[ Why calling for a ceasefire is the right move, politically and
morally. Calling for a ceasefire would, at the very least, change the
conversation—and make better use of the knowledge hard won from
actions we regret.]
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THE INEXCUSABLE OMISSION IN BIDEN’S BIG ISRAEL SPEECH – CEASEFIRE
 
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Alex Shephard
October 18, 2023
The New Republic
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_ Why calling for a ceasefire is the right move, politically and
morally. Calling for a ceasefire would, at the very least, change the
conversation—and make better use of the knowledge hard won from
actions we regret. _

President Biden greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at
Ben Gurion International Airport on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023, in Tel
Aviv., Evan Vucci/AP // NPR

 

Much of the coverage of Joe Biden’s speech in Israel on Wednesday
has understandably focused on
[[link removed]] a
warning
[[link removed]].
“Justice must be done,” Biden said, hours after arriving in Tel
Aviv. “I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed
by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the U.S. While we sought justice
and got justice, we also made mistakes.”

It was an evocative and apt word of caution. The devastating attacks
[[link removed]] on
civilians perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 recall the brutality of
the September 11 attacks. But it’s also highly reminiscent of the
errors in judgment that can be made in the hot haze of retribution,
specifically the lack of concern for civilian deaths in retaliatory
strikes and, relatedly, the apparent lack of concern for the potential
short and long-term consequences of retaliatory actions in general.
Israel, much like the United States did in response to 9/11, has
adopted an abstract, possibly unfulfillable goal that justifies
endless war: in this case, the eradication of Hamas.

Biden’s flick to the way our own military misadventures paved the
road to regret was perhaps the only suggestion that restraint might be
the more intelligent choice. The message was hardly subtle, even if
Biden didn’t exactly spell it out. After 9/11, the U.S. blundered
into two wars that each lasted longer than a decade, destabilized an
entire region, and permanently tarnished its reputation. In related
remarks, Biden called on Israelis to recognize the humanity of
Palestinians, millions of whom are currently trapped in Gaza, with
limited access to food, water, and electricity. “The vast majority
of Palestinians are not Hamas,” Biden said. “Hamas does not
represent the Palestinian people.”

Some of Biden’s rhetoric was overbaked—one presumes that when he
says we received the “justice” we sought, he means the death of
bin Laden and the destruction of Al Qaeda (more or less), a few
highlights plucked from a mostly dreary reel. But it’s rare to hear
a president speak about great national errors in this fashion. It
certainly stands apart from notable past efforts to speak with a
chastened tongue—one thinks of Ronald Reagan’s
passive “mistakes were made”
[[link removed]] commentary
offered in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal.

Nonetheless, it’s hard to quibble with the comparison Biden
attempted to make. These particular parallels with 9/11
[[link removed]]—perhaps
the only ones that matter—are clear. Israel, bent on vengeance, has
already killed thousands of Palestinian civilians in retaliation. The
conflict is already spiraling out of control, and there is a very real
possibility that it could touch off a regional conflict with profound,
devastating, and unknown consequences. Israel may get a feeling of
retribution, as America did after 9/11. But in doing so it may unleash
a metric ton of devastation, also as America did after 9/11.

By invoking the September 11 attacks, Biden made it clear that he and
his administration understand the potential, and indeed likely, risks
of Israel’s profoundly dehumanizing and destructive response to
Hamas’s heinous attacks. The problem was that the rest of the
speech, in which Biden, in no uncertain terms, made it clear that his
administration will continue to back those attacks for as long as
possible, undercut the virtuous recollection of September 11. And
there was one particular omission that stood out in its grave
absence—the one word
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could halt this deadly misery: _ceasefire._ The one unimpeachable
position that Biden can take right now, as the fog of war threatens to
consume everyone, is that a cessation of hostilities would be morally
correct, politically sound, effective from a humanitarian perspective,
and would push the conflict in the direction in needs to go right now:
everyone sitting down and talking to one another.

The need for a ceasefire is especially great given that Israel’s
prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is an untrustworthy ally
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is bent on exacerbating the conflict in order to prolong his loosening
grip on power. “Netanyahu suddenly faces a long, bloody war with the
Palestinians after spending most of his political career sidelining,
short-shrifting, and underestimating them, all the while relying on
his country’s military superiority—including its Iron Dome
anti-missile system—to protect Israel,” wrote
[[link removed].] _Foreign
Policy_’s Michael Hirsch. His Cabinet is stacked with far-right
ultranationalists; he himself took a number of actions that explicitly
elevated Hamas, all for his political benefit.

Even with its warnings, Biden’s speech mostly gave Netanyahu the
political cover to continue striking Gaza with impunity. Thousands of
missiles have struck Gaza over the last week, killing more than 3,000
Palestinians. “Hamas committed atrocities that recall the worst
ravages of ISIS, unleashing pure unadulterated evil upon the world,”
Biden said. He went on to say that his administration would be
seeking
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“unprecedented support package for Israel’s defense,” to the
tune of $10 billion.

It’s impossible to square this gargantuan sum that Biden proposes to
hand over to Netanyahu with his other admonitions, which call to mind
the small fortunes that were lost to sinkholes in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The administration is trying to do two equally impossible
things at once. It is urging Israel, as Biden has said, to use
restraint and avoid civilian casualties. At the same time, it is
pledging to underwrite, to the tune of billions of dollars, weapons
that will undoubtedly lead to vastly more civilian deaths.

What is Biden getting in exchange for this money? At the moment, he
needs that leverage to buy him a freer hand to moderate Netanyahu’s
approach to the war. Biden has promised $100 million in aid
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Gaza and was able to ensure that food, water, and medicine would be
able to enter Gaza via Egypt—welcome news given that an Israeli
blockade has kept vital aid from reaching the area for days. But this
was the extent of the rewards wrought by America’s diplomatic
efforts.

Biden, notably, did not call for Israel to allow Palestinian civilians
to peacefully evacuate, which means that hundreds of thousands of
people are still effectively trapped in the line of fire. A planned
summit in Jordan with leaders from that country, Israel, and Egypt
was abruptly called off
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the wake of the bombing of a hospital in Gaza that Biden said
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intelligence believes was the result of a failed rocket launch from a
Palestinian militant group. Whatever avenue this might have provided
to push for further diplomacy or concessions made to protect civilians
throughout the conflict zone has been scuttled, at least for now. And
without that summit, Biden was left to awkwardly thread a needle
between vociferously backing Israel and urging restraint.

With Biden facing a spiraling conflict, logjammed diplomacy, and a
yawning leadership vacuum, fixes are in short supply. Fortunately
there is an off-ramp available—one that only a handful of Democrats
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most of whom are progressives, have suggested: calling for a
ceasefire. Without a ceasefire, there is little doubt that civilian
deaths will continue to mount, both from Israeli airstrikes and a
possible ground invasion of North Gaza, but also from the deprivation
of food, clean water, and access to basic medical necessities that
will follow in the wake of further military action. These deaths will
only further inflame the conflict and tensions within the region and
potentially precipitate its widening. Hamas’s attacks and the
Israeli response have already all but destroyed the Abraham Accords.
If it continues, it could bring the entire region into an
uncontrollable, devastating, and unwinnable war.

A ceasefire is, of course, unlikely. Israel’s stated goal is the
destruction of Hamas; a ceasefire would require negotiations with the
militant group, which is unimaginable at this moment. Still, the cause
of peace can’t advance if Biden doesn’t fix peace as his
position—and writing billion-dollar checks to further fund the
conflict certainly won’t push events in the right direction. But
even limited success on this front will made a massive difference: A
halt in the bombing to allow civilians to flee would buy time for
diplomatic efforts—and to potentially find ground for a longer-term
ceasefire. With his hoped-for diplomatic summit called off, Biden has
only a limited array of options to push everyone on the path of least
bloodshed. Calling for a ceasefire would, at the very least, change
the conversation—and make better use of the knowledge hard won from
actions we regret.

_[ALEX SHEPHARD is a staff writer at The New Republic.
@alex_shephard [[link removed]]]_

* Israel
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* Palestine
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* Gaza
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* Ceasefire
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* Joe Biden
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* Benjamin Netanyahu
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* Hamas
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* Palestinians
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* Israel-Gaza War
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* Gaza City
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* Terrorism
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* Occupied Territories
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* Jewish settlements
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* West Bank
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* war crimes
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* apartheid
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