2024-02-10 08:51:57
The tone has been hardening for weeks. But by deeming the Israeli response in Gaza “excessive”, Joe Biden has put his foot down, at a time when the international community fears a major offensive in Rafah.
This is the strongest criticism expressed by the American president towards his Israeli ally since the start in October of the war against Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip, even if the White House has made efforts Friday to minimize its scope.
And it reflects a growing divide between the Democratic president and the coalition government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes far-right ministers.
Observers agree that this should not affect the billions of dollars in US military aid to Israel – a new package of $14 billion is under consideration in Congress.
But American officials no longer hide their frustration with the way Israel is conducting the war which has entered its fifth month.
“I think, as you know, that the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been excessive,” the American president said Thursday evening during an impromptu exchange with journalists at the White House.
“There are many innocent people who are dying of hunger, many innocent people who are in difficulty, who are dying, and this must stop,” he added, emphasizing pressure “very strong, very very strong, so that humanitarian aid reaches Gaza.
Avoiding “a disaster”
In retaliation, Israel launched an offensive which left more than 27,940 dead in the Palestinian territory, the vast majority of them women, children and adolescents, according to the latest report published Friday by the Hamas Ministry of Health.
Joe Biden had already described Hamas’ response to a plan aimed at a new truce in Gaza in exchange for the release of the hostages still being held there as “excessive”.
His comment comes as the Israeli Prime Minister ordered the army to “prepare” an offensive on Rafah, the last refuge for those displaced by the war in the Gaza Strip.
In Washington, US officials said they had not seen preparations suggesting a “major offensive” or “imminent”, while warning of a “disaster”, fearing a scenario similar to that which unfolded in the North .
White House spokesperson Karine Jean Pierre stressed Friday that Mr. Biden had not “changed his position.”
Still, the Biden administration is visibly raising its voice and showing it. By taking, for example, to the great dismay of the Israeli government, sanctions against extremist settlers in the occupied West Bank, where the violence is “intolerable” according to the American president.
The American position oscillates between, on the one hand, showing support for Israel’s right to defend itself and, on the other, calling for the protection of civilians, without however supporting a lasting ceasefire.
At the same time, the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, who just returned from Israel on Thursday after a fifth tour in the region, is struggling to try to lay the foundations for the post-war period, accompanied by a Palestinian Authority. reform and a “pathway” towards the creation of a Palestinian state, as well as a possible normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
At this point, his efforts are rejected by Israel, at least publicly.
Anger in Arab countries
The Democratic president, who is campaigning for a second term in November, is clearly under pressure, both abroad and at home.
He faces anger in Arab countries where, according to a poll released Thursday, an overwhelming majority (82%) of people judge U.S. support for Israel “very negatively.”
And 81% believe that the United States is not really “serious” about the creation of a Palestinian state, according to this poll from the Arab Center Washington, carried out between December 12 and January 5 among a representative sample of 8 000 people in 16 Arab countries.
At home, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is offended by a policy deemed too pro-Israeli, against which Americans of Arab origin are up in arms.
Joe Biden is now confronted, during almost all of his public appearances, with demonstrators who wave Palestinian flags and chant slogans against “Genocide Joe”.
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