Airdropping aid into Gaza sparked more anger at Biden (Reuters)

Washington -

During the daily White House press conference, the day before yesterday, Monday, and after the United States abstained from voting on Security Council Resolution 2728, which demands an immediate cessation of fighting in the Gaza Strip, a journalist asked the official spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, in which he said, “There is American officials today say that Netanyahu is behaving this way because he faces some internal political pressures, but aren’t there also internal political pressures facing President Biden, and this is part of the reason for what you allowed today (i.e. refraining from using his veto)?

The journalist added, "You have members of the Democratic Party who say that Biden is doing this wrong. You have a public opinion that believes that support for Israel is misplaced. Isn't this part of the reason behind what happened today?"

But Kirby responded angrily, saying, “No, not at all, and I have to object to the premise of the question. President Biden makes decisions based on the national security interests and considerations of the United States, and this decision to abstain from voting on this resolution is consistent with the national security interests of the United States, and quite frankly, "It is consistent with the national security concerns of the Israeli people."

Biden's internal accounts

The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip is causing real damage to America’s image around the world, making the Biden administration appear complicit in the aggression against the children, women, and elderly of Gaza, and Washington’s recent airdrop of food and relief aid onto the displaced and hungry residents of Gaza, while saving time. The same military weapons that have forced them to flee and put them at risk of starvation, anger millions around the world.

However, what is more important is that it also affects internally, and puts Biden’s chances of re-election at risk, which gives the White House another reason to harden its position, and to deal with the changing internal reality in the United States. The speech of the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Senator Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish and one of the The strongest defender of Israel, declaring that the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are bad for Israel, which Biden in turn supported.

An Arab diplomat told Al Jazeera Net that "there are no actual differences between the Israeli and American positions. If the Biden administration wanted to pressure Netanyahu, it would not have waited 6 months before sending symbolic signals of its dissatisfaction with the way Israel carried out its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in... More than 32 thousand civilians were killed.

He explained, "Former President Ronald Reagan put pressure on the Likud government and forced Israel to leave Lebanon. Bush Sr. stopped loan guarantees to Israel before the Madrid Conference. America is not a small country, and it has many cards and tools to force an ally that completely depends on it, intelligence-wise, diplomatically, legally, and militarily, to do what it wants." “Biden simply sees that there is no need for that. What concerns him is the global embarrassment and the voice of the Arab and Muslim American voter.”

Standard for the upcoming elections

The American position reflects the awareness of US President Joe Biden and his team of the importance of the votes of the progressive movement, the youth, and hundreds of thousands of Arab and Muslim Americans, especially after the states of Michigan and Minnesota sent harsh messages to President Biden in the primary elections in the two swing states.

Biden lost the votes of more than 100,000 Democratic voters who voted “uncommitted,” by 13.2% in the state of Michigan, or the equivalent of 102,000 voters, and in the state of Minnesota more than 45,000 voters voted for the same option. By up to 19%.

The results of the primary elections in Michigan and Minnesota not only reflected an assessment of President Biden's strength, in two of the most important swing states that represent a major battleground against his rival, Republican candidate Donald Trump, but will also serve as a decisive test of the price of Biden's refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Gregory Avtandilian, an expert on Middle East peace and a professor at the American University in Washington, said, “Biden hopes, by allowing the UN Security Council resolution to be passed, to garner support among progressive Democrats, who have strongly criticized his policy in Gaza.”

Biden changes his position

On the contrary, a number of commentators believe that the United States’ abstention from voting is the first real indication that pressure on President Biden to address the disasters of his position on the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip is bearing fruit.

Over the weekend, intense negotiations took place following the US threat that it would veto any resolution that did not “support diplomacy on the ground,” or the diplomatic efforts of Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, and the Biden administration sought to link the ceasefire to the release of all hostages.

This connection could have made one issue hostage to the other, which is consistent with the Israeli position, which does not want any pressure against the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza until all the hostages are released, effectively making all Gazans hostages.

The resolution that was passed does not meet the American request. Instead, it combines the two demands, i.e. a ceasefire and the release of the hostages, in one clause in terms of operation, but without linking the two issues.

The question remains as to whether the United States will continue to sell weapons to Israel, even if it continues to reject a ceasefire. Legally, the resolution does not oblige the United States to stop arms sales, but politically, there will be additional pressure on Washington to help implement the resolution. , instead of simply acting as a spectator to the ceasefire.

So far, the Biden administration rejects all accusations against Israel of committing war crimes, by declaring that Israel has the right to defend itself.

But with the Security Council demanding a ceasefire, it may be difficult for Biden to continue turning a blind eye to indiscriminate Israeli killings in Gaza.

Source: Al Jazeera