Biden needs to stop the mixed messages

The White House continues to send mixed signals on America’s support for Israel. That emboldens Hamas and needs to stop.

At a Tuesday fundraiser, President Joe Biden vigorously defended the Jewish state, saying that the United States is “not going to do a damn thing other than protect Israel in the process. Not a single thing.” He later added, “Without Israel as a free-standing state, not a Jew in the world is safe,” The New York Times reported.

Yet at that same fundraiser, Mr. Biden publicly warned Israeli leaders that they risked losing international support for their response to the Oct. 7 terror attack if they continue “indiscriminate bombing.” And by the end of the week, the administration’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was pressuring Israel to wrap up its military campaign and accept a Gaza run by the Palestinian Authority.

This is unhelpful. Hamas has made clear that its goal is to eliminate the state of Israel. It has carried out unspeakable attacks on civilians and continues to hold hostages — including eight American citizens — that it took during its barbaric Oct. 7 incursion. The terror group intentionally hides military targets among civilians, revealing a callous disregard for the lives of its own people. Last week, Israeli soldiers arrested dozens of Hamas fighters at a hospital in northern Gaza, the BBC reported.

The conflicting rhetoric makes it only more difficult for Israel to achieve its goals. On Thursday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby allowed that, “The last thing we would want to do is telegraph to Hamas what they’re likely to face in coming weeks and months.”

Really? What other practical effect does the administration’s public stance that Israel wind everything down and avoid “indiscriminate” attacks have than to telegraph to Hamas that it will live to terrorize the Jewish state another day if it can postpone defeat for a few months?

Who knows what the American message has been in back-channel diplomatic conversations with Israel. Perhaps the president’s attempt to have it both ways is just a ham-fisted way to appease the radical progressives that have taken over the Democratic Party and would just as soon leave Israel out in the cold. But either way, Mr. Biden’s public criticisms and attempts to micromanage the Israeli war effort invigorate the enemy.

“It will require a long period of time,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said last week. “Hamas is a terrorist organization that built itself over a decade to fight Israel, and they built infrastructure under the ground and above the ground, and it is not easy to destroy them.”

The task becomes even more difficult when Mr. Biden and his advisers repeatedly imply that American support for Israel is wavering. It must not.

Evan Vucci The Associated Press