The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth recently featured an article by Dr. Avigdor Haselkorn, a strategic analyst in national security affairs, discussing the unprecedented support of U.S. President Joe Biden for Israel. This support, according to Haselkorn, is not primarily driven by Biden’s deep friendship with Israel or his repulsion towards the October attack by Hamas.
Haselkorn elaborates that Biden and his predecessor, Barack Obama, believed Israel might take military steps that could surprise the U.S. and put it in a difficult position. He suggests that Biden and Obama perceive Israel as unique in the Middle East, with a mindset and capabilities that could turn it into a raging bull. Therefore, the only way to prevent a regional nightmare is to restrain Israel, as Washington is the only power with sufficient influence to exert effective control over Tel Aviv.
Obama’s approach to the Iranian nuclear program is cited as a primary motive behind his persistence in reaching a 2015 agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities, to prevent the region from teetering on the brink of disaster.
Doug Rossinow, a history professor at Metropolitan State University, mentioned in Time magazine last month, indicated that Biden set aside the strategic and political considerations that guided previous American leaders’ responses to Israeli wars. He joined hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, echoing Israeli talking points.
Biden was concerned about the growing consensus in Israel that, following the Hamas attack, the country was at war with “Nazis aiming to pounce on it from multiple fronts,” threatening the very existence of the state. After the attack, the shadow of Israel using what Prime Minister Yair Lapid in 2022 called “other capabilities that keep us alive, and will keep us alive as long as we and our children are here” became a reality.
Haselkorn asserts that there should be no doubt that Biden was fully aware of the strategic importance of this Israeli threat assessment, hence his efforts to prevent the nightmare of Israel using its ultimate weapon. The belief that Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, which included Israel’s most extreme figures, as Biden himself said in July, heightened American concerns.
Worse, the White House’s hostility towards Netanyahu could have been interpreted by the Israeli government as isolating Israel from its main ally, potentially leading Israel to resort to extreme measures to save itself from annihilation.
As a result, the Biden administration quickly took several interconnected steps to prevent a desperate Israeli action. These included deploying an aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean and the Arabian Gulf regions, additional air and ground reinforcements, stern warnings to Hezbollah and Iran not to exploit Israel’s predicament, and providing Israel with a strategic umbrella to enable the Israeli military to deal with the Hamas threat without escalating to other areas or facing a widespread attack from multiple directions.
The U.S. also launched immediate large-scale air and sea operations for conventional weapons to ensure Israel’s arsenal did not run out, enabling the Israeli military to achieve its war objectives through conventional means. Additionally, America moved to defend some of Israel’s strategic sites, such as the Dimona nuclear reactor.
In a dramatic move, as described by historian Doug Rossinow, Biden himself rushed to visit Israel and sat as part of Netanyahu’s war cabinet, dispelling any notion of Israel being isolated and alone against a multi-front attack.
Meanwhile, Haselkorn says, the Biden administration sought to impose strict controls on Israel’s wartime conduct from the start, consistent with its fundamental perception of Israel as a potential rogue actor. This concern was likely enhanced by the destruction in Gaza.
The magnitude of American support for Israel is further illustrated by the large number of high-level U.S. military and political officials who visited Israel to observe and “advise” on the progress of the conflict.
While Americans often express Washington’s “firm” commitment to Israel’s security, they are particularly concerned about the potential for escalation in the north, which persists as long as the Gaza campaign continues, and the resulting attacks by Hezbollah.
Biden is worried that, after dismantling Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli military might shift its focus to dealing with Hezbollah or even directly confront Iran, potentially leading to an uncontrollable explosion. “No wonder Washington is trying to defuse a potential escalation against Hezbollah through a diplomatic initiative towards the Lebanese government,” the article suggests.
Finally, once Biden was convinced that the enhanced U.S. regional deployments were effective in deterring Hezbollah and Iran from fully intervening in the conflict, he became more critical of the Israeli military’s conduct in the war, not just for domestic political reasons but also to signal to Israel not to misinterpret his initial strong support as a carte blanche.
To prevent a terrifying regional war, Washington also pressed Israel not to respond to rocket attacks and drone strikes by the Houthis against targets in southern Israel. Instead, for the first time, U.S. Navy ships stationed in the Red Sea were tasked with intercepting Yemeni fire to keep Israel from retaliating.
Source: Yedioth Ahronoth
