While President Biden has been very publicly supportive of Israel since the Hamas attacks of October 7th, on Tuesday night, he publicly accused Israel of engaging in "indiscriminate bombing".
To be precise, Biden stated:
Israel’s security can rest on the United States, but right now it has more than the United States. It has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of the world supporting them. They’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place.
Biden made these remarks at a campaign fundraiser of largely Jewish Democratic donors. These remarks are simply unhelpful.
At the very minimum, Biden is sending mixed messages. If Biden honestly believes Israel is engaging in indiscriminate bombing, does he mean to say Israel is wantonly targeting civilians? If that is what he is saying, then let us see evidence to support that assertion.
As for losing world support, it seems to me that Israel never had it in the first place. Israel has been a pariah at the UN for decades. The UN General Assembly vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza is merely the latest in the long line of such public upbraiding.
Now it is true that the Biden Administration voted against this resolution as well as an earlier UN Security Council resolution concerning a Gaza ceasefire. But perhaps it is a warning to Israel that next time the U.S. might change its vote.
Mind you, it wasn't so long ago when Biden likened Hamas to ISIS. I don't recall there being an international demand for a ceasefire against ISIS nor would have such a proposal been seriously entertained. But when it comes to the Jews....
President Biden's remarks are reminiscent of Vice-President Harris' remarks earlier this month when she lamented too many Palestinian civilians had been killed. You either want Israel to destroy Hamas or you do not. If you genuinely want Israel to destroy Hamas, then you are going to have civilian casualties so long as Hamas uses its general populace as human shields. And if you don't want Israel to destroy Hamas then that means you want Israel to accept Hamas. Those are cold facts.
Perhaps Biden is feeling the heat of losing support among Arab and Muslim Americans. But he cannot risk going wobbly on Israel because defeated, former President Trump will sense an opportunity and take it despite his praise of Hezbollah, personal attacks against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and claims that Israel had let down America only days after Hamas attack.
The truth is people have short memories and if a pro-Israel voter's most recent memory is that of Trumps standing by Israel while Biden goes wobbly, then chances are that voter will cast their lot with Trump.
From where I sit, a vote for Trump is no option at all. Aside from being an existential threat to American democracy and a common criminal, Trump is mercurial and holds a grudge against Netanyahu for not peddling his election conspiracy claims. And as long as the virulently anti-Israel Tucker Carlson is being seriously considered as a potential running mate or as a member of his cabinet, who can say Trump won't make his turn against Israel complete?
The best one can hope for is that Biden won't repeat such remarks again. The fact that White House personnel like John Kirby and Matthew Miller are trying to clean up what Biden said might be an encouraging sign. Indeed, Miller went as far as to say "indiscriminate" "is not an assessment we've made". But Biden did use the word indiscriminate, and the damage has been done. In which case, it probably won't be a last time they'll be called upon as a cleanup crew.
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