Trouble in (genocidal) paradise?

A comedy of errors is slowly playing out on our screens this week. Or maybe it is just another perfectly calibrated series of events aimed at prolonging the Israeli aggression in Gaza past the US elections in November.

Besties (US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), it seems, are quarrelling.

Netanyahu – in a video on social media tantamount to stomping his feet and throwing his rattle on the floor – claimed earlier this week that the US administration, Israel’s main military backer, has been “withholding weapons and ammunitions” from his country in recent months. The message was delivered in English, not Hebrew, and aimed specifically at an American audience.

In response, a visibly wounded US, issued a statement via the National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, responded that the comments were “deeply disappointing and vexing, given the amount of support that we have and will continue to provide”.

“No other country is doing more to help Israel defend itself against the threat by Hamas and, quite frankly, other threats that they’re facing in the region,” said Kirby.

Oh dear.

All this, as the world – traumatised and weary – continues to wait with baited breath to finally welcome a much-needed ceasefire in Gaza that has so far killed over 37,000 Palestinians and destroyed over 70% of their infrastructure.

If the Palestinian cause isn’t resolved now, then it never will

This week, the IDF, in a political rift with Netanyahu, sustained that “Hamas is an idea, Hamas is a party. It’s rooted in the hearts of the people — whoever thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong.”

However, analysts are warning that the current tableau being played out is a ploy, created artificially by Netanyahu in order to influence US domestic politics ahead of the elections.

As Donald Trump strengthens his position for presidency, it would work better to the Israeli president’s advantage.

All this, after rejecting Biden’s warnings about the incursion into Rafah, as well as calls for a two-state solution.

Even with that, Biden’s red line has not yet arrived.

Turns out, Biden does not have a backbone stiff enough to stand up to Netanhayu – or to pull him to the bargaining table even as he kicks and screams – and in turn also throwing himself a lifeboat for a fighting chance at re-election.

Instead, in a scathing rebuff to his friend Biden, Netanyahu has accepted an invitation by Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, on July 24, which several democratic lawmakers (Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders) are already planning to boycott.

A shrewd move, no doubt, by the Republican party, aimed at further splintering the Democrats and the electorate, who are already fed-up with Biden over inflation, the economy and his inaction in Gaza.

Western media when it comes to Israel and Palestine: tale of two very different realities

Furthermore, Israel’s parliament is set to recess on July 28, after which the Knesset will return on October 27, a mere few days before the US elections, giving Netanyahu much breathing room to continue his carnage in Gaza.

Instead, the continued aggression threatens an all-out battle with Hezbollah, whose only condition is to cease hostilities in Gaza – all unfolding precariously close to November.

Perhaps, Israel is deliberately baiting Iran?

Biden’s conundrum: clock is ticking, Mr President

Back in the US, Trump’s conviction was not enough to deter or diminish his support as CNN analysts put the change in voter numbers at a mere 7%, saying how his base was likely to continue to back him regardless.

Just as well.

Recent polls have also seen Biden’s popularity tank, with him trailing in five key battleground states, according to The New York Times.

For months now, student protestors, aid groups, the international community, the UN, allies of the US, the International Criminal Court (ICC) have been raising the alarm with President Biden over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza – all to no avail.

Even voter pressure – censuring, pleading, reasoning and threatening – at the hands of US voters including the Muslim diaspora in the swing state of Michigan, which Biden won by a margin in 2020, could not move him.

Democrats are also slowly losing women voters, a true sign of trouble.

A recent Politico report titled ‘Dems in full-blown ‘freakout’ over Biden’ gave us further insight into the panic setting in among elected officials and strategists about Biden’s re-election chances.

Trump also out-raised President Biden for the second consecutive month in May, outpacing his successor by roughly $81 million in donations over the last two months.

The ability of the 77-year-old presumptive Republican presidential nominee to raise money from average Americans remains unchallenged, and his historic criminal conviction in New York – which saw him found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a conspiracy to unlawfully influence the 2016 election – has not dented the operation in the slightest, further enhancing his November chances.

Granted there are other factors too, but Biden’s old age, bad economy, high inflation, paired with botched Middle East policy and an uninterrupted flow of weapons into Israel, have all finally proven far too detrimental in the end.

Analysts have long warned that the only thing that will and can stop the carnage in Gaza is a phone call by President Biden. Alas, even ‘Don the Con’ pulling ahead of him can’t push him there.

Because quite frankly, nothing else is really going to stop bloodthirsty Netanyahu until he is done extracting his pound(s) of flesh.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “vampire who feeds on blood…”. Many would agree.

Ivy Leagues, so-called ‘anti-semitism’ and the US

Earlier this week, the head of a UN Commission of Inquiry, Navi Pillay, also accused the IDF of carrying out “extermination” of Palestinians and accused Israel of committing “crimes against humanity”.

A ceasefire could not come soon enough - for, without one Biden has only a lasting shot at re-election and avoiding having this massive error in judgment as part of his legacy.

The dotted line awaits.

The article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Business Recorder or its owners