President Joe Biden participates in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, Wednesday, September 20, 2023 at the InterContinental Barclay in New York City. (Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith)
Israel, Don’t Depend on US Largesse
The President warned Israel that there was no way to conduct a military operation in Rafah, Gaza’s southern-most city, with a civilian population of 1.3 million:
“We’re walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas,” protested Joe Biden as justification for his administration’s arms embargo.
Targeted, Precise Attacks
Even as evacuation got underway, writes the WSJ, Secretary of State Antony Blinken repeated that Israel had no credible plan. National Security advisor Jack Sullivan chimed in as well, “We still believe it would be a mistake to launch a major military operation into the heart of Rafah.”
When the evacuation began to work, the Biden team moved on to criticizing Israeli readiness for the “day after” the main fighting, as if success in Rafah were a foregone conclusion.
The White House Claims Credit
“It’s fair to say that the Israelis have updated their plans. They’ve incorporated many of the concerns that we have expressed,” a senior U.S. official told reporters. He also said the Rafah operation might create “opportunities for getting the hostage deal back on track.”
Costs of Maneuvering
“This Administration never supports anything we do until we do it,” according to a senior Israeli official.
To win Mr. Biden’s consent, the Israelis first had to advance and succeed.
But the delay his opposition caused has dragged out the war to all but Hamas’s detriment.
Rafah remains critical to any day-after plan since nothing can work if Hamas governs territory with military battalions and controls the Egyptian border.
Israel has already discovered 50 tunnels crossing from Rafah into Egypt for smuggling. Once troops finish clearing a buffer zone along the border, Israel can cut off Hamas from Egypt, a key to strangling whatever insurgency may follow.
Who Will Control Rafah?
… nothing can work if Hamas governs territory with military battalions and controls the Egyptian border. Israel has already discovered 50 tunnels crossing from Rafah into Egypt for smuggling. Once troops finish clearing a buffer zone along the border, Israel can cut off Hamas from Egypt, a key to strangling whatever insurgency may follow.
Israel liberals won’t like it any more than will Israel right-wingers, promises the WSJ’s EB:
Israel probably will need to fill the vacuum in Gaza for a time. … the purpose would be to make way for local governance.
The politics, there and here, explain why it has been easier to pretend there’s no plan at all.
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