Normal presidential campaigns don’t turn on crises in far-off countries, but the turmoil that erupted in Israel poses a threat to Joe Biden‘s claim that his knowledge of international affairs is enhancing global security.
According to experts, the strikes carried out by Hamas fighters reveal weaknesses in Israeli intelligence while also raising new concerns about what the United States is receiving in return for the time invested in developing alliances and surveillance capabilities in the unstable Middle East.
Bruce Riedel, a veteran CIA officer and expert on the Middle East, argued that both the Israelis and the Americans had made a “huge intelligence failure.” “I see no reason to think that Washington or Jerusalem anticipated this at all,” the author writes.
Biden, who is currently the president and has vowed to improve foreign policy competence, is currently the target of political criticism because the number of international problems is growing under his administration.
According to polls, Americans are becoming less supportive of the Biden administration’s arming of Ukraine in its protracted conflict with Russia. By 2025, a U.S. Air Force officer said in a document, there may be a war between the two countries.
Additionally, a Biden administration plan to improve ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel may fail. The Saudis may lose interest in strengthening ties with the Jewish state if Palestinian civilians in Gaza are killed during Israel’s conflict with Hamas.
According to Riedel, “the [Biden] administration has expended a significant amount of effort to work on an agreement for Israeli-Saudi normalization.” “That’s probably no longer a viable option. The Saudi populace won’t be ready to embrace a normalization accord until images of hundreds of Palestinian casualties, including women and children, surface.
After Hamas launched its strike, Republican presidential hopefuls were quick to criticize Biden. The campaign of GOP front-runner Donald Trump released a statement that concentrated on the $6 billion in Iranian oil income that had been blocked by sanctions imposed by the United States. Israel is currently at war with Hamas, which Iran has historically supported. Iran agreed to provide the funds in return for allowing the release of five American prisoners.
The Trump team released a statement that read, “President Trump warned that Joe Biden’s weakness & $6 billion payout to Iran would “be utilized for terrorism all over the Middle East.” “Exactly that is taking place right now,”
There is no proof that the $6 billion contributed to the funding of the assaults. Under the restrictions set on its release, the funds may only be utilized for medical, food, and humanitarian needs, according to American officials. However, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stated that his administration would choose how to use the $6 billion in an interview with NBC News.
Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House, wrote on social media, “These funds have absolutely nothing to do with these horrific attacks today, and this is not the time to spread disinformation.”
As the conflict with Hamas progresses, Biden’s approach to Iran is likely to garner more attention. As he attempts to resurrect a nuclear agreement negotiated when he served as Barack Obama’s vice president, he has come under pressure from Arab nations and Israel to adopt a tougher stance toward Iran. Trump reneged on the agreement, which was designed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, in 2018.
Another Republican candidate for president, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, claimed in a video posted on Saturday that Biden’s policies “have gone easy on Iran and helped fill their coffers.”
DeSantis declared, “We need to stand up to Iran and we are going to stand with Israel as they expel Hamas.”
In the early hours of Saturday, Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about one of the most dangerous foreign policy crises of his time. Later that day, Obama delivered a succinct broadcast speech from the White House in which he vowed that America will always defend Israel while admonishing its adversaries not to “exploit these attacks.”
Biden stated, “The world is watching.”
“Everything that happens on a president’s watch has the potential of lifting them up or becoming a problem,” foreign policy analyst and former senior trade official David Rothkopf said in an interview. These are the kinds of issues that have put prior administrations to the test and caused them to stumble. But up to this point, just like in previous cases, the Biden administration’s response has been exactly what you would desire.
Whether Biden will maintain the commitment he showed in his speech on Saturday is an unanswered question. Israel is prepared to launch a terrifying retaliation. In light of pictures showing Hamas fighters enticing Israeli residents into Gaza by capturing them, its citizens might anticipate as much.
In an interview, David Friedman, who served as the United States ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration, said, “This is really something that Israel hasn’t experienced.” Speaking from Jerusalem, Friedman claimed that since the start of the battle, he had heard ten air raid sirens, pushing his family into a bomb bunker. People are upset, outraged, and feeling vulnerable and exposed in ways they haven’t in decades, I can tell you that much.
Israel has received international pressure to retreat from previous conflicts with Hamas. Progressive members of Congress might ask Biden to demand that Netanyahu step down if civilian casualties increase in Gaza this time.
The Biden administration “ought to encourage Israel and stand by Israel to do what Israel thinks is required to restore deterrence & stability to its own country,” according to Friedman. Israel will experience “backlash,” according to this. There is a great deal of interest among many of Israel’s foes — and, regrettably, some of its allies — in believing that Israel acts excessively.
An uncomfortable history Biden has had with Netanyahu has added to his problems.
Netanyahu was against the Iran nuclear deal and welcomed Trump’s “bold decision” to leave it when he did so. Additionally, he enthused that Trump’s decision to relocate the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the contentious Holy City of Jerusalem in 2018 had made “history.”
Although Biden had claimed he and Netanyahu were “buddies” during a contentious period in the Obama administration, tensions between the two men reached a boiling point early this year. The controversial revamping of Israel’s judiciary proposed by the prime minister, which would give him and his conservative and religious friends more influence over the Supreme Court, was publicly rejected by Biden. At the time, Biden spoke out in response to the action’s large demonstrations in Israel.
“I’m quite concerned, just as many ardent supporters of Israel. And I worry that they won’t understand this correctly. They can’t keep going in this direction, Biden remarked in March.
In addition, Biden said he didn’t anticipate bringing Netanyahu to the White House any time soon.
With Israel now facing a serious new military threat, Biden’s job has just gotten more difficult: He must handle a sensitive relationship with a wartime prime minister, aid Ukraine in repelling Russian invasion, and win a race against Republicans determined to portray his foreign policy as a failure.
He is capable, in his own estimation.
When asked about his credentials earlier this year, Biden said: “I’m going to say something outrageous. Including Dr. [Henry] Kissinger, who served as secretary of state during the Nixon administration, I believe I have the most up-to-date knowledge of American foreign affairs of anyone still alive. That is what I have been doing for the past 270 years of my life.