Recent efforts by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel towards a plan for halting the conflict in Gaza have yielded no tangible results. The Biden administration, consistently demonstrating a lackluster foreign policy approach, struggles on the brink of the U.S. presidential election. Despite this, Israeli strikes with American-produced weaponry persistently disrupt Palestinian lives in Gaza. Simultaneously, the belligerence in Lebanon aggravates as direct attacks between Israel and Iran risk escalation.
The Biden administration’s blind championing of Israel’s confrontational actions, especially in light of the destructive assault by Hamas last year, has left progressive voters and Arab and Muslim Americans in key electoral states seething. Needless to say, the administration has been in panic mode, scrambling for a lifeline to haul the Middle East back to a state of stability.
Earlier in October, Israel assassinated Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas. Following the incident, the Biden officials saw a glimmer of hope to manipulate the situation and hastily push for a negotiated settlement to Israel’s engagements in Lebanon and Gaza. Sadly, these conflicts have already cost tens of thousands of Palestinian lives.
With less than three weeks to the election, Biden urgently dispatched Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to the Middle East. The whirlwind trip lacked any semblance of structure, as evident from a cancelled stopover in Jordan and surprising detours to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and London. During this hasty tour, he held separate meetings with officials from Lebanon, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.
In Doha, Blinken hastened to announce the return of U.S. and Israeli negotiators to Qatar, aiming to reignite hostage and truce discussions with Hamas. In spite of these reactive measures, any aspirations of an immediate breakthrough in the wake of Sinwar’s death were short-lived.
Blinken departed the Middle East hanging precariously on the edge of an escalating turmoil, an even more unpredictable scenario than the devastating Hamas attacks in early October 2023. Adding to the anxiety, as Blinken’s aircraft traced its path over the Atlantic, Israeli aircraft simultaneously engaged their flight paths in the direction of Iran.
Blinken’s chief concern during his Middle Eastern journey seemed to focus on devising a strategy to manage the wreckage of post-conflict Gaza, which, under the myopic vision of the Biden administration, remains a figment of imagination. Even while Blinken preached to reporters in Doha about every country’s role in transitioning Gaza from a warzone to a land of peace, his words fell short of a practical roadmap.
No sign indicates that Blinken’s trip is capable of laying a foundation for a ceasefire before the U.S. election, draining any hope harbored by President Biden and his second-in-command, Kamala Harris. Netanyahu, contrary to the Biden administration’s desperate desires, sees no compelling reasons to halt the wars prior to the electoral showdown.
The diplomatic attempts of the Biden administration during the Israel-Gaza war have consistently fallen through the cracks. This is largely due to Biden’s disagreements with both Netanyahu and Sinwar, and his stalwart refusal to leverage withholding arms from Israel. The availability of humanitarian aid in northern Gaza has dipped to distressingly abysmal levels, raising alarm bells within the U.S. administration.
The Biden administration sent a sternly-worded letter to the Israeli government, cautioning that the aid chokehold on Gaza could lead to a potential halt of U.S. military support. An ultimatum accompanies this warning, offering Israel until mid-November to elevate aid to Gaza or risk severe ramifications.
In the meantime, the region grits its teeth in anticipation of potential Iranian counterstrikes after Israel’s recent offensive. The heavy-handed utilization of military force by Israel, resulting in civilian victims including young Palestinians, and the strikes on residential areas in Beirut, even in defiance of international reprimands, showcase the Biden administration’s questionable affinity for these belligerent tactics.
A previous attempt by the administration to broker a ceasefire ended in a predictable failure. Since then, calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the region have waned. US officials suggest the presence of a strong security force, perhaps sourced from neighboring Arab military units, as a prerequisite for any Israeli retreat. The question, however, remains: who would shoulder the tens of billions necessary for the reconstruction of a decimated Gaza?