What next?

As the bloody fighting continues, Biden faces a war within his own party, said Ryan Lizza in Politico.com. While he’s moved to the left on issues from climate to racial justice, “on Israel he’s a throwback”— and he’s facing a rebellion from “a vocal Left that’s deeply disenchanted with the Jewish state.” The ground is shifting, with progressive Democratic lawmakers openly criticizing Israel and polls showing Democratic voters now “equally sympathetic toward both sides” of the conflict.

Biden’s call for a cease-fire will have no effect, because “Washington has less leverage than ever,” said Walter Russell Mead in The Wall Street Journal. “Everyone in the region” is aware that the U.S.’s chief goal is to “reduce America’s Middle East footprint.” Few Israelis fear that Biden will disrupt the status quo, and “even fewer Palestinians believe that the U.S. can or will force Israel to make the concessions on Jerusalem and settlements they demand.” The current violence “will burn itself out,” but with support for a two-state solution all but dead, this “Hundred Years’ War” looks nowhere “close to an end.” The Democratic divide over Israel “is going to be a problem” for Biden, said Henry Olsen in The Washington Post. Biden specializes in finding middle ground, but there is none between pro-Palestinian Democrats and an Israel that’s “shifted dramatically to the right.” In coming years, that tension will only grow.

Hopes for ending the “vicious cycle” of violence are dimmer than ever, said David Ignatius in The Washington Post. In the past, America would have urged recommitment to a “peace process,” but no such process exists. In Israel, the “political fabric has frayed during recent years of electoral impasse and interim government.” On the Palestinian side, the “mess is even worse,” with power flowing away from the “corrupt and feeble” Palestinian Authority toward the militant Hamas. The only way out is through bold, honest, and courageous leadership— and none is in evidence.