PNW - In the aftermath of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after 11 days of fighting that left 12 Israelis and 248 Palestinians dead, and approximately 77,000 Gazans homeless, the Biden administration now wants to help. Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the Middle East this week but his purpose is not, as he claims, to revive the dead-in-the-water peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
Rather, it's to ensure that the truce holds. According to President Joe Biden, Blinken will do so while simultaneously reaffirming "our ironclad commitment to Israel's security" while also continuing "our administration's efforts to rebuild ties, and support for, the Palestinian people, and leaders, after years of neglect."
There's a lot to unpack in that sentence. Biden's words signaled a shot at the administration of former President Donald Trump's closeness with Israel and attempt to hold the Palestinian Authority accountable for its support of terrorism. It also reflected a policy shift to a more "even-handed" approach to the conflict, while at the same time also attempting to claim that its support for Israel is unshaken.
Any statement that seeks to reassure both the sector of his party's base that is anti-Israel and Americans who support the Jewish state can't be said to amount to much. That's especially true since the administration's foreign-policy priority until last week was its ongoing efforts to reach a rapprochement with Iran, which would enable Tehran to have even more resources to give to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad embedded in Gaza.
As Biden talks out of both sides of his ....READ MORE
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