THE FEDERALIST
Joe Biden promised to veto any standalone aid bill for Israel, and Hakeem Jeffries and most House Democrats voted against one. The administration maintains that Israel’s security is so “sacred,” it must be tied to a doomed legislative package containing entirely unrelated issues that deal with border security and Ukrainian aid.
Which, of course, makes absolutely zero sense.
Does anyone believe that the president would veto a standalone bill for Ukrainian aid? Or what about a standalone bill for “humanitarian” aid to Palestinians? Color me skeptical. Now, a standalone border security bill? That he’d definitely veto. Priorities, you see.
In the years before Barack Obama, a vote to help a longtime ally against a proxy terror army that — not incidentally — murdered 30-plus American citizens would have been a no-brainer. Today, a Democrat who takes an unrepentantly pro-Israel position puts himself in a precarious position. Biden is free to play games with Israeli aid because there will be no political repercussions. Most Democrats don’t really care anymore. And those who do are in the pro-Hamas wing — whether openly or functionally.
“Forget No Labels. Biden’s Third-Party Peril is on the Left,” warns Politico. Numerous polls, writes Jonathan Martin, find that young leftists are angry about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Not the mass rape and murder of civilians, mind you, but Israel’s efforts to root out the attackers. Many of these people are socialist ideologues, many are identitarian dimwits, and others are just antisemites. Some, like members of the “squad,” are all of the above. Whatever the case, they are always “angry” at Israel. These are the people who were demanding “ceasefires” before Israel had even begun retaliating for Oct 7.
Still, the situation remains something of a balancing act for Biden. There are still enough Jewish Democrats and independents who feel a historic kinship with Israel. Enough that the president doesn’t attack Israel unequivocally. Like Obama before him, Biden uses Benjamin Netanyahu as a strawman, framing the prime minister as some kind of warmongering fascist.
Here’s a little-known reality: Right or left, Netanyahu or someone else, no Israeli prime minister would act any differently in Gaza. Israeli voters rightly demand it. Just as it would have been impossible to lead the United States after 9/11 on a plank that gave al Qaeda a pass, it would be impossible to hold power in Israel and allow Hamas to continue to operate next door.
Moreover, though Netanyahu might be a ruthless politician, he is an ideological moderate with a long record of liberal reforms in Israel. His biggest failure wasn’t acting too bellicose or authoritarian, but rather underestimating his country’s mortal enemies.
In any event, Biden acts like a statesman in public but simultaneously leaks angry quotes about Netanyahu to placate the…
