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Since the war in Gaza began in October, the Biden administration has mostly pursued what’s been called a “bear hug” strategy when it comes to Israel, avoiding public criticism and upholding the country’s right to defend itself.
In his State of the Union address on March 7, Biden called on Israel to “do its part” to protect civilians and allow more humanitarian aid, and in an unfortunately phrased hot mic moment afterward said that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu need to have a “‘come to Jesus’ meeting.”
A recent high-profile example of “conditioning” military aid is Ukraine, which has pledged, at Washington’s request, not to use American-supplied weapons to strike targets within Russia, which US leaders fear could lead to a direct US-Russia conflict.
Haaretz’s Anshel Pfeffer noted on Wednesday that if the US restricted supplies of precision-guided munitions, Israel might simply resort to “much larger air bombs, which would cause even higher levels of casualties and destruction.”
“The only really significant thing that could penetrate the sense of complacency [in Israel] about American support is conditioning the military arms exports,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israel-based political scientist and public opinion expert.
Last week, Benny Gantz, who is both a member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet and his leading political rival, met with senior officials in Washington including Vice President Kamala Harris — despite the Israeli prime minister’s opposition to the trip.
