Just days ago, I wrote that Joe Biden was “inching toward a full betrayal of Israel.”
Forget the inching.
He’s now sprinting toward the final act.
And he’s doing it at the United Nations, a forum that has been openly promoting antisemitism for decades.
Biden’s latest salvo against the Jewish state is a new plan to have the UN Security Council support his demand for a cease-fire in Gaza.
The resolution’s text, now being circulated for reactions, reportedly does not put a deadline on a halt in the fighting and also calls for Hamas to release all the hostages it holds.
Both features are appealing, but ultimately serve only to mask the real danger of Biden’s gambit.
Micromanaging
For one thing, the White House, despite its growing criticism of Israel’s approach and especially of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has refrained from actually stopping his response to the Oct. 7 terrorist invasion.
While it has tried to micromanage military decisions, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken attending war cabinet meetings, it has not withheld assistance or otherwise penalized combat leaders for refusing to follow American requests.
Another sign of restraint is that the US has vetoed three anti-Israel Security Council resolutions.
Just Tuesday, Algeria sponsored one demanding an immediate cease-fire, which gained 13 votes, with Britain abstaining, making it clear that America is Israel’s only defender.
But that defense is on life support now that Biden is jumping on the cease-fire bandwagon.
The widespread assumption is that once the hostages were released, he would lead the charge to make the temporary fighting halt a permanent one.
The logic would be to spare upwards of an estimated 1.4 million civilians gathered in Rafah, the last unconquered urban area in Gaza and where Israel has turned its focus.
But the effect would be to bring the war to a close before Israel can rout the final elements of Hamas hiding there, many in tunnels.
An Israeli assault could possibly lead many civilians, and some Hamas terrorists, to flee to Jordan and Egypt.