5 Things Biden Needs to Tell the Knesset Immediately
The American President is long overdue for showing leadership
Sleepy Joe needs to wake up and show leadership in the Middle East. His post-October 7th strategy of unconditionally supporting Israel and appeasing Netanyahu with the hope of being better able to control both is an abject failure. At every step, American strategic counsel has been ignored, Biden’s response limited to mumbles of spineless dissatisfaction.
Before the IDF bombed, the US recommended a proportional response — Israel ignored it. Before the IDF invaded, the US recommended precision targeted strikes instead — Israel ignored it. Before the IDF destroyed 85% of Gaza and killed 1% of the whole population, the US recommended guided munitions only — Israel ignored it, to the point Biden called it “over the top”.
The war entering its fifth month, the IDF has pushed Hamas — and most of the Palestinian civilian population — south to Rafa. Before the IDF invades, the US recommends they don’t — with Netanyahu already promising he’s going to invade by Ramadan, anyway. After the war is officially over, the US recommends IDF withdrawal — Israel already insisting on military control.
Implications of Biden’s poor leadership are impacting his electability at home, and stability throughout the Middle East. Razor thin swing states are losing thousands of voters sympathetic to Palestinian suffering, while Israel’s impunity exacerbates that suffering — no Gaza endgame in sight, as fears of a multifront war grow, amid disrupted international shipping.
The time is therefore long overdue for Biden to act like the President of the United States of America, and de facto Leader of the Free World. The bipartisan US/Israeli alliance is a long and intricate relationship, with many benefits, liabilities, and endless contradictions. Despite its complexities and confusion, Biden needs to express a singular and powerful position.
Cutting through the bullshit and acting like a leader for a change, Biden needs to fly to Jerusalem and make a landmark speech to the Knesset. He should keep it simple, direct, and emotional — but not hesitate to be decisive and prescriptive. His primary audience is Israel and the Palestinians, while using the podium to address the entire world.
While making a sincere, emotional connection to his primary audience, Biden should stick to the facts and remain as logical and logistical as possible. Avoiding any name-calling or blame, he needs to walk a tightrope between telling the Israelis and Palestinians what they need to hear, and imposing a heavy hand that at best gets ignored, and worst is pushed away.
Although such a high profile speech runs the risk of his recommendations continuing to be ineffectual, therefore losing the little credibility that he has, the upside for Biden, the US, and the entire region demands he at least try. If nothing else, Biden needs to make American aid overtly contingent on Netanyahu paying attention. The time for the US to grow up is now.
Point 1: Acknowledge and Empathize with Israel’s Existential Crisis
After dispensing with the usual verbiage around the US/Israeli alliance, Biden should open his speech with verified intelligence data confirming and describing the horrific results of the October 7th attacks. Israelis need to feel America feels their pain and suffering, and the Palestinians and the world need to be reminded of the proven breadth and depth of the atrocities.
Point 2: Confirm that the Free World Defends Israel’s Right to Exist
Biden then needs to reiterate that Israel has the right to exist, that the country continues to be surrounded by multiple countries and millions of enemies demanding its destruction, and therefore also has the right to defend itself. Here Biden can remind Israel and the world of America’s support, and reaffirm his personal commitment to maintaining the relationship.
Point 3: Remind Israel that the Palestinians Aren’t Going Anywhere, Either
After stating the obvious that seven million Jews aren’t going anywhere, Biden needs to bookend that with the equally obvious statement that seven million Palestinians aren’t going anywhere, either. These facts reveal that coexistence is the only possible reality, begging the question of seven decades of continuous violence, and the inevitability of mutual compromise.
Point 4: Conclude that a Military Victory from Either Side is Impossible
Shifting from the right of both Jews and Palestinians to exist, Biden then needs to shift into the right of both for self-determination. Since that’s a reality for Israelis and an aspiration for Palestinians, no military action can change either. Instead, negotiations ensure Israeli security, while helping to bring about Palestinian statehood. The war needs to stop, talks needs to start.
Point 5: Propose a Formal Reactivation of Multilateral Negotiations
Biden should announce the formation of a Middle East Peace Commission of some type, shepherded by the US, and inclusive of Israel, Palestinians, and representatives from the regional Arab states. Their express purpose would be to replace Palestinian leadership, stabilize the Lebanese border and West Bank, rebuild Gaza, and create a framework for progress.
And — that’s it. Biden needs to propose nothing more intimidating than getting all the region’s major players to sit down and actually talk to each other. Applying the winning strategies used in Northern Ireland have already been attempted and failed, but that doesn’t mean they should be forgotten. At their heart is taking baby steps before trying to walk.
In lieu of this vital address to the Knesset that likely won’t happen, the IDF is poised to attack Rafa. The imminent assault is ostensibly designed to “destroy Hamas,” yet despite the horrific suffering and ongoing insurgency to come, will be unable to annihilate the underlying rationale for the organization’s existence: the need for Palestinian self-determination.
Up to now, Israel has relied on unconditional support from the US. Biden, the archetype and patriarch of old school American politics, zealously leaped to Netanyahu’s side before the October 7th smoke cleared. The strategy initially made strategic sense, especially to keep Iran in check, yet now seems tragically comical in juxtaposition with Blinken’s bitching.
The American electorate is changing, younger people who know Israel not as an underdog but as a bully starting to vote. That demographic shift, coupled with a daily TikTok deluge of dead Palestinian children, is calling into question the hallowed US/Israel alliance. Seismic demographic shifts within Israel are pushing in the opposite direction, the curve easy to plot.
Meanwhile, the Israel/Saudi security deal is stalled, the Lebanese border is bracing itself for another IDF invasion, the West Bank roils in violence, the Strait of Hormuz remains unsafe for international shipping, and the endgame in Gaza seems as elucive and daunting as ever. The only beneficiary from this ongoing clusterfuck is, of course, opportunistic Iran.
Lasting peace between Israel and Palestine demands concessions from both sides. Still light years away from even a glimmer of hope, the region needs to at least crawl down the road to stability by opening lines of communication. Arguably still the world’s leading superpower, if the US should do anything it should at least try to play coach and referee here.
The onus is on Biden, an experienced politician known for his proven skills as a negotiator. Such a bold move as getting his wrinkled ass on Air Force One and addressing the Knesset would work wonders for his tarnished image not only abroad, but at home. Rather than try to prove he’s still got it, Biden needs to get it and run with it by reining in Netanyahu and the IDF.
The American fear that Israel will do whatever it wants anyway — coupled with the influence of AIPAC in Washington — has got to stop. US taxpayers pour billions into Israel, a relationship with a tipping post-Cold War benefit-to-risk ratio. The 2024 election is looming, and Biden can turn his own game around by telling Israel how it’s going to be — or Trump won’t.
