Biden, Bibi, and the Elusive Cease-Fire

Today on TAP: There will be no deal in time for the beginning of Ramadan tonight, and Netanyahu’s defiance keeps bleeding both Gaza and Biden’s re-election chances.

by

On Saturday, President Biden escalated the pressure on Netanyahu, and Bibi threw it back in his face. Biden, speaking on MSNBC, declared that Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than he is helping Israel.” He called for a prolonged cease-fire followed by a regional settlement, and said that Netanyahu’s plan to invade Rafah in southern Gaza, where at least a million refugees are huddled, would be crossing a red line.

Biden also said he would be prepared to go to Israel and address the Knesset, but ducked the question of whether an invitation would have to come from Netanyahu. (When Bibi addressed Congress, he didn’t ask Biden’s permission.)

It didn’t take Netanyahu long to blow Biden off. On Sunday, in an interview with a Politico correspondent, Netanyahu, when asked whether Israeli forces would move into Rafah, replied: “We’ll go there. We’re not going to leave them. You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is? That October 7 doesn’t happen again.” Dousing Biden’s call for a pause, Netanyahu added the preposterous condition that a hostage release would have to come first.

More from Robert Kuttner

Netanyahu, who is monumentally unpopular with Israelis for his lapses in letting the October 7 massacre happen, has two pitches with his public. First, only Bibi’s policies can protect Israel from Hamas; and second, only Bibi can stand up to American pressure. And so far, he has played Biden like a violin, or maybe played Biden for a fool.

So now it’s up to Biden to call Bibi’s bluff. Otherwise the slaughter in Gaza continues and we get no closer to a regional settlement.

The proposed floating pier off the Gaza coast to deliver relief supplies is no substitute for a real policy. It serves Bibi’s design. It will take six weeks to build, during which time tens of thousands more Gazans can starve or be killed. Letting Israel keep bombing civilians while increasing relief supplies is a policy worthy of Jonathan Swift.

Biden’s “hot mic” moment, supposedly revealing his exasperation with Bibi, was hardly a toughening of U.S. policy, but it has to win some kind of mixed-metaphor award. The president said that he and the Israeli prime minister needed to have a “come to Jesus” moment.

Whatever else Bibi does, he is not coming to Jesus. Whether he comes to his senses, or comes to a long-overdue ouster from politics, is entirely dependent on whether Biden has the courage of his convictions.

A second Trump administration will cement a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court for a generation, and put our collective future in the hands of someone who will be virtually unchecked by our institutions. The country has shifted rightward, and the reverberations will ensue for potentially the next few decades. In this climate, a robust independent media ecosystem will be more important than ever. We're committed to bringing you the latest news on how Trump's agenda will actually affect the American people, shining a light on the stories corporate media overlooks and keeping the public informed about how power really works in this country.

Quality journalism is expensive to produce, and we don't have corporate backers to rely on to fund what we do. Everything we do is thanks to our incredible community of readers, who chip in a few dollars at a time to make our work possible. Any amount you give today will help us continue reporting on what matters to our democracy.

You can help power this newsroom by making a one-time donation or by becoming a member today.