Don’t Squint Too Hard, One May Notice Israel Is Clear They Have No Intention To “End The War.”
When the pressure became too great, and the Uncommitted campaign was driving much of the Democratic primary media coverage, the White House seemingly did a 180 at the end of February and began shifting its rhetoric in favor of a “ceasefire in Gaza.” It was clear this was not a meaningful policy shift, but a shift in rhetoric. The White House still opposed a “general ceasefire” (which is to say an actual end to the war) but was simply redefining what it had previously referred to as a “temporary pause” for the purposes of hostage exchanges followed by an explicit desire to continue the “war” and “eliminate Hamas.” Now that this semantic cup and ball game has failed to sufficiently temper anti-war anger three months on, the White House has recently taken another PR tack—one that was initially hard to read the purpose of but the logic has now become clear.
On May 31st, President Biden gave a much publicized speech laying out his plan for an “enduring” and “complete” “ceasefire” designed to “end the war.” Pro-Palestine activists initially responded to the speech with some guarded optimism: Maybe this was it. Maybe the White House had had enough and was forcing Israel to wrap it up. Biden was framing the plan as “Israel’s proposal,” which perplexed many because why would the American regime announce a breakthrough “Israeli proposal” and not Israel? But nevertheless there was some hope that this was a polite nudge to Israel to wrap things up, adopt Biden’s face-saving narrative (Israel “devastated Hamas.” “At this point, Hamas no longer is capable of carrying out another October 7th,” the president said in his speech), then pull out forces, reduce and eventually stop the bombing, and let the rebuilding of Gaza begin.
Alas, this is not what happened. It’s becoming increasingly clear something more sinister was taking place, not a genuine attempt to use the American regime’s dispositive influence over Israel to wrap up the genocidal assault on Gaza. This was yet another PR gambit designed to quell popular unrest, confuse fence-sitting liberals, and provide Democrats stateside a go-to talking point to shift the moral burden away from Israel and America onto Hamas who, we have been repeatedly told, won’t “say yes” to an “Israeli proposal” that, simply doesn’t exist. At least not one that is, in any way, aligned with the tone and substance of Biden’s May 31st speech.
Mere hours after Biden’s May 31st speech, Israeli leaders, up to and including Prime Minister Benjamin Netnahyu, began undermining key elements of the “Israeli ceasefire proposal.” “Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejects Biden’s ceasefire proposal, will continue war until Hamas is ‘destroyed,’”CNBC reported. “Biden’s description of cease-fire offer ‘not accurate,’ Israeli official tells NBC News,” the outlet reported.NBC news. “Israel says permanent Gaza cease-fire plan is a ‘nonstarter,’ undermining Biden,” PBS News reported.
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a American backed resolution based, at least in part, on Biden’s May 31st speech calling for a three phase ceasefire, and the disconnect between Israel and the White House, again became manifest. The final text, like Biden’s speech, suffered from a deliberately open-ended approach (what the savvy commentators are calling “constructive ambiguity”) over how the war actually ends. But it was still too specific for the Israeli leaders, who again took to Israeli media to harshly criticize the measure. The New York Times and many leading American outlets continue to indulge the idea that Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, are simply inscrutable. But even the Times had to acknowledge this morning that “Israeli leaders have been loath to accept” a long term ceasefire.
It’s true that an Israeli proposal from late May, in an abstract sense, existed. But it was light on essential specifics, namely the non-trivial issue of whether Israel wanted to actually “end the war.” While the proposed text, since leaked to reporters, aligned with the White House plan in a vague sense, it glossed over the “ending the war” part of “ending the war.” Stage 1 for most hostage exchanges was detailed and thorough. But stages 2 and 3, which called for Israeli withdrawal and a cessation of hostilities, were a mere one paragraph each and violated the spirit and letter of Biden’s speech. The basic sticking point is the same as it’s been since October 8th: Israel refuses to allow Hamas to continue existing as a military and political force in Gaza “post war.” It, as countless Israeli officials repeatedly make clear, “must be destroyed.” The reality is one cannot support a meaningful and lasting “ceasefire” while also demanding one of the ceasefire parties surrender or otherwise cease to exist as a condition of a lasting ceasefire.
The White House, for its part, can’t get its story straight. As one commenter noted on Twitter, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told ABC’s Martha Raddatz Sunday that neither Israel nor Hamas leadership had agreed to the American ceasefire plan. At the same time, Sec. of State Antony Blinken has been telling reporters, repeatedly, that Israel ‘had already agreed’ to ’a’ 3-stage ceasefire plan.”
The American ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, contradicted herself only hours apart. Earlier in the day she told the New York Times, America “would work to make sure that Israel agreed to the deal (in the same article the Israel’s representative to the U.N “did not say that Israel had accepted the terms”). But then she took to social media to claim: “Israel has already accepted this deal”—which they, very clearly, never did.
Why does the Biden administration keep insisting Israel backs a deal that the Israelis keep publicly condemning? Because the target audience is confused, half-paying-attention liberals. It’s the meaningful percent of the population for whom this type of Diplomacy Theater works, and our media almost never points out what Biden administration officials are saying is patently untrue, so why wouldn’t they keep doing this strange performance?
The Peace Pirate 