The US stands by its position on Israel as the Gaza crisis deepens

The Biden administration showed no new signals Friday that it was willing to take a tougher stance on Israel’s military operation against Hamas, as desperate conditions in Gaza worsened, civilian deaths rose and aid groups warned of shortages of water, food and medicine.

Biden officials say Israel must do more to limit civilian casualties and enable humanitarian aid to Gaza. But that still leaves America’s position far removed from that of many Arab countries, which are demanding an immediate ceasefire and blaming Israel for what they call a deeply disproportionate response to the October 7 Hamas attacks.

During a visit to Washington on Friday, ministers from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries told a news conference that the Israeli offensive must stop, with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi accusing Israel of committing a “massacre.”

On Friday in New York, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates calling for a humanitarian ceasefire – a lone position against thirteen votes in favor.

As the Biden administration faces mounting pressure at home and abroad, it is trying to convince Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians. But the country has not publicly threatened Israel with specific consequences if it does not do so. White House officials dismissed talk of limiting or conditioning military aid to Israel, saying they have not given Israel a firm deadline to end its offensive in Gaza.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken indicated that the United States remained dissatisfied with civilian deaths and humanitarian conditions in Gaza, about a week after new fighting broke a lull to allow the release of Hamas hostages and Israeli prisoners. to make. Israel’s response to the October 7 Hamas attacks, which killed about 1,200 people, has claimed more than 15,000 lives, according to Gaza health authorities.

At a news conference in Washington, Mr. Blinken said that “there is still a gap” between Israel’s stated “intent to protect civilians and the actual results we are seeing on the ground.”

During a visit to Tel Aviv last week, Mr. Blinken said he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders that they must designate safe areas for civilians, prevent further displacement of Gaza residents and prevent damage to critical infrastructure such as power plants. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Vice President Kamala Harris also urged Israel to conduct its operations with more care.

Mr. Blinken said on Thursday that Israel had taken a number of positive steps, including “evacuating neighborhoods rather than entire cities,” creating safe areas and having “a more specific area where this military operation is actually being conducted.”

Israeli officials claim they are in an impossible position because in Hamas they are fighting an enemy that is entrenched among civilians and who, they argue, seeks to maximize Palestinian deaths to make Israel look cruel to the world . Israeli leaders say that even as they take often unusual steps to warn civilians of impending attacks, they cannot defeat a fanatical enemy in a dense urban area without major collateral damage.

But in Washington and at the United Nations, Arab diplomats expressed anger at Israel’s renewed offensive, which U.S. officials admit is once again killing victims at a rapid pace and contributing to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. These diplomats – from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority – met with Mr Blinken at the State Department on Friday afternoon. The Turkish Foreign Minister also joined the visiting group, the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee.

And on Capitol Hill, some Democrats say the United States should go beyond talk to pressure Israel. “I think the Biden administration can do more to exert our influence under these circumstances,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. “If words are not accompanied by strong action, the United States looks worthless.”

“The Biden administration should call for a pause” in Israel’s military campaign, he added, “until it receives a verifiable plan of action to secure the objectives that the President has set forth and that the Secretary of State as has described ‘imperative’. ”

Mr. Van Hollen is working with a dozen other Democratic senators on an amendment to the military aid package that President Biden has requested for Israel and Ukraine. The amendment would require that weapons authorized in the measure for any country be used in accordance with U.S. and international law, and would create new reporting requirements to clearly determine whether those standards have been met.

Biden officials support pauses in fighting to provide more humanitarian aid to Gaza and to secure the release of more hostages from Hamas and other groups, though they say the exchange of those hostages for Palestinian prisoners stopped abruptly last week when Hamas reneged on its commitments to release Israeli women in captivity.

But the United States, like Israel, opposes a long-term ceasefire because it would allow Hamas’s leadership to survive and threaten Israel, perpetuating the cycle of violence.

Also, U.S. officials are unwilling to publicly propose a time limit for Israel to complete major military operations, which analysts say could take several weeks or months.

“We have not given Israel a fixed deadline, and that is not really our role. This is their conflict,” Jon Finer, the deputy national security adviser, said Thursday at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington. “That said, we do have influence, even if we don’t have ultimate control over what happens on the ground in Gaza.”

Dennis Ross, a Middle East policy official in several presidential administrations, said Biden would likely continue to resist domestic and international pressure to take a tougher stance on Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

“If there were a sudden, major humanitarian disaster, for example if you had a hospital that was hit again – that would create an immediate tipping point,” Mr Ross said, recalling an October explosion at a Gaza hospital that sparked protests caused throughout the Middle East. East before evidence emerged indicating that the damage was caused by a failed Palestinian rocket and not by Israeli forces.

Beyond that, Mr. Ross said he could imagine a point, if the offensive continues, at which the government could quietly slow the delivery of ammunition to Israel. But he added: “I don’t see the Biden administration ever saying, ‘OK, we’re shutting you down.’”

Some U.S. officials privately warn that even the perception of an American rift with Israel could prompt the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, to attack Israel — an outcome the U.S. hopes to avoid.

And Mark Mellman, a US-based pollster who has advised Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, warned that public pressure on Mr Netanyahu was likely to backfire.

Sharp criticism or threats to change American aid to Israel, Mr. Mellman said, only serve “to help the right in Israel.” He said Mr. Netanyahu, who was already embroiled in a political battle before many Israelis blamed him for failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attacks, would welcome the chance to position himself as an opponent to pressure from Mr. Biden in the name of Israel’s security.

There are signs that Mr. Biden agrees with that theory. When asked in late November whether he could make U.S. aid to Israel conditional on an Israeli plan to limit civilian deaths, the president called the idea “a valuable thought.” But his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, made clear days later on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Mr. Biden had only “acknowledged the idea.” Mr. Sullivan said the president believed the approach of “direct presidential diplomacy behind closed doors with the Israelis and with our Arab partners” was producing results.