Israeli government brushes off Biden team yet again

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden at the White House in July. EPA

For one fleeting moment on Wednesday night, an apparently unstoppable war between Israel and Hezbollah looked like it could at least be put on pause. The US, France and other partners unveiled a proposal for a 21-day ceasefire that would pave the way for talks and a more durable truce along the Israel-Lebanon border.

It was not to be.

As soon as he learnt of the proposal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed it. He did not even respond to the plan, his office announced, while Foreign Minister Israel Katz said: “There will be no ceasefire in the north.” Israel will fight Hezbollah “with all its might until victory” and the return of displaced Israelis to their homes in the north, he added.

US President Joe Biden should not be surprised that his latest attempt to prevent a broader war was so summarily – and publicly – rejected. Time and again since October 7, when the Hamas-led attack against Israel killed 1,200 people, Mr Netanyahu and his far-right cabinet have ignored entreaties from the Biden administration to bring an end to the fighting – first against Hamas in Gaza and now against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In May, after months of unsuccessful attempts to broker a truce between Israel and Gaza, Mr Biden staked considerable political capital on Mr Netanyahu by publicly declaring that Israel had put forward its own ceasefire proposal. In a detailed presentation from the White House, the US President elucidated how the phased ceasefire would bring an end to the violence.

The only problem was Mr Netanyahu was not on board and quickly rejected the plan, making Mr Biden, who had given Israel unconditional backing since October 7, appear like the junior partner in the US-Israel relationship, an absurd position given the amount of financial support and military aid the US provides its ally.

The Israeli government has ignored near-daily calls from senior Biden administration officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, where more than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed.

Mr Biden, a self-described Zionist, has suffered politically for his support of Mr Netanyahu, facing anger from Arab and Muslim-American voters and dissent from within his own administration. Mr Netanyahu, a right-wing populist, shares little political common ground with Mr Biden and has appeared perfectly happy to ignore the US President or fob him off with vague promises, such as committing early on to end the war in Gaza by the end of 2023.

It's not clear if Hezbollah would accept the peace plan on the table, but Israel's fast rejection of it further underscores Mr Biden's weakness in containing the crisis in the Middle East, where each passing day seems to bring new perils for the people living there. While Israel has not declared all-out war against Hezbollah, the definition is becoming increasingly academic.

The Lebanese people are in a collective state of shock. Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least 700 people this week, according to Health Minister Firass Abiad, and thousands more were wounded last week when pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded. Tens of thousands have been displaced as fears of war intensify.

Israel sees its fight against Hamas and Hezbollah as existential, and says its strikes are aimed at Hezbollah’s leaders in an attempt to stop the Iran-backed militants from attacking Israel. It wants to “escalate to de-escalate”, and force Hezbollah to back down.

In the almost one year since October 7, the Biden administration has pointed to the war between Israel and Hamas being contained to Gaza as a sign of its success in handling the crisis. But despite the best efforts of its diplomats, the Biden administration has been unsuccessful in its attempts to limit Israel's killing of civilians.

And now, with civilians being killed in Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza and the Red Sea, where Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis are striking ships they say are linked to Israel, the Biden administration's continuing claim that it has forestalled a regional war rings hollow.

During Mr Biden's speech to the UN General Assembly this week, he sought to frame his foreign policy legacy by highlighting the crucial role the US has played in supporting Ukraine against Russia's invasion and tried to project the image of an elder statesman within reach of a grand bargain in the Middle East.

“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest. Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible,” he said.

There is always hope for diplomacy, but with less than four months until he leaves the White House, Mr Biden's time to secure peace is almost at an end.