Biden’s Diplomacy Faces Setbacks Amid Gaza War and Hezbollah Strikes  

Featured & Cover Biden's Diplomacy Faces Setbacks Amid Gaza War and Hezbollah Strikes  

A year after the October 7 attacks and the beginning of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, U.S. President Joe Biden became the first sitting president to visit Israel during wartime. During his visit, he told Israel, “You are not alone,” but also warned its leadership not to make the same mistakes the U.S. did after 9/11.

In September of this year, Biden once again addressed the situation during the United Nations meeting in New York, urging restraint between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, responded defiantly, claiming Israel’s reach extended throughout the region. Less than two hours later, Israeli forces used American-supplied “bunker buster” bombs to strike southern Beirut, killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. This airstrike marked a significant turning point in the ongoing conflict since Hamas’s attack on Israel.

Biden’s diplomatic efforts appeared increasingly futile in the aftermath of the bombing, which used U.S.-supplied weapons. Over the past year, I have witnessed firsthand the complexities of U.S. diplomacy, following Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his trips back to the Middle East. Blinken has been at the center of these efforts, attempting to broker a ceasefire for the release of hostages in Gaza, but with little success so far.

The stakes in Gaza remain high. A year after Hamas broke through Israel’s militarized fence, killing over 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping 250 people, many hostages are still in captivity, including seven U.S. citizens. Some of them are believed to be dead. Israel’s retaliatory strikes have devastated Gaza, killing nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry. The region has been reduced to ruins, with tens of thousands displaced, missing, or facing hunger.

As the war escalates, the conflict has expanded into the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, and last week, Iran fired 180 missiles at Israel, retaliating for Nasrallah’s assassination. This development threatens to engulf the region in broader conflict.

Diplomatic Struggles and Limitations

Throughout the conflict, the Biden administration has attempted to both support and restrain Netanyahu. However, its efforts to defuse tensions and achieve a ceasefire have been consistently thwarted. Biden’s administration claimed that U.S. pressure altered the course of Israel’s military operations. This is likely a reference to the belief that the invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza was less severe than it could have been, despite the extensive destruction there.

Before the invasion, Biden temporarily paused a shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs to Israel in an effort to prevent a full-scale assault. This decision prompted backlash from Republicans in Washington and Netanyahu himself, who criticized it as an “arms embargo.” Though Biden partially lifted the suspension, it was never reinstated. The State Department asserts that U.S. involvement has facilitated more humanitarian aid to Gaza, despite the ongoing humanitarian crisis and accusations of Israel blocking shipments. “It’s through the intervention and the hard work of the United States that we’ve been able to get humanitarian assistance into those in Gaza, which is not to say that this is… mission accomplished,” stated department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Blinken has taken on the brunt of diplomatic efforts in the region, making ten trips to the Middle East since October, while the CIA has worked behind the scenes to broker a Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. However, many attempts to close a deal have fallen short. On Blinken’s ninth visit, in August, optimism about a potential agreement quickly soured. In Doha, Blinken was informed that the Emir of Qatar, a key player in communicating with Hamas, was too ill to meet him. Although officials later claimed they had spoken by phone, the trip ended in failure after Netanyahu insisted on keeping Israeli troops along Gaza’s border with Egypt, a deal-breaker for Hamas and Egypt. A U.S. official accused Netanyahu of deliberately sabotaging the agreement.

During Blinken’s tenth visit to the region, he notably avoided visiting Israel, a sign of mounting frustrations and stalled progress.

Criticisms and Defense of U.S. Strategy

For critics, the Biden administration’s call for an end to the war, while supplying Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, is either a failure to apply leverage or a blatant contradiction. “To say [the administration] conducted diplomacy is true in the most superficial sense… they never made any reasonable effort to change the behavior of one of the main actors – Israel,” said former intelligence officer Harrison J. Mann, who resigned in protest of U.S. support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

However, Biden’s supporters argue that his diplomacy has made important gains, pointing to last November’s truce, which led to the release of over 100 hostages in Gaza. Additionally, U.S. officials claim the administration prevented an Israeli invasion of Lebanon earlier in the conflict, despite the ongoing exchanges of rocket fire between Hezbollah and Israel. Senator Chris Coons, a Biden loyalist, emphasized the importance of Biden’s efforts, stating, “He has been successful in preventing an escalation… despite repeated and aggressive provocation by the Houthis, by Hezbollah, by the Shia militias in Iraq.”

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also supported Biden’s approach, acknowledging his unprecedented support for Israel, including deploying U.S. military resources to the region. Yet Olmert criticized Netanyahu for repeatedly obstructing Biden’s diplomacy, attributing the failure to Netanyahu’s reliance on far-right ultranationalists in his government, who oppose any ceasefire. Olmert believes Netanyahu’s political alliances make it difficult for him to agree to a ceasefire, as it would weaken his coalition. “Ending the war as part of an agreement for the release of hostages means a major threat to Netanyahu, and he’s not prepared to accept it,” said Olmert.

Netanyahu, however, has denied blocking any ceasefire deals, insisting that he was in favor of U.S.-backed plans but that Hamas repeatedly changed its demands.

The Biden-Netanyahu Relationship

The relationship between Biden and Netanyahu is complex, with decades of history between them. While Biden is a passionate supporter of Israel, his critics argue that this stance has limited his ability to leverage real change. Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in the U.S. to denounce Biden’s policies, with many carrying signs calling him “Genocide Joe.”

Rashid Khalidi, Professor Emeritus of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, claims that Biden’s view of Israel was shaped by a time when the Jewish state was seen as being in existential danger, resulting in an outdated perspective on the region’s dynamics. Khalidi noted that many young Americans today, exposed to images of Gaza through social media, have a very different view. “They know what the people putting stuff on Instagram and TikTok in Gaza have shown them,” he said.

Looking ahead, the U.S. election could bring further change. Vice President Kamala Harris, who will face Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election, does not carry the same generational baggage as Biden. However, neither Harris nor Trump has outlined specific plans for resolving the conflict, leaving the future uncertain.

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