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President Biden Just Made His Biggest Blunder

(New York Times) Bret Stephens - If not soon reversed, the consequences of President Biden's decision to pause delivery of 3,500 bombs to Israel will be the opposite of what he intends. The tragedy in Gaza is fundamentally the result of Hamas' decisions: to start the war in the most brutal way possible; to fight it behind and beneath civilians; to attack the border crossings through which humanitarian aid is delivered; and to hold on cruelly to Israel's 132 remaining hostages, living or dead. The arms cutoff is both a propaganda coup and a tactical victory for Hamas that validates its decision to treat its own people as human shields. It emboldens Hamas to continue playing for time - especially in the hostage negotiations - with the idea that the longer it holds out, the likelier it is to survive. No Israeli government is going to leave Gaza with Hamas still in control of any part of the territory. If the Biden administration has ideas about how to do that without dislodging it from Rafah, we have yet to hear of them. That means that, one way or the other, Israel is going in. Other than putting Israeli troops at greater risk, does the Biden administration really think the toll for Palestinians will be less after weeks of house-to-house combat? Israeli doubts about America's reliability as an ally won't lead to Israeli pliancy. Instead, it will strengthen its determination to become far more independent of Washington's influence.
2024-05-12 00:00:00
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