.
I think there is a a serious effort underway inside the administration and State Department to simply walk away from the Middle East. Why? Because Mr. Blinken has been sending his top minions to Turkey for months, trying to work out a deal. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made it plain he would like to rebuild the Turkish empire, and Turkey does in fact have a working relationship with Iran, including agreement on “zones of influence.” At the same time, the Arabs do not want Turkey involved, having fought for decades to escape Turkish rule.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken want a way to simply wash their hands of this and future wars. Letting Turkey and Iran divvy up the Middle East and then dealing with the problems would, in their pea-sized brains, let the U.S. walk away. That would punt the ball on responsibility for the Palestinians. There have been a number of parties quietly pushing for Mr. Biden to accept the “innocent civilians” as refugees, but that would be certain political suicide. Since not one Arab country will let even a single Palestinian in from Gaza, Mr. Biden is caught.
Cutting a deal to give hegemony to Turkey probably seems like a brilliant solution to the team that oversaw the Afghanistan meltdown.
But it would rapidly lead to a regional war, this time with nukes. These dim light bulbs have no idea the danger they are flirting with.
JAMES BARENDS
Wayne, Pennsylvania
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