Etienne Laurent/AP Photo
A protester holds a poster calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, near the Dolby Theatre where the 96th Academy Awards ceremony was held, March 10, 2024, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.
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.
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.
