The Witness Chronicles, May 10, 2024
Biden calls Netanyahu’s bluff
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Biden’s Smackdown of Bibi and the Israeli Far Right
They never thought he would actually cut off offensive weapons
Despite the various stories out there this week, including Stormy Daniels’ testimony and the hoopla about RFK Jr’s brain worm, the real story that could change things for thousands of Israelis and Palestinians is Biden cutting off the delivery of offensive weapons to Israel if they invade Rafah in the south of Gaza.
Bibi Netanyahu and his far right defense ministers voiced outrage and defiance but their objections are empty. They thought he was bluffing, counting on his years of close friendship and support of Israel. But what we are seeing is not a lack of support for Israel, it is a lack of support for Netanyahu’s scorched earth anti-Hamas policy in Gaza.
The 3500 bombs we are withholding are mainly 2000 lb bombs designed to destroy indiscriminately over large areas. They are capable, as we have seen over and over up till now, of destroying whole city blocks and everything in them. These are not precision weapons designed to target terrorists. We continue to provide defensive weapons including those required for defense from missile attacks via the Iron Dome, which so successfully defended Israel from the recent barrage of Iranian strikes.
Bibi’s strategy has always been so primitive that it can hardly be considered a strategy. Quite simply it is ‘kill them all and let God sort them out’. We tried it in Vietnam prior to the losing Tet Offensive in the late sixties, that led to us pulling out and effectively losing the war.
In that battle, knowing the Viet Cong were hidden in a network of tunnels, we carpet bombed the region for days until there was certainty that nothing could be left. But after the smoke cleared the Cong came out in droves and won their greatest battle.
The parallels are striking. Hamas hides in a huge network of an estimated 350 miles of tunnels beneath Gaza, a network that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have been unable to fully penetrate. The fact that these tunnels exist on such a scale and Hamas was able to come out of them and attack Israel in a vicious and inhuman day of terror on October Seventh last year is a testament to their effectiveness.
That day will and should not be ever forgotten. Hamas is a genocidal terror group whose stated mission is the total destruction of all Jews.
That attack gave Bibi and his far right the excuse they needed to start a war of attrition, in part to give cover to one ongoing issue, Netanyahu’s corruption charges, and a new issue, the question of how Israel’s vaunted intelligence agency missed the surprise terror attack.
That question will haunt Israel for many years after Netanyahu and his cronies are gone, but right now it is on hold while war rages and thousands die, a majority women and children. That hold on facing his own responsibility is a major motivation for Bibi to continue the total destruction of an entire people. He needs this war.
But the world has been watching in horror as we see insane body counts, miles of demolished buildings, starvation, and the methodical destruction of Palestine in Gaza and the West Bank, without resolving anything. Hamas still exists, the majority of the hostages are unaccounted for, and the total destruction will continue if Israel under the Netanyahu government is not stopped. At least 34,000 are dead and millions displaced and suffering.
The only recourse the US and Biden had was to withhold the weapons we supply to Israel as a staunch ally, and Bibi obviously did not believe an Israeli loyalist like Joe Biden would really take action. In fact he has challenged the US over and over again, making and breaking promises while continuing the destruction.
And much of that destruction has American branding on it. The unrest on US college campuses represents real anger and frustration despite the anti-Semitic overtones brought in by outside agitators and haters. And it represents a huge challenge for Biden to take action.
These actions are not anti-Israel or anti-Semitic, they are pro-humanity. We have seen Netanyahu’s policy in action for nearly eight months and nothing has changed, except for the destruction of a people. Finding and destroying Hamas is extremely difficult with their ability to hide and operate within a population of millions. That has not changed.
The tragic irony here is that many experts believe that keeping the war going is in the interests of both the Netanyahu government and Hamas, who thrive in hate and chaos. This is not to imply collusion. Such a thing would be incomprehensible to both sides, so consumed are they with hate and vengeance.
Biden believes you cannot fight hate with hate, not forever. But he also believes that continuing as they are will not change anything. And he firmly believes in a two state solution, as do many Israelis. They simply cannot wipe out an entire people. No one knows that more than the Jews, from devastating experience.
This was a hard choice during a Presidential election year. But Biden recognizes that a President’s job is to govern even when facing an election, a belief his opponent does not share. The President sees a country divided and is trying to navigate those currents at home while trying to mediate in the Middle East.
Withholding these weapons is a necessary action, and the right one.
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I too was awed by the courage of student and faculty protests and proud of groups like jewish Voice for Peace... and releaved that Biden hat put at least a temporary halt on delivery of weapons. But Netanyahu and his cabinet have declared they will not commit to a ceasefire, will proceed with the invasion and is keeping 1 million refugees in a state of terror without adequate water, food, shelter, medical supplies, 1 public toilet per 800 people —and no water so you can imagine how disease is threatening esp wounded and elderly and children !!!). Biden's stand is too little,too late. The US and the international community have to put forward more radical propositions like recognising Palestine as a country and receiving their representatives including Hamas —who have agreed to the previous terms set by Israel. Hamas doesn't call for wiping out Jews. Their position was that Israel was not a legitimate state and the UN had no right to create it. Israel was created by a resolution of the UN and then proceeded to ignore any further resutions by the UN : like returning the Occupied Territories, halting the new Settler Colonies and lifting the blockade of Gaza ! And the US has blocked so many other attempts at resolutions. That would be another and more radical threat to support the ICJ findings on genocide. Perhaps that threat — to recognize and support the ICJ could move the Israeli gov't to allow in the aid they are blocking and stop the bombing and ground invasion ?