Biden – Netanyahu Fates Cross

Joe Biden and Bibi Netanyahu faced a “perfect storm.” According to the New York Times, after nearly eight months of war in Gaza, the American president finds himself “in shreds” in Middle East politics. On this side of the Atlantic, the Israeli prime minister is one step away from becoming an international pariah. The charge of war crimes and crimes against humanity that the Hague Court’s attorney general has collectively brought against him, putting him on the same level as Hamas terrorists, is no coincidence. This is the path persistently followed by a leader who has always been an instigator and is now considered an extremist by two-thirds of the world’s rulers. Last in order are Spain, Ireland, and Norway: full-fledged democracies drawn into head-on conflict with the leader of the Jewish state through coercion or, rather, provocation by the Prime Minister and his government of (almost) national unity.

The combination of Biden’s and Netanyahu’s policies has sparked unprecedented criticism aimed with “friendly fire” at the two friction-ridden partners. In an analysis published in the May 24 edition of the journal Foreign Affairs, Oona O. Hathaway, professor of international law at Yale University and former general counsel of the US Department of Defense, pointed the finger at the mistakes the White House continues to make in a desperate attempt to protect Netanyahu. In her view, calling the Criminal Court’s decision “outrageous,” as the president did, allowing his loyal Blinken to say that the administration would take into consideration a proposal by a dozen Republican senators intending to impose sanctions on the judges, staff and their families of the Hague Tribunal, is the worst way to show leadership internationally, but also to try to save Netanyahu. “Israel still has a sure way to derail the trial of Netanyahu and Gallant (his defense minister, the one who called Palestinians ‘human animals’ – ed.): investigate and, if warranted, prosecute them directly.”

This would be the only way to counteract at the procedural level the actions of international judges. “The Rome Statute makes it clear that the ICC can only exercise its jurisdiction if a state is unwilling or unable to complete the investigation and, if necessary, to prosecute the crime itself.” Of course, Hathaway adds, it is highly unlikely that Netanyahu, who is already facing corruption charges, would agree to an investigation against him by his country’s justice system. The implications thus extend beyond the borders of the Jewish state. “Unless Israel uses the only sure way to stop the prosecution before it moves on, the United States should not destroy its own credibility just to protect people who have ignored every warning.”

The sense of impunity that seems to have gripped Netanyahu was well explained by the New York Times with the help of the lengthy May 16 investigation we covered last week. But the same newspaper, liberal by definition, returns to the Gaza/Rafah drama to offer a rare sharp criticism of a Democratic president.

“Frankly speaking, Biden’s policy in Gaza has been a moral, practical, and political failure. This made the United States complicit in civilian deaths, including the starvation of children. It undermined our position in Ukraine. In my opinion, it has not helped Israel destroy Hamas, recover hostages, or improve long term security. And this could hurt Biden’s chances of winning key states like Michigan.” And to make the concept even clearer, Nicholas Kristof, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, explains that “instead of putting hard pressure on Israel to allow thousands of trucks at the border to enter Gaza, the Biden administration in December effectively blocked a UN Resolution that would have created a UN system to circumvent the bottleneck of Israeli inspections. And the children died of starvation.”

The main consideration concerns the Israeli Prime Minister: “Prolonging this war is in Netanyahu’s interest, but it is not in the interest of Israelis, Americans or Palestinians.” This resulted in an advice to the occupant of the White House: “I suggest it’s time for Biden to act firmly and withhold all offensive weapons as an imperfect approach that just might be a step toward easing the humanitarian catastrophe, ending the war and upholding that rules-based order that he says he believes in.”

Belief, preaching, and practice are not sequential functions, at least at this stage of low ethical level in politics. But Hathaway, trying to get Biden to drop Netanyahu’s involvement in the attack on the Hague court, argues that America’s retaliation will boomerang on Washington. “The United States has long made global propaganda of criminal justice a key element of its foreign policy. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack travels the world, urging nations to respect their international legal obligations and ensure that those who commit international crimes are held accountable. Such efforts would be ineffective if the United States were thought to be criminally liable only against geopolitical adversaries.”

For Hathaway it’s “hypocrisy,” for most of the world it’s “double standards.”