Biden’s speech about the Israel-Hamas war reveals a key shift. And the army and IDF does not need a ground invasion in Gaza to beat Hamas.
There is a shift happening amid the ongoing violence of the Israel-Hamas war. We can see this shift in President Joe Biden’s tone, even as he pledged his unwavering support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And we can see this shift in the way experts at the United Nations and other global organizations are cautioning their Israeli counterparts. The world is worried.
Israel’s desire to retaliate, deter and destroy Hamas in Gaza after the war crimes, hostage takings and atrocities committed on Oct. 7 is more than understandable. But Israelis are also smart and able to think through the consequences, including the unintended ones, of their actions. Netanyahu’s war Cabinet has been preparing for some kind of Gaza invasion for days now. But here’s the thing: The invasion doesn’t have to happen.
Americans know how overusing your military can be counterproductive, especially when it might involve large numbers of civilian noncombatants. We know what happened in Vietnam; we know what happened in Afghanistan. Israel has not yet made these same mistakes.
In a faint sign of hope, the Israeli military reportedly said on Tuesday that a Gaza ground offensive is “not a certainty.” That tempering of Israel’s militant tone may reflect private conversations Biden had with Netanyahu urging restraint, along the lines of what the president said publicly Wednesday: “While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it.
