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April 10, 2024 - 1:00pm
The pullout of the vast majority of the IDF’s troops from Gaza in recent days has raised questions about whether Israel’s military campaign is ending with a whimper.
Amid pressure from its most important ally and weapon supplier, the US, the operation in Rafah — where Hamas’s remaining battalions are located — has not yet begun. But based on the remarks made by Israel’s top generals and politicians, it appears as though it will go ahead. After IDF troops left Khan Younis on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared: “We are but a step away from victory.”
Yet members of his governing coalition remain sceptical, with far-Right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responding that “if the Prime Minister decides to end the war without a broad attack on Rafah to defeat Hamas, he won’t have a mandate to continue serving.” Hours later, Netanyahu released a video in which he said “there is a date” for the operation.
The continued delay of the Rafah invasion also shows that Washington has greater sway than Israel’s leadership is willing to acknowledge — at least publicly. Out in the open and in meetings with Israeli officials, the White House’s criticisms have grown sharper and more threatening to the alliance with Israel. Indeed, the withdrawal of troops from Khan Younis came only three days after Netanyahu and Joe Biden spoke on the phone, with the American President saying that “US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by [its] assessment of Israel’s immediate action” to improve the humanitarian situation. He also called for an “immediate ceasefire”. Netanyahu’s office announced the opening of more crossings for humanitarian aid hours later.
A source familiar with Netanyahu’s thinking confirmed that there are several motivations behind the troop withdrawal: giving a chance for a hostage release and ceasefire deal; calming the Americans down; the beginning of Eid al-Fitr; and preparing for invading Rafah, which he said Netanyahu plans to do.
The Biden administration’s influence over the war effort in Gaza is apparent: the President and his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, have taken part in Israeli war cabinet meetings and this week’s increased aid is not the first time Israel has changed its plans after meetings and conversations with White House officials.
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SubscribeIMO, there are two issues that are causing friction between the US and Israel. The first is the election. The Dems will have to cater to/cajole/bribe/beg support from the Left if they want to win. Dems in Michigan, a strategic swing state and home to America’s largest Muslim diaspora, have repeatedly warned that losing that vote is a very real possibility.
The second issue is that Iran is starting to make noise again. Everyone knows that they support Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis but it seems to me that the US and the neighbouring Arab states fear that Netanyahu’s stubborn determination will force direct actions by Iran that cannot be ignored.
Answer h to I headline… too much!
Washington, at least parts of it, is bowing to mobs in Michigan – the one in the US chanting “death to America.” Instead of taking names and getting rid of the unsavories, Team Biden is pandering to them. Not that this is a surprise from the crew that first elevated criminals over the law-abiding and then did likewise with illegals over citizens.
“Biden also demanded that Netanyahu “empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home” — yet the deal still fell through.”
Because guess what: the release of the hostages not only depends on Israel but also on Hamas – and the US has even less influence over Hamas than over Israel. Or perhaps I should rephrase: every time Biden pressures Israel to increase influx of food and reduce military pressure on Gaza, it influences Hamas to harden its position and hold on to the hostages.
I guess this quandary is the price Biden has to pay for having to pander to a constituency that directly or effectively* supports Hamas. This would probably have happened regardless of who the Israeli prime minister is. And that’s why in the end, while being grateful for Biden’s support, the Israelis will pursue their main war aims with or without overt US support.
*effectively support by empowering the Hamas strategy of weaponizing Palestinian suffering.
This headline is bizarre – of course the US has massive influence over Israel. It could stop the genocide tomorrow by refusing to send it any more of the bombs it’s been using or any more spares for the planes the Israelis are using to perform it. They could do this by simply enforcing any one of a number of their own laws – for instance, under US law export of any military equipment to states such as Israel who hold nuclear weapons outside the various nuclear proliferation treaties is illegal and has been for many years.
They could move from vetos to abstaining in any Security Council votes on the carnage there – they could even move to voting against them.
A more pertinent question might be why are they finally choosing to exercise any restraining influences at all now? That there’s a Presidential election this year I think has been the key factor here – greatly exaggerating the following (not exhaustive) list of factors:
1. That the rotten heart of Israel has been comprehensively exposed and is now undeniable.
2. That the IDF haven’t made any great progress in ‘dealing with’ Hamas.
3. That the Iranians have shown great restraint in dealing with Israel’s many provocations.
4. That the US & West’s stockpiles and weapons systems, denuded by the slow defeat in Ukraine and the slaughter in Gaza might still be required for a conflict with China. The arsenal of democracy was having trouble with just the first of these conflicts – 2 is problematic – 3 is almost certainly impossible.
5. The Yemenis have shown they can’t be bombed into submission and have essentially won the war of the Red Sea. They will only stop their blockade with concessions – and that means a ceasefire.
I’m expecting the Israelis to massively up the ante in the coming months – it’s the only language they speak and they’ve not really got much option otherwise. Their economy is in tatters, there are great tracts of land along the Lebanese border where no one now wants to live, and there’s all that stuff about the red moo-cows too.
https://www.jpost.com/judaism/article-796118
It’s always Israel to blame with you, never the people who want to see the nation gone. Who is a bigger concern in your neck of the woods, the Jews or those who would see all the Jews dead?
At least you mention October 7. Should the Israelis have ignored it? It’s a strange world when the person responding to an attack is held to a higher standard than the one who initiated it. Whatever death toll numbers Hamas is pushing include fighters, since they habitually blend in with the women and kids.
It’s a strange world indeed when a state can disposses a people, keep them bottled up and hemmed in for seven decades, distort their attempts at democracy, enable religious extremists in a divide and rule policy, routinely bomb and snipe them, kidnap and then torture and sexually assault them in their thousands, murder them when they protest peacefully and then get away with playing the victim.
Did you get your script from William Joyce?
No. Do you get yours from Maureen Lipman?
You’re back to front, friend.
The problem is the Rafah operation leaves the population with nowhere to go. Khan Younis is currently uninhabitable as we see each evening on TV etc. So probably what’s going on is the US insisting IDF really thinks through how it’s going to get this done without killing lots more women, children etc, and no doubt aid workers too.
Heard some military analysts indicate the way to do it is manage the evacuation to the North first, but to do that you’ve got to set up refugee camps in the North that can cope. Then you can also screen every male – take their biometrics etc – as they move South to North. Problem for IDF/Bibi is this is not quick, but world opinion increasingly demanding it.
It would be funny if it weren’t so deeply tragic. The whole world lectures and pressures Israel all the time, and so does now also Joe Biden, for a few votes in Michigan, not even mentioning that Hamas also has agency in this matter, having started this ghastly war by torturing, raping murdering and burning well over a thousand Israeli civilians. It could also end it, as we all know. It is not true that the US has no influence whatever on Hamas, if indirectly, via Iran and Qatar, and numerous other ways that we may not even know about. In any case,victory will once again be snatched from the hands of Israel at the last moment, as has happened time and again since 1948, thus ensuring that the war goes on forever–or until Israel is finished in a Holocaust 2.0, which will keep the unholy alliance between Islamists and the western left happy until it is the turn of the next target: the USA and the West. Apocalyptic? Damn right it is.
There were no where near 1,000 Israeli civilians killed by Hamas on October 7th. Not even close.
Oh, really?
“There were no where near 1,000 Israeli civilians killed by Hamas on October 7th. ”
Israel has total military superiority over its enemies.
It has 20% muslim, withdrew from large areas of Egypt and Gaza, and killed maybe a few thousand civilians at most, that too only in response to a brutal attack on its civilians.
If it were the other way round, and Israel were militarily weaker, not a single Jew – not one – would be left alive, the muslims would not spare any child, and as is their habit, pay extra attention to the Israel women.
This is part and parcel of Dem politics. Certain groups are not believed to have agency, and Muslims are among those groups. Never mind their ‘death to America’ chants, never mind the fervor for jihad, never mind October 7. We keep funding UNRWA, knowing full well where the money goes.
effectively support by empowering the Hamas strategy of weaponizing Palestinian suffering.
Would over 30.000 dead not be the weaponisation of Palestinian suffering?
If you believe the figure given by people who’d embark on such an insane strategy.
I mean, it’s not like scrupulousness in any area, is their strong suit.
Of those 30,000, how many are civilians and how many are Hamas?
Not a Biden fan, but he supports Israel beating Hamas, and Netanyahu understands Biden’s domestic pandering. Much more of their conversations and unspoken understandings are not reported than are.
It’s mind boggling how so many still believe that IDF operates on the body of Gazan population removing Hamas tumor with surgical precision. All Israel is really doing ( as always) is pushing the unwanted demographic out from the real estate along (with vengeance for the last attack of course) . Even in Israel no one believes they’re trying to free hostages. Not sure if genocide is helping here , since Israel never tried to physically eliminate the Arabs, but an attempt at ethnic cleansing is clear as a day. That’s the foundational myth of Zionism and there’s no escape from it for either side
This is a war which Hamas began, with loud support from the Gaza populace. Even today, 90% of Gazans support Hamas (or so they say). They are not exactly innocent victims of circumstance, my dear friend.