Biden administration should stop lecturing
SAN DIEGO — The Biden administration continues to send mixed signals to Israel when what is needed most is clarity.
On the one hand, President Biden says he supports Israel in its mission to eliminate
Hamas. On the other hand, top administration officials seem determined to call the shots on how that mission is conducted.
At the very least, Biden officials could use lessons on the global equivalent of social etiquette and how to behave around friends who have just suffered a terrible trauma.
• In a statement, Vice President Harris declared: “Under no circumstances will the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besiegement of Gaza, or the redrawing of the borders of Gaza.”
• Instead of compassion, Secretary of State Antony Blinken tends to offer Israelis only condescension. According to the Times of Israel, after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that his country was committed to dismantling Hamas “even if it takes months,” Blinken responded: “I don’t think you will have the credit for that.”
• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed the Mideast conflict in a recent speech to the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif. “In this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population,” he said. “And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.”
All of these comments were made within a few days of each other. That suggests a coordinated attempt by the administration to put Israel on notice that it intends to micromanage the war in Gaza from the Beltway.
Thankfully, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t having it. He made clear again recently that Israel, and only Israel, will decide its strategy for battling Hamas.
Lesson No. 1: You should not lecture your friend about how to defend his home and loved ones. If you’re wrong, you won’t be the one who pays the price. But if you really feel you have to say something, make sure your own house is in order.
As you have probably noticed, America’s house is not in order. Ever since Hamas brutally attacked Israel on Oct. 7 — killing 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostage — and ever since Israel sent thousands of troops into Gaza to destroy Hamas, resulting in thousands of Palestinian casualties, scores of Americans have been at each other’s throats.
In the past two months, there have been countless public protests across the country — some in support of the Israelis, others championing the Palestinians. Some of the protests have turned violent. Protesters in each camp accuse the other of condoning genocide.
There have also been numerous disturbing reports of Jewish students on college campuses feeling threatened and harassed. In October, at the Cooper Union college in New York, Jewish students were told by campus security to shelter in place in the school library after protesters stormed the building and shouted “Free Palestine.”
A month later, three 20-year-old Palestinian college students were shot in Burlington, Vt. Authorities have charged 48-year-old Jason Eaton with three counts of second-degree attempted murder.
On social media, insults are flying and motives are being questioned. Just about everyone has an opinion, but no one seems interested in listening to anyone else’s.
As if our country weren’t divided enough already — along lines of politics, race, income, immigration status, sexual identity and more — we can add “geopolitical allegiance” to the list of things that separate us.
We see evidence of that division everywhere, including universities.
This week, the presidents of three of the nation’s top universities — Claudine Gay of Harvard, M. Elizabeth Magill of Penn and Sally Kornbluth of MIT — testified before Congress and responded to accusations that they have not done enough to combat a wave of antisemitism on their campuses. The presidents acknowledged to members of the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce that there have been antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents on their campuses since Hamas’s attack on Israel and Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Gay said that she has tried to “confront hate while preserving free expression” but that striking the balance is not easy. “This is difficult work,” she told the committee. “And I know that I have not always gotten it right.”
The Biden administration is also not getting this right. Here at home, there is plenty to focus on. It should stop meddling in how Israel defends itself and concentrate on uniting a divided country.