Biden makes more cosmetic gestures for restraint while he ups support to Israel’s Gaza war

Noa Landau argues that the Biden Administration is trying to save Israel from itself by imposing what are essentially symbolic sanctions on some groups of what look to many Israelis to be nasty actors on the extremist right. (1) Like a few violent settlers and recently a notoriously rogue IDF unit, the Netzah Yehuda battalion.

Landau argues that this US policy “actually reflects America's deep, abiding trust in Israel's institutions as a whole.” But she also argues that it’s over-optimistic on that score:

On the face of it, the argument that, through these measures, the United States is declaring that it no longer believes in the ability of Israeli law enforcement to prosecute and punish the perpetrators, or in the ability of the political system to denounce and eliminate the violence, is correct.

But at the same time, at a deeper political level, this distinction is designed to differentiate between mainstream Israel and its fringes, between nonpartisanship and extremism, and between the system as a whole and its supposedly isolated flaws. Between the settlement expansion policy, which the United States has never been able to stop, and specific violent settlers.

But the problems with Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians, she points out, aren’t just a matter of a few bad apples. She believes that approach encourages Israeli support for the Netanyahu government’s brutal ethnic-cleansing policies against the Palestinians in Gaza.

[W]hat [the] Israeli majority shares is an unwillingness to accept the argument that everything that happens in Gaza is part of a deliberate Israeli policy. As reflected in the American sanctions policy, for them, as far as intentions, Israel is the "good guy" – and any contradictory conclusion is a localized glitch that can and should be addressed.

Therefore, the American policy of distinction, which should ostensibly be welcomed, also means intensifying this denial. If the United States believes that the problem is only on the fringes, it is easier for these Israelis to imagine that if only these extreme behaviors disappeared from our lives, Israel will "return" to being a magnificent liberal democracy.

That is, without violent right-wing activists the occupation can be accommodated, and without the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, the IDF will go back to being the most moral army in the world. [my emphasis]

But this few-bad-apples policy may well be directed primarily at American public opinion, specifically opinion among Democratic core constituencies. The Biden Administration needs to look to voters at home like it is doing something to restrain the ugliest aspects of Israeli policy.

Occasional expressions of regret over this or that part of Israeli policy or sanctions that make it harder for some of those “bad apples” to use their credit cards have to be weighed against Biden’s still essentially unconditional support of the war, including a brand new injection of money and weapons. And even conducting joint military operations with Israel against Iran’s retaliatory strike responding to Israel’s direct attack on an Iranian consulate in Syria.

As a national-security partner, the State of Israel has basically always been more of a liability than an asset. But US administrations prior to Trump and now Biden were willing to insist on restraint on Israel’s part. Trump and Biden have both followed a policy of unconditional support of Israel.

And with a character like Bibi Netanyahu in charge, that is not a good position for the US to be in.

A Haaretz editorial has an idea of one more meaningful policy in an piece title, “The US Must Recognize Palestine.”

The attempt to portray the Palestinians' application for UN membership as a substitute for negotiations between the parties is an Israeli manipulation. First, because there is no contradiction between the two, but more important, because Israel is not taking a single step that would seem to advance direct negotiations with the Palestinian people, on whose behalf it rejects unilateral recognition.

For 15 years – since 2009 – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refrained from all negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and he did everything possible to thwart the efforts of then U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to reach an agreement during the Obama administration.

Consequently, it is not at all clear why the U.S. is embracing Israeli opposition to a move that advances the desired diplomatic solution. (2)

Notes:

(1) Landau, Noa (2024): America's Mobilizing to Save Israel From Itself and Its Extremists. But There's a Problem. Haaretz 04/24/2024. <https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-04-24/ty-article-opinion/.premium/the-u-s-policy-of-distinction-intensifies-israelis-denial/0000018f-0c22-d6a0-a9ef-ccbe55d30000> (Accessed: 2024-24-04).

(2) Editorial. Haaretz. The U.S. Must Recognize Palestine 04/24/2024. <https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2024-04-24/ty-article-opinion/.premium/the-u-s-must-recognize-palestine/0000018f-0c80-df8a-afcf-af9b26340000>