As The Wall Street Journal declared in a mid-March headline, the relationship between Biden and Netanyahu “is in a serious crisis.” And while many hold out hope that a Donald Trump re-election will repair the relationship between America and Israel, the Republican front-runner’s murky Israel messaging could see him being far less sympathetic to Jerusalem during a second term than he was during his first.
Although Israel has issued a formal apology for the WCK tragedy, it clearly wasn’t enough for Biden, who described himself as “outraged and heartbroken” by the deaths of the workers. Displaying uncharacteristically tough language, the president went on to describe the drone attack as “not a stand-alone incident,” but rather part of a “conflict [that] has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed.”
Biden, too, has never been more boxed in by the war in Gaza – which began with the President warmly embracing Netanyahu during a visit to Israel just days after the Hamas attack and has steadily deteriorated since then. While few could have envisioned the scale of Hamas’ murderous ambitions, even fewer conceived of just how damaging Israel’s defense operation would become to Biden’s re-election campaign.
With his roguish tone and recalcitrant rhetoric, Netanyahu finds himself increasingly isolated on the international stage – just as Trump muscles in with competing calls for both a cease-fire and Israel’s right to defend itself. In a typically chaotic late March interview, Trump said Israel had “made a very big mistake” by invading Gaza, going as far as to suggest that Netanyahu’s aggressive battle tactics were responsible for the ongoing surge in global anti-Semitism.
Trump has echoed his Republican base – along with pro-Israel Dems like Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman – with his approval of the war, noting that he would have responded “very much the same” to the Hamas attack as Israel’s south. But, never one for consistency, he has also weighed in on Israel “to finish up your war”. Missing from Trump’s missives is anything specific about Hamas, and zero mention of Israeli hostages: a notable contrast from his Republican allies.
Trump’s making a messy situation even messier – sowing confusion and refusing to commit as he keeps his options plentiful for his possible return to Washington next year. This leaves Netanyahu trapped between a chiding Biden and uncertain Trump as the majority of his citizens seek new leadership amid unprecedented calls from senior US officials for new elections and the Prime Minister to go.
As Israel slogs through its longest war in history, the nation is being torn apart from within. Boxed in with fewer options than ever, Biden and Netanyahu are now turning on each other, and everyone is losing – Biden, Netanyahu, Gaza’s beleaguered population and Israel’s imperiled hostages. Everyone, that is, except for Donald Trump.
