2024-04-10 19:32:21
US President Joe Biden continues to promote the strategy of separating Israel – as a state – from its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in order to mitigate the impact of what is happening in the Gaza Strip on Tel Aviv’s global image on the one hand, and improve his own electoral position on the other hand, according to experts.
Biden recently criticized Netanyahu’s behavior in the war and said that he did not agree with his approach to the war, and that the time had come for a temporary truce and the introduction of more aid, stressing that there was nothing preventing that.
According to international affairs researcher Stephen Hayes, the American tone that has become tougher toward the war “does not mean an actual change in the American position on it, but rather reflects Washington’s impatience with Netanyahu.”
Separating Netanyahu from Israel
During his participation in the program “Gaza… What Next?”, Hayes said that Biden is trying to separate Netanyahu as a person from Israel as a state, because he cannot do much during the current period.
Hayes believes that the strategy of separating Israel from its prime minister has become adopted in American policy circles, especially following Netanyahu deliberately insulted Biden more than once during this war.
According to the spokesman, the US President “is still able to limit the sale of weapons, exert some pressure on Israel, and make more efforts to reach an agreement, even a short-term one, between the two parties to the conflict.”
The senior researcher at Al Jazeera Center for Political Studies, Dr. Liqaa Makki, agrees with Hayes’ statement, but believes that the current war has revealed the depth of the changes that the United States is experiencing, especially at the level of the Democratic Party.
Despite its firm support for Israel, the progressive movement within the Democratic Party, led by Representative Bernie Sanders, has gained more momentum and strength and has become influential in electoral decisions in a way that affects the decisions of the US administration, says Makki.
The leader of the Zionist lobby in Washington’s public criticism of Netanyahu “gave Biden absolute freedom to direct criticism of the Israeli prime minister,” according to Makki, who stressed that the conflict between Biden and Netanyahu is largely personal.
Overthrowing Netanyahu is still a long way off
While he acknowledges the importance of this shift in American discourse, researcher on Israeli affairs Muhannad Mustafa believes that overthrowing the Netanyahu government is still far away, not only because he has a cohesive majority in the Knesset, but also because the majority of Israelis support right-wing behavior toward Gaza.
In addition, the Israelis support Netanyahu’s policy and do not support his person, according to Mustafa, who confirms that extremists in Israel “have reached the point of describing Washington as an enemy of Israel simply because Biden expressed some reservations.”
In addition to the above, 64% of the Israeli right believe that Israel must move independently regardless of what the United States wants or says, which reflects the lack of awareness of this trend – which supports Netanyahu – of the nature of the relations between the two sides, in Mustafa’s opinion.
Therefore, what Biden is doing once morest Netanyahu may be good from a propaganda standpoint, but it does not mean the overthrow of his government in the short term, at least, from Mustafa’s point of view, who confirms, for example, that the process of invading Rafah has become an Israeli decision, whether Washington agrees or not.
At this point specifically – the Rafah point – Mustafa says that Israel “has come to link victory in the war with the entry of Rafah, including Benny Gantz, who represents Netanyahu’s most dangerous opponent, and who informed the Americans that the entry of Rafah is inevitably coming.”
Gantz himself is not someone who can change the situation if Netanyahu inherits, because he does not have a clear vision for the followingmath of the war, in addition to not having the courage to fully confront the prime minister, according to Mustafa.
Finally, Hayes says that he does not know whether the policy of separating Netanyahu from Israel will achieve results in favor of stopping the war or not, but he believes that opening the discussion regarding supporting Israel “is considered a good thing because this issue has not been the subject of discussion in the past.”
Hayes also believes that Biden will continue to focus on Netanyahu’s political opponents and will try to take advantage of the state of incompatibility that exists within the war council, without stopping his support for Israel in an effort to appease Arab voters who will not vote for him in important states such as Michigan, which will affect the course of the war in one way or another. Another, he said.
Dangerous deal
Aside from attempts to weaken Netanyahu, Makki fears that the Israeli Prime Minister will exploit this American attack to his advantage if the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas refuses to reach an agreement regarding the prisoners.
Makki believes that Netanyahu may hold Biden responsible for giving Hamas political weight if the latter refuses to reach an agreement, which requires the movement to act very carefully during the negotiations “because Washington wants to lure it into agreeing to a solution that does not guarantee an honorable cessation of fighting.”
Makki concluded by saying, “Any cessation of fighting currently is in Israel’s favor, as it is involved in Gaza despite the suffering of the Palestinians,” noting that the proposed truce period, which may be extended, “will give Israel the opportunity to reorganize itself politically, militarily, and morally with the West.”
Therefore, the matter “carrys great danger because they may prolong the truce to give Israel this opportunity while not setting a vision for stopping the war completely and rebuilding the Strip.”
1712780496
#Experts #Biden #directs #criticism #Netanyahu #order #preserve #Israels #image #globally #Program #news
