On Tuesday, after everything U.S. President Joe Biden has done for Israel since October 7, here was the Israeli prime minister standing all made-up and festive in front of a camera, pretending to be distraught, faking a worried, grimacing expression and sanctimoniously accusing the United States of not standing with Israel.Breaking Points reports of this upcoming campaign speech for convicted felon Trump: (2)
After Biden provided over $14 billion in emergency military aid, after authorizing the sale of dozens of F-35 and F-15 jets, after dispatching two aircraft carrier strike groups to the Mediterranean, Benjamin Netanyahu just stood there and accused the Americans of holding up arms shipments.
Typically, he evoked Winston Churchill asking Franklin D. Roosevelt to send arms to a besieged Britain in 1941. Because, of course, Hamas is the German Wehrmacht and this is World War II. (1)
Netanyahu is a living example of what happens when a cynical and sleazy mediocrity with a knack for politics manages to stay in power for many years and does enormous damage without having the vision or the inclination to accomplish anything notably positive. But because of the highly unusual relationship of the US and Israel, Netanyahu has had and continues to have major influence in the informal Illiberal International that is trying to roll back democracy and undermine the rule of law, including the international version which Joe Biden likes to call the “rules-based international order.”
Pinkas finds Netanyahu’s past and current record contemptable:
This is the man who in 1991 arrogantly accused the Americans of getting it all wrong in the Middle East and was designated persona non grata by then-Secretary of State James Baker III. The man who, in a House of Representatives hearing in 2002, advised the Americans to invade Iraq because it would stabilize and democratize the Middle East. The man who influenced then-President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 because "there's a better deal." Now he is again blaming the United States and dares compare it to Britain in 1941, before the German invasion of the Soviet Union and Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.It’s a shame and a tragedy that President Biden has been willing to play along with Netanyahu’s cynical game since October 7. And Pinkas reminds us that Netanyahu still hopes to maneuver the US into a war with Iran:
Seemingly detached and untethered from reality, Netanyahu knew exactly what he was doing on Tuesday. In fact, Biden was warned that this was coming as early as November – and again in December, January and every month since. The prime minister was deliberately planning a confrontation with the Americans so he could blame Biden for his failures. [my emphasis]
[T]hat's Netanyahu's manipulation: this war is actually against Iran [in Netanyahu’s preferred narrative], so how could Biden halt arms? The fact that the United States put on hold just one shipment of 3,500 bombs while armaments keep flowing is, of course, irrelevant to Netanyahu. In fact, the United States has given Israel, proportionately, much more than it gave Britain after World War II broke out when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939.This wretched character is set to give his Trump campaign speech before the full Congress in person on July 24. Yossi Verter puts it this way:
An angry Washington responded in the only way provocations of this type should be handled: by canceling and postponing some of the meetings and briefings, despite their urgency. Netanyahu also struck out at the U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who is running between Beirut and Jerusalem in a desperate attempt to prevent war. "A scolding conversation" was how his meeting with the prime minister was defined.Verter also emphasizes what Netanyahu’s play in American politics is about:
While Hochstein was wringing his hands in despair in front of the client, Jerusalem began broadcasting a new line: the U.S. should publicly state that it will make Hezbollah pay a price in the case of war. Yes, Netanyahu, the disobedient son who has spat in the face of his American parents time and time again, has now come to ask for more help. What do you mean? You did everything for us in Gaza, you need to do the same in Lebanon. The north and south are a set. (3)
Netanyahu is betting on the Republican candidate, providing him with arguments against the incumbent. The prime minister is willing to risk Biden refusing to meet him when he comes to address Congress in about a month (he himself might prefer no meeting). The main thing is to bow down to the Republicans and find a way back into the heart of the orange-haired madman. It's a crazy and irresponsible gamble by a crazy and irresponsible gambler. Even if Trump wins on November 5, before January 20, 2025 at 12:00, he remains nothing more than an ordinary citizen. For the next seven months, Biden sits in the White House, with full powers.Full powers that he has not been willing to use to put the brakes on Israel’s war against civilians in Gaza, which could very well soon expand to a full-on war with Lebanon.
And a main Haaretz editorial blasted Netanyahu’s behavior this way:
The prime minister's mendacious nature is well-known to Israeli citizens, and is horrifyingly appealing to many of his supporters, based on the twisted logic according to which Netanyahu is indeed a trickster, but he's our trickster, lying for our benefit. The problem is that no one buys these flawed personality goods outside Israel. When Netanyahu lies to the Americans, they get mad. (4)Biden and his team should be mad! But the problem is that Netanyahu doesn’t have to care whether they are angry or not as long as the US administration keeps provided effectively unconditional backing for all of Netanyahu’s reckless military actions.
Haaretz makes a pragmatic point about Netanyahu’s whining about arms deliveries, noting how compliant the Biden Administration has actually been to Israel in the current war:
This is not just a lie; it is the utmost ingratitude. Israel, and Netanyahu as its leader, should be grateful to the U.S., particularly to Biden, for his total mobilization in Israel's defense. Biden is more of a Zionist than some of the members of Israel's government. Where would Israel be without these weapons, ammunition and the real and diplomatic Iron Dome at the UN, and in facing international courts? [my emphasis]The risks of a wider war have definitely been growing:
The stark threats on Wednesday [June19] from Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, that nowhere in Israel would be safe in the event of a war, and that even Cyprus and other parts of the Mediterranean would be in danger was the latest salvo in a rhetorical barrage from both sides. …Hussein Ibish in an April analysis described the general situation:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israel would "turn Beirut into Gaza" in the event of a war. But a wider escalation could also overwhelm Israel's famed Iron dome missile defence system that has so far intercepted most of the hundreds of missiles fired by Hezbollah.
"My sense is that Hezbollah feels it has some leverage over the Israelis, because an escalating war - as much damage as it might do in Lebanon and Syria - would create terror in Israel," said Seth G. Jones, an analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "It would be a tall order for Israeli air defences to confront the widespread rocket arsenal coming from the north. It would be a huge problem." (5)
For Israeli hawks, a major blow against Hezbollah has never seemed more opportune, but Washington dreads the prospect because the prime directive of American policy on the Gaza war has been containment of the conflict, particularly regarding Lebanon. The Biden administration’s worry is that an all-out Israeli assault in Lebanon could end up dragging the U.S. and Iran into not just a regional conflagration but a direct confrontation. Indeed, Washington fears that scenario maybe just what some Israeli leaders want: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for years urged but failed to effect U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities. ...Ibish recalls that Israeli overestimation of their prospects in a conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon has been a problem for them in the past:
Israeli leaders have a further incentive. The lack of clarity about an endgame in Gaza, and what an incontrovertible win would even look like, makes the prospect of a quick, decisive campaign against Hezbollah all the more appealing. The Lebanese militia is a much more conventional force than Hamas, and some Israelis argue that inflicting losses and degrading Hezbollah’s military machine would be more readily quantifiable, providing a rapid, needed boost for Israel’s battered national morale. In the long run, they say, degrading, deterring, and humiliating the formidable Iranian proxy is much more important to Israel’s national security than neutralizing Hamas. [my emphasis] (6)
The logic of belligerence, however, risks obscuring its hubris. [US envoy Amos] Hochstein and his colleagues in the Biden administration might do well to remind Israeli leaders that, ever since Hezbollah was founded, following the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, each time the Israel Defense Forces have squared off against the organization, they have consistently encountered a more disciplined, organized, and competent adversary than they expected. Much, therefore, rides on Hochstein’s diplomacy to broker an Israeli-Hezbollah understanding. If that effort fails, President Joe Biden may be the only person alive who has any chance of saving Israel and Lebanon from a catastrophic and avoidable conflict. [my emphasis]Given Biden’s lack of success in restraining Netanyahu so far, and Netanyahu’s interest in a protracted war and in damaging Biden’s reelection prospects, it’s not especially comforting that think that Biden “may be the only person alive” that can prevent this wider war.
But he was able to prevent Israel’s act of war in attacking Iranian diplomatic facilities in Syria from escalating into a bigger war with Iran, for the moment.
Notes:
(1) Pinkas, Alon (2024): How Much More Proof Does Biden Need That Netanyahu Is Not a U.S. Ally? Haaretz 06/19/2024. <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-06-19/ty-article/.highlight/how-much-more-proof-does-biden-need-that-netanyahu-is-not-a-u-s-ally/00000190-30e8-d4fa-ad9d-ffe94ffa0000> (Accessed: 2024-21-06).
(2) Netanyahu FLAMES Biden, Demands MORE Weapons. Breaking Points YouTube channel 07/19/2024. <https://youtu.be/L0egNNQ0Xk0?si=nUDZAg8_8eAwZbuz> (Accessed: 2024-19-06).
(3) Verter, Yossi (2024): From Trump to Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu the Cynical Saboteur Picks All the Wrong Sides. Haaretz 06/21/2024. <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-06-21/ty-article/.premium/from-trump-to-ben-gvir-netanyahu-the-cynical-saboteur-picks-all-the-wrong-sides/00000190-371f-d6fa-abb4-77bfc96c0000> (Accessed: 2024-21-06).
(4) Editorial (2024): Israel's Ingrate Leader Is Wrecking Relations With Our Most Important Ally. Haaretz 06/20/2024. <https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2024-06-20/ty-article-opinion/israels-ingrate-leader-is-wrecking-relations-with-our-most-important-ally/00000190-371e-d700-a7f0-bffeb60b0000> (Accessed: 2024-21-06).
(5) Israel and Hezbollah faceoff raises risk of wider conflict. Reuters 06/21/2024. <https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hezbollah-faceoff-raises-risk-wider-conflict-2024-06-21/> (Accessed: 2024-21-06).
(6) Ibish, Hussein (2024): The Siren Call of an Israeli Invasion of Lebanon. The Atlantic Online 04/27/2024. <https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2024/04/siren-call-israeli-invasion-lebanon/678199/> (Accessed: 2024-21-06).
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