Joe Biden is the third Democratic president in a row who wants to get rid of Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. The word for his actions is chutzpah.
I still remember the image. Barack Obama and Bibi Netanyahu entered their respective offices almost at the same time. There was a picture showing the new American president with his shoes up on the Resolute desk in the White House while he spoke to the Israeli premier. Upon discussing Netanyahu’s visit, the first of a foreign dignitary for the new administration, Ram Emanuel, said that Bibi “was not his cup of tea.” I was shocked by his statement. In the past, such insubordination by a member of the White House staff would have led to a firing. But Obama and Emanuel were on the same page: neither could stand Bibi.
And their behavior was not new. Emanuel had been close to the Clintons, and it was known that Bill Clinton also loathed Bibi and, like Obama, actively worked to get him out of office. In the time of Obama, it involved the State Department spending money against Bibi in national elections. Clinton, like Obama, felt that Bibi’s intransigence was an obstacle for peace. What the two US leaders did not understand was that Bibi, a former commando in the most respected unit in the IDF, knew who Israel’s enemies were and what their real goals remained: wipe out Israel and take all of the land.
On the Jewish Sabbath, all of our phones and other electronic devices are switched off. This past Saturday, when I turned on my phone to see if the world was still turning, I was very surprised and somewhat confused. Joe Biden claimed that Israel had put forth a ceasefire proposal. What was weird was that on Friday there was no such mention of an Israeli proposal. What was still weirder was that the terms seemed to be identical to those sent by Hamas: end of fighting, all Israeli troops out of Gaza, release of terrorists for kidnapped Israelis, etc. Something seemed wrong. And it was. I knew it was a fraud when cabinet member Benny Gantz said that he would agree to the terms. After a few days, it came out that Biden invented the “Israeli” proposal to box in Israel—how could you not accept your own proposal?--and yes, it was nearly identical to the most recent Hamas-gets-everything-it-wants offer. What is going on?
Joe Biden is joining his two Democratic predecessors in wishing to rid the Israeli body politic of Bibi Netanyahu. He had the chutzpah to suggest that Bibi is prolonging the war for his own political gain. That is a lot of nerve. Just as Clinton and Obama threw their lot with Ehud Barak, so Biden and his coterie think that they have found their man: Benny Gantz. Benny Gantz is a former IDF chief of staff. He seems like a really nice guy—the kind of person you want as a neighbor because you know that when you need to borrow a ladder, he would loan it to you in a jiffy. But a leader he is not. Much of the failures of 10/7 should eventually find their way to him. He significantly reduced the size of the army, removed weapons from the communities on the Gaza border and pumped a lot of money into officer pensions and out of equipment for the soldiers. Gantz is not considered prime minister material, though I would have him over for a barbecue in a second. But the geniuses in Washington think that he is their man: he will end the war, not in Israel’s favor, and do whatever bidding they have to make Israel accept a Palestinian state. What they have forgotten is the Israeli people.
There are people who are crazy about Bibi, like those who cover their cars with Trump paraphernalia. Here, they are called “Bi-Beasts”. They are relatively few. Bibi Netanyahu is not the most popular fellow in the country, but he has two things going for him: the alternatives are worse and most agree with his policies. If you grab a man on the street and talk to him about the war in Gaza and the exchange of fire with Hezbollah, in all likelihood, he will agree with the approach taken to date. Yes, the IDF probably should have gone into Rafah earlier but the overall approach of wiping out Hamas’ capabilities and changing Gaza with a no-man’s-land and control of the Philadelphi corridor would meet with his approval. Revolutions from the outside—once the strong suit of the CIA—work when you have a very unpopular government and some significant level of support for new leadership. The problem is that nobody is throwing around names other than Bibi’s for a future prime minister. Not even in the Likud. While Bibi will have a lot to answer for regarding the failures that allowed for the 10/7 massacre to occur, he is still considered to be a competent prime minister. Most people support the destruction of Hamas and take it as a given that Hezbollah will have to be dealt with militarily very soon.
Joe Biden has a very simple calculation in his not-so-functioning head: end the war, and the credit he will take will help him in the polls against Donald Trump. The problem is that Israelis are not willing to lose. To have witnessed a barbaric slaughter at the start of the war only to lose it at the end would be too much for Israelis to swallow. Israelis overall are no great supporters of Joe Biden, and they clearly do not want a deal that leaves Hamas running Gaza. Biden and company apparently see the supposed 100,000 person leftwing protests every Saturday night in Tel Aviv, originally against judicial reform but now to force the government to get the hostages back at all cost—including losing the war. The protests are supported by foreign money and organized by a former politician who is loathed by Israelis. These large and noisy protests do not represent the Israeli majority but on the TV screens in the West Wing, they probably look impressive. Biden has thrown his lot with the wrong guy and while Bibi will one day find himself out of office, it will not be on Joe Biden’s reelection timetable.