As Israeli attacks surge, President Biden says Gaza truce ‘realistic’
Reaching a Gaza ceasefire is still realistic, US President Joe Biden says at the White House, telling reporters: “We have to keep at it until we get it done, but we’ve got a way to go.”
Asked if getting an agreement may be slipping out of reach in the final months of his presidency, Biden said he still had hope and his national security team continues its efforts.
“If I ever said it wasn’t realistic, we might as well leave,” Biden said. “A lot of things don’t look realistic until we get them done.”
The Biden administration has been accused of not doing enough to rein in Israel, including halting weapons transfers. after nearly a year of war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians.
Just resign now Biden, your legacy is toast, you'll be genocide Joe forever. You're not willing to put any conditions on your ironclad support, Netanyahu will not stop. All you're doing is giving Netanyahu more time. Let someone else negotiate and stop sending more bombs, stop blocking the UN from doing anything.
‘Netanyahu knows the Americans cannot stop him’
Israeli political analyst Akiva Eldar says most of the Israeli public supports Netanyahu as he and his “radical right” ministers continue to pound the Gaza Strip.
“Domestically, he’s leaning on a solid coalition in parliament. The Israeli public is tired, there is a fatigue and the army is exhausted. So I’m not sure how long it will last,” Eldar told Al Jazeera.
But he added: “Netanyahu is obsessively looking at the polls and it looks like in the last few weeks – since Israel was able to target leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas – his position is improving in the polls. So he’ll keep doing this.
“What we need here to put an end to this is a responsible adult. Right now, the American administration and the American people are busy with their own elections. And Netanyahu takes advantage of this, and he knows the Americans cannot stop him and he can keep doing what he’s been doing for the last year.”
Gaza ceasefire ‘nowhere in sight'
It’s important to remember Israel’s war on Gaza is nearing one year. There’s been a clear escalation over the last week in attacks. Family members of captives in Gaza spoke to American media this morning saying they don’t want a wider war because the chances of a ceasefire deal will be zero.
It’s worth mentioning these ceasefire talks haven’t really been going anywhere over the last several months. They have been stalled – essentially dead on arrival – because of hard “red lines” that Netanyahu has implemented.
But the public is already fatigued protesting the war on Gaza. The United States has said a ceasefire deal could calm all the tensions, but that is nowhere in sight.
Gaza war leaves Biden’s foreign policy reputation ‘in tatters’
One reason US President Joe Biden has been saying they are still working on a Gaza ceasefire is because his reputation is in tatters.
He came into office claiming to be a foreign policy expert, former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with all his butting heads in the Obama administration when he was vice president, saying he knew best.
He was always chafing at the idea that Donald Trump achieved the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which is the normalisation of relations with Israel.
What he is now potentially doing is leaving his successor with a full-scale regional conflict, and he’s leaving his own foreign policy legacy as the man known as “Genocide Joe”.
