Newsweek: Biden’s Red Lines for Israel Are Starting to Take Shape Politics News

Newsweek magazine said the US appears lost in addressing the war between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) as President Joe Biden has become more keen to pressure Tel Aviv to curb its actions in Gaza , after its violent airstrikes sparked global protests. .

Michael Doran, head of the National Security Council under George W. Bush, explained to the magazine that “Biden, as the war continues, has become inclined to pressure Israel for restraint after it has achieved clear military success,” meaning which is forming “red lines” on how Washington wants Israel to deal with the conflict from now on, as well as reiterating its support for the two-state solution when the conflict ends.

Biden had told the Israelis, during his visit to Tel Aviv shortly after the October 7 attack, “You are not alone”, and the White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, had said: “We do not draw red lines for Israel,” as stated in a report by my chief correspondent, News Magazine Brendan Cole.

But it seems that is no longer the case, according to the magazine. Biden’s tone changed on November 2, when one of the protesters interrupted him, calling for an immediate ceasefire, to say for the first time that to obtain the release of prisoners : “I think we need a break.” temporary”.

After the Israeli occupation army closed Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, claiming it was a Hamas center, which it denied, Biden called on Israel to take “less invasive” measures in Gaza, and warned that “hospitals must be protected,” to which Doran commented that ““There has always been a fine line between showing support for Israel and wanting to rein it in from the beginning.”

Doran said Biden faces unprecedented circumstances because of the difficulty of striking a balance between protecting American bases in the Middle East from what he described as Iranian proxies who have carried out repeated attacks and protecting the ballot box in 2024 from demonstrations in the United States. and the anger of Muslim voters, especially in Michigan.

The two-state solution

When Biden asked Congress for a $14.3 billion military aid package for Israel, Western diplomats advised him to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ease his military operations. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said Israel has “two or three weeks” before pressure comes to reach a deal to stop the shootings.

Biden underlined that “the ceasefire is not peace” and stated that “there must be no forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, no reoccupation of the same, no prevention or siege of the same, and no reduction of the territory”, recalling in his call for a two-state solution – that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank “must be reunited under a single governing structure and under a renewed Palestinian Authority.”

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday that the United States wants a “longer truce” and “more humanitarian aid” into Gaza, and stressed the need to “protect” schools and hospitals, saying : “We don’t want to see them bombed from the air,” pointing out that large numbers of Palestinians were killed.

Thomas Gift, director of the Center for American Politics at University College London, said: “White House language and policy are shaped by domestic political considerations,” explaining that “Biden’s party’s call for a ceasefire fire is an attempt by the administration to balance the situation.” need for a strategic alliance with its regional ally with the need to respond to growing domestic pressure from progressives at home.”