Joe Biden really, really wants to be reelected. He needs a second term to prevent the Ogre Trump from imposing a fascist regime on America. Every vote counts! Every vote, including the antisemitic vote in places like Michigan and Minnesota. So the President’s ringing statements of support for Israel in the immediate aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas pogrom have now become inoperative. Instead, we get ringing denunciations of the Ogre Netanyatu, demands that Israel prosecute its war against Hamas without harming a hair on the head of any Palestinian civilian, hand-wringing over humanitarian aid, and a “red line” drawn to prevent Israel from clinching its victory over a homicidal death cult dedicated to the extermination of every Jew on the planet. In recent days there have even been suggestions from congressional Democrats and anonymous sources inside the Administration that if Israel doesn’t do Biden’s bidding, military aid might be cut off.
There are several observations to be made about these developments.
First, Biden’s about-face validates the founding principle of the Jewish state: that the Jews can depend on no one but themselves. There are of course many non-Jewish Americans who are people of good will, appalled by the explosion of antisemitism that followed October 7, fully supportive of Israel’s just war against a vicious enemy. But there are also Americans like those “anti-Zionist” progressives who champion the cause of genocidal Palestinian nationalism with blather about “settler colonialism” & etc. This is nothing but antisemitism tricked out in postmodern Newspeak. Plenty of such people infest the Biden Administration. Then there’s Biden himself, a callow opportunist whose level of commitment to America’s allies is determined by the political needs of the moment.
How right the founders of the Jewish state were to embrace armed self-reliance.
Second, Biden’s about-face will produce effects the opposite of those intended. The President is attempting to justify his pusillanimous opportunism by demonizing Benjamin Netanyahu, the implication being that the Israeli prime minister is responsible for “going too far” in Gaza. This, of course, is nonsense. If Netanyahu’s government fell tomorrow, the new government would pursue exactly the same strategy—because that’s what Israeli public opinion demands. Israelis want Hamas to be destroyed, and they’re firmly against the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. After what happened on October 7, all this is perfectly understandable. American pressure that goes against these demands has already lowered Biden’s hitherto high approval rating among Israeli Jews. If it continues, Biden’s standing will continue to sink—and Netanyahu’s, notwithstanding his unpopularity, will rise.
That’s how clueless the Biden Administration is regarding the state of affairs in Israel.
Third, the idea that a few thousand Muslim-American votes in Michigan and Minnesota will be an important factor in the upcoming presidential election is idiotic. Scarcely less so is the fear that “anti-Zionist” progressives of the Democratic Party base will abandon Biden, either staying home on Election Day or voting for some third-party candidate. Nonsense. Progressives’ fear and hatred of Trump, whom they regard as the American Hitler, will motivate them to hold their noses and vote for Biden. The President doesn’t really need to placate these people by bashing Israel. But given his general unpopularity, Biden isn’t taking any chances.
That’s how fearful Biden & Co. are that he could lose to Trump.
The Biden Administration painted itself into this corner by trying to have it both ways: Nag and lecture Israel, bash Netanyatu in public; quietly deliver military aid to Israel. Somewhere in the murky depths of the Administration’s collective consciousness lurks the realization that the best outcome from all points of view is a decisive Israeli victory over Hamas. But Biden and his people shrink from the fact that to get there, a final battle is necessary, entailing more civilian casualties. Given the tactics of Hamas—using civilians as human shields—it cannot be otherwise. The only alternative is for Israel to abandon the fight now, leaving Hamas to reconstitute itself in anticipation of another October 7. And Israel isn’t going to do that.
So Biden’s Mideast policy lies in pieces on the floor. Its incoherence is laughable; its hypocrisy is disgraceful. The Administration’s desperation was made evident recently with the lame-brained proposal to use the US armed forces to construct a temporary floating pier to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. Several hundred US troops will thus be inserted into an active war zone. But not to worry! By some magic trick or other, they’ll complete their mission without setting any “boots on the ground”—as if that’s going to prevent them from being targeted by Hamas and other terrorist groups.
None of this will end well. If the United States persists in its two-faced policy, the result will be a crisis in US/Israeli relations, possibly leading to a full rupture. And after abandoning Afghanistan, after botching Ukraine, Joe Biden will have pulled off a hat trick—three diplomatic disasters to dismay America’s allies and delight its enemies.
Could Donald Trump really do worse?
To Tim Smyth. (For some reason I can’t reply to your comment in the thread where you wrote it).
How American Jews feel about Ukraine or Israel simply doesn’t matter much. The reason is simple; most segments of the American Jewish community are experiencing demographic collapse. American Jews are about as fecund as Episcopalians which is to say, not fecund at all. There’s also a lot of intermarriage and few of the children in these marriages are raised Jewish. Within two generations the American Jewish community will barely be visible.
Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews don’t intermarry and they make a lot of babies. Orthodox Jews produce on average 3 children per marraige which is way above replacement. Ultra-Orthodox American Jews have on average 7 children per marriage. Orthodox Jews are far more supportive of Israel than secular and reform Jews and they are also more likely to vote Republican. Ultra Orthidox Jews are socially very conservative and they vote as a block. It’s important to remember that a sizable portion of the ultra-Orthodox community (about 15 percent, primarily the Satmar sect) is not Zionist and opposes Israel for religious reasons (they believe the State of Israel can only be established when the Messiah finally comes).
Jews currently make up 2.5 percent of the American population. By the end of the century it will be less than one percent. By then, there won’t be many more American Jews than American Sikhs. The few Jews still remaining in the United States will be more conservative than ever and most, but not all, will be fervent Zionists. Their numbers will be far too small to matter.
Those congregations you visited, Tim, will almost all die out and many of the synagogue buildings will be reconsecrated as evangelical churches. In fact, that’s already happening.
Netanyahu is right to have disdain for contemporary American Jews; he knows that the community is committing suicide.
Far and away the most important supporters of Israel in the United States are Evangelical Protestants. They are also experiencing demographic decline but there are still tens of millions of them. They are a critical voting group in at least 25 of the 50 American States.
The organization Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is more powerful than AIPAC. It’s no wonder that most of the political parties in Israel view the American. Evangelical community as at least as important (and maybe more important) than the American Jewish community.
This isn’t just an American phenomenon. Evangelical Protestants are supplanting Roman Catholics throughout Latin America and Brazil. By way of example, Bolsonaro supporters in Brazil make up almost exactly 50 percent of the population. These supporters are primarily Evangelical and fiercely Zionist. The new President of Argentina who won by an overwhelming majority is in the process of converting to Judaism. He recently visited Israel and has promised to move Argentina’s embassy to Jerusalem.
The Nazis practically denuded Europe of it’s Jewish population but we see a similar phenomenon in Europe. Movements previously associated with the fascists are now supporting Israel including the AFD in Germany and Geert Wilders party in the Netherlands. Viktor Orban claims to be deeply committed to restoring Europe’s Christian values. I can’t comment on his sincerity but one thing is apparent; he’s the most passionately pro-Israel leader in the EU.
Evangelical Christianity is not only the fastest growing religious movement in the world now, it’s one of the fastest growing religious movements in world history. Evangelical Protestantism is growing far more quickly than Islam is. Evangelicals are overwhelmingly (but not entirely) pro Israel.
Who would have guessed that Jewish supporters of Israel would diminish in importance while Evangelical supporters of Israel would become more important than ever?
Hashem works in mysterious ways.
Yigal Carmon thinks the Gaza port is great:
https://www.memri.org/reports/port-hope-gaza-beginning-end-war