by Con Coughlin
It is vital .. that the Biden administration fully comprehends that, from Israel's perspective, destroying Hamas is nothing less than an existential struggle, one that is vital to the future survival, security and prosperity of the Jewish state and in fact the entire region.
Apart from dispatching several aircraft carrier battle groups to the Middle East and maintaining arms supplies to Israel, the US has also provided important diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations in New York, frustrating numerous attempts by the body to impose a ceasefire on Israel.
[T]he IDF has been astounded at the scale of the underground terrorist infrastructure that Hamas has constructed, and is determined to make sure the entire network, which was used to deadly effect to carry out the October 7 attacks, is destroyed before it considers any reduction in military activity.
It is vital, therefore, that the Biden administration fully comprehends that, from Israel's perspective, destroying Hamas is nothing less than an existential struggle, one that is vital to the future survival, security and prosperity of the Jewish state and in fact the entire region.
With the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) making good progress in their attempts to destroy the Islamist Hamas terrorist organisation, this is not the moment for the Biden administration to soften its support for Israel.
On the contrary, with the IDF exposing the true extent of Hamas's underground terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, with many of the terrorists' key command and control systems located either within or beneath hospitals, schools and mosques, Washington needs to give Israel the backing it needs to finish its declared objective of wiping Hamas from the face of the earth.
To date, despite coming under intense pressure from primarily pro-Palestinian, activists within the Democratic Party, US President Joe Biden has generally remained resolute in his support for Israel in the wake of the atrocities Hamas committed against the Israeli people on October 7.
Apart from dispatching several aircraft carrier battle groups to the Middle East and maintaining arms supplies to Israel, the US has also provided important diplomatic cover for Israel at the United Nations in New York, frustrating numerous attempts by the body to impose a ceasefire on Israel.
Washington demonstrated its continued support for Israel earlier this month when it vetoed a UN Security Council demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Thirteen Security Council members voted in favour of a brief draft resolution that was put forward earlier by the United Arab Emirates, while the United Kingdom abstained.
Since then, US diplomats have been working hard to dilute renewed efforts at the Security Council to approve a resolution on the Gaza conflict that would ultimately limit the IDF's campaign to destroy Hamas.
Their efforts, moreover, proved successful when the UN Security Council finally adopted a resolution aimed at boosting humanitarian aid for Gaza on December 22, but which stopped short of calling for a ceasefire. The outcome was the result of intense diplomatic efforts on the part of the Biden administration, which threatened to maintain its veto of any resolution that included calls for a ceasefire.
The resolution that was eventually put before the 15 members of the Security Council after weeks of wrangling called for "urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered, and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities."
The text was modified to the extent that Washington agreed to abstain from the vote, rather than vetoing it, allowing the resolution, which was drafted by the United Arab Emirates, to pass.
Apart from the US abstention, Russia also abstained, having argued strongly in favour of the resolution including a call for all sides in the conflict to observe a ceasefire, demanding that the draft call for "an urgent and sustainable cessation of hostilities" to allow aid access.
The Biden administration deserves credit that the ceasefire issue, which is opposed by both the US and Israel, did not become a central theme of the resolution. Intense US lobbying also prevented Israel's ability to inspect all aid deliveries to the estimated 2.3 million people in Gaza from being diluted, allowing Israel to continue monitoring aid deliveries to Gaza via the Rafah crossing from Egypt and the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.
US objections to attempts to include a demand for a ceasefire in the final resolution stemmed from concerns -- shared by the IDF -- that any cessation in hostilities would only benefit Hamas, which would be given a respite from Israel's intense bombardment of its terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
Washington was also concerned that the resolution did not condemn Hamas's October 7 terror attacks, which claimed the lives of an estimated 1,200 Israelis. Nor did the resolution make any mention of the 112 or so Israelis still being held hostage by Hamas.
Nevertheless, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield indicated the resolution could ultimately pave the way to resolve the conflict, demanding that a first step should be the immediate release of all the remaining hostages.
"Today this council called for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access and to create the conditions for sustainable cessation of hostilities," she said.
While Israel was quick to express its thanks to the US for its help in modifying the final resolution, concerns remain within the senior ranks of the Israeli government about how much longer it can count on Washington's support.
US President Joe Biden and senior members of his administration have repeatedly made calls on Israel to show restraint in its assault against Hamas in Gaza, and to limit the number of Palestinian casualties.
And with the US presidential contest due to begin in earnest in the New Year, Israel is likely to come under intense pressure from the Biden administration to scale back its military operations in the coming weeks, a move that is likely to receive strong opposition from Israel.
In the 11 weeks since the Gaza conflict began, the IDF has been astounded at the scale of the underground terrorist infrastructure that Hamas has constructed, and is determined to make sure the entire network, which was used to deadly effect to carry out the October 7 attacks, is destroyed before it considers any reduction in military activity.
It is vital, therefore, that the Biden administration fully comprehends that, from Israel's perspective, destroying Hamas is nothing less than an existential struggle, one that is vital to the future survival, security and prosperity of the Jewish state and in fact the entire region.
In such circumstances, this is not, as then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher famously remarked to then US President George H. Bush on the eve of the First Gulf War in 1990, the time for the Biden administration "to go wobbly."
Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20256/biden-must-not-go-wobbly-on-israel
No comments:
Post a Comment