Was Resumption of Gaza War Linked to Blinken's Visit?

Israel resumed the Gaza war having said that Hamas violated a week-long truce by firing rockets at the Jewish state. The White House echoed that the Islamist group is to blame for the resumption of hostilities. Is Team Biden interested in expanding Tel Aviv's operation?

The re-eruption of Israel's war against Hamas came hot on the heels of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.

During the meeting Blinken lauded the expansion of the humanitarian pause: "The pause in fighting has demonstrated success in securing the freedom of hostages and in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza – we want to see it continue," the US secretary of state said on Thursday. Yet the conflict resumed the very next day. What is behind this contradiction?

"I think Blinken’s visit yesterday must be perceived within the constant supportive context the US announced from the beginning of this war for Israel, therefore the US seeks may be for new tactics which could reduce the ethical embarrassment Israel causes for the US department through the randomized killing for civilians, this is why Blinken mentioned everything but the ceasefire," Dr. Muhannad Alazzeh, former Jordanian senator and international legal and human rights commissioned expert told Sputnik.

Alazzeh said Israel feels it would get Washington's approval whatever it does. Following the resumption of Israeli air strikes against Gaza, the White House has signalled that Hamas was to blame for the breach of the temporary truce. Against this backdrop, Blinken's praise for the temporary truce was nothing but a fig leaf covering the US unwillingness in implementing a long-term ceasefire, according to the expert.

"[President Joe] Biden himself, since October 7 until yesterday, says that he can’t support any call for permanent ceasefire and this is because he believes that Israel must accomplish its announced goal from this war which is 'to abolish Hamas'," emphasized the human right expert. "He talks more about the future of Gaza than the present, which confirms that he is 100 percent wants Israel to achieve its goals from this war until the end."

Alazzeh added that that Blinken's rhetoric about the "respect for the international law regarding the civilians in the south of Gaza" and his comments about Israel having to "reduce the casualties among the civilians," indicated that that the White House would be happy for the war to continue.

"I think the main reason for his visit is to encourage Israel to adopt new military tactics before restarting the hostility, as I said, to avoid the [State] Department more embarrassment due to its biased position," the Mideast expert said.

Team Biden and Bibi's Gaza War

However, the situation seems more complicated given that Team Biden's Democratic officials have a long record of being at odds with the Netanyahu cabinet, beginning with their nuclear deal with Tehran — Tel Aviv's arch-enemy — and ending with the Israeli prime minister's getting along with former President Donald Trump, Biden's arch-enemy.

These contradictions manifested themselves in the first phase of the Gaza war when, following Blinken's statement concerning returning the Gaza Strip under the rule of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the post-war period, Netanyahu made it clear that would not happen. The Israeli PM insisted that after the defeat of Hamas, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) would be in control of the strip as long as necessary.

Mehran Kamrava, professor of government at Georgetown University Qatar, told Sputnik last month that the Biden administration cannot restrain either its Arab or Israeli allies.

Biden and Blinken's Skepticism Over Gaza War

Meanwhile, Israeli-American conservative newspaper JNS questioned the Biden administration's commitment to the Gaza war. The publication's editor-in-chief Jonathan S. Tobin quoted the president's tweet that "Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace. To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek. We can’t do that."

Tobin interpreted those comments as a silent shift in Biden policy from supporting the Gaza war to embracing a long-term truce, and evidence of a growing divide within the Democratic Party over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and increased pressure on the US president and his team ahead of the 2024 elections.

A considerable part of Biden's electorate — including young Democrats, non-whites, Arab and Muslim Americans and progressives — support Palestine and an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. "Whether the president intended it or not, it reflected the way that the administration’s pro-Israel stand has been crumbling under pressure from its supporters," the journalist noted.

Meanwhile, the same publication drew attention to an alleged conversation between Blinken and the Israeli leadership during a meeting of Israel’s War Cabinet on Thursday leaked — but not verified — by Channel 12. Blinken reportedly questioned Tel Aviv's strategy in southern Gaza and said that Israel does not have much time to complete the operation.

"There are two million Palestinians there," Blinken allegedly said. "You need to evacuate fewer people from their homes, be more precise in your attacks, not damage UN facilities, and make sure there are enough safe areas. And if not, then don’t attack where there is a civilian population. What will be your method of operation?"

Israeli military officials responded that they would operate "proportionally", insisting they were ready to wage war for months if necessary. Blinken allegedly responded that Israel did not have that much time, saying: "I don’t think you will have the credit for that."

He also drew attention to Israel's unwillingness to allow the Palestinian Authority to resume government over Gaza — prompting Netanyahu to retort that as long as he sits in "this chair" the West Bank-based authority will not control the enclave.

Earlier, Axios cited a phone conversation between Biden and Netanyahu in which the US president warned the Israeli premier against waging the war in the south in the same intense manner it did in the north.

Michael Maloof, former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, suggested in his October 31 interview with Sputnik that Team Biden did not want the Gaza war from the outset: it was merely unleashed on them by Hamas' brutal October 7 attack and no less brutal Israel's response.

Team Biden already has a lot on its plate, including the Ukraine proxy war and simmering tensions with China over Taiwan. The Palestine-Israel standoff did not fit Biden's plan but he can do nothing but support Israel, as American presidents usually did, according to Maloof.

Less than 10 days before the Hamas incursion into southern Israel, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan bragged at the Atlantic Festival: "The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades."