I dislike Biden immeasurably less than Trump, and I plan to vote for him in November, yet:
“It is a red line," Biden said, adding, “but I’m never gonna leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical.”
That sounds to me like there is, in fact, not a red line.
Drawing a line without any consequences for crossing it is worse than not drawing a line at all (source: my pedagogy prof, many, many moons ago).
I realize that Biden did not, in fact, say that there were not going to be any consequences at all - but the other thing with lines is that the consequences need to be known in advance, and they need to be adhered to. From all I'm hearing in interviews, the US government seems very hesitant to commit to any consequences, and if the slaughter keeps going, it may save Netanyahu's political career, but seriously bite Biden in the tush come election day.
Didn't he say something about a 2 state solution being the eventual goal?
Yes, he has been saying this. What is lacking is a plan to get there. Against the opposition of the current Israeli government.
How does the American president develop a plan when one side is refusing to even say if the hostages are alive and acknowledge the existence of the other party?
It's so weird that people act like Hamas/Palestinians aren't required to be a part of the process..... when they're the ones who have turned down the deals Egypt and Qatar have brokered.
Hamas is part of the process, they have attended the negotiations.
Fact is Israel is the one who keeps refusing to participate.
Israel won't negotiate until they get a list of names of living hostages. That's what's being negotiated, Hamas won't provide it. Blaming Israel because Hamas won't come to the table in any reasonable way is ridiculous.
The Qatar's have threatened to boot Hamas if they don't start negotiating in good faith is the news coming out lately. Blaming Israel for not negotiating over nothing is just stupid.
Israel cannot get a list of names until they stop bombing the place and shooting everyone.
How is Hamas meant to go out and find out who's even survived Israeli bombings if they get killed? Even ambulances with Israeli permission to rescue young children aren't even safe to travel the streets.
Right. The principal parties of such negotiations are the Israeli- and the Palestinian Government, with Hamas in the mix, because they control the Gaza Strip.
Anyone outside those groups can make suggestions, demands, etc., but there are limited means for them to influence such negotiations. The US government can threaten to withhold support (at the risk of being labeled antisemitic or at least anti Israel), but I wouldn't bet my bottom dollar that it would make a difference in this climate.
I did not mean imply that Biden and his government can make a plan, and expect it to be followed. However, I feel that for his own benefit, Biden has to make a public display of making stronger demands for a resolution of this problem. It may not fix things in the Middle East in the short term, but it will demonstrate that he cares, and that the USA cares.
That's fair, I would probably agree with most of how you have reframed that. I think the qataris have an outside influence and obviously Iran's input would mean something.
I think Biden bringing Gantz over for a chat is about as big of a threat to Bibi as you're going to see though. That's notable on many levels.
He says a lot of things. He's supporting Netanyahu's genocide by selling him weapons and backing him up at the UN.
His support for a 2 state solution consists of words.
The two state solution here seems to be a border with Israel on one side and Egypt on the other.
This is just willful ignorance at this point, the administration has been saying consistently since at least a month after October 7th, that a two state solution was the only answer to permanently solve the crisis.
Contrast what is being said with what is happening. Gazans are being pushed hard against that Egypt border. They are being starved and killed. Where does this end if US watches it continue?
And yet they will do nothing to make it happen, just like every administration before them. At what point will you care that it's just lip service?
I dislike Biden immeasurably less than Trump, and I plan to vote for him in November, yet:
That sounds to me like there is, in fact, not a red line.
Drawing a line without any consequences for crossing it is worse than not drawing a line at all (source: my pedagogy prof, many, many moons ago).
I realize that Biden did not, in fact, say that there were not going to be any consequences at all - but the other thing with lines is that the consequences need to be known in advance, and they need to be adhered to. From all I'm hearing in interviews, the US government seems very hesitant to commit to any consequences, and if the slaughter keeps going, it may save Netanyahu's political career, but seriously bite Biden in the tush come election day.
Didn't he say something about a 2 state solution being the eventual goal?
Yes, he has been saying this. What is lacking is a plan to get there. Against the opposition of the current Israeli government.
How does the American president develop a plan when one side is refusing to even say if the hostages are alive and acknowledge the existence of the other party?
It's so weird that people act like Hamas/Palestinians aren't required to be a part of the process..... when they're the ones who have turned down the deals Egypt and Qatar have brokered.
Hamas is part of the process, they have attended the negotiations.
Fact is Israel is the one who keeps refusing to participate.
Israel won't negotiate until they get a list of names of living hostages. That's what's being negotiated, Hamas won't provide it. Blaming Israel because Hamas won't come to the table in any reasonable way is ridiculous.
The Qatar's have threatened to boot Hamas if they don't start negotiating in good faith is the news coming out lately. Blaming Israel for not negotiating over nothing is just stupid.
Israel cannot get a list of names until they stop bombing the place and shooting everyone.
How is Hamas meant to go out and find out who's even survived Israeli bombings if they get killed? Even ambulances with Israeli permission to rescue young children aren't even safe to travel the streets.
You could've stopped there.
Meanwhile Qatar is threatening to boot Hamas because they're not negotiating in good faith.
Your narrative doesn't match reality.
Bad faith negotiators all around, hard to blame Biden.
Yet the squad and their backers are finding ways to undermine their own..... interesting how that works.
Who?
Right. The principal parties of such negotiations are the Israeli- and the Palestinian Government, with Hamas in the mix, because they control the Gaza Strip.
Anyone outside those groups can make suggestions, demands, etc., but there are limited means for them to influence such negotiations. The US government can threaten to withhold support (at the risk of being labeled antisemitic or at least anti Israel), but I wouldn't bet my bottom dollar that it would make a difference in this climate.
I did not mean imply that Biden and his government can make a plan, and expect it to be followed. However, I feel that for his own benefit, Biden has to make a public display of making stronger demands for a resolution of this problem. It may not fix things in the Middle East in the short term, but it will demonstrate that he cares, and that the USA cares.
That's fair, I would probably agree with most of how you have reframed that. I think the qataris have an outside influence and obviously Iran's input would mean something.
I think Biden bringing Gantz over for a chat is about as big of a threat to Bibi as you're going to see though. That's notable on many levels.
He says a lot of things. He's supporting Netanyahu's genocide by selling him weapons and backing him up at the UN.
His support for a 2 state solution consists of words.
The two state solution here seems to be a border with Israel on one side and Egypt on the other.
This is just willful ignorance at this point, the administration has been saying consistently since at least a month after October 7th, that a two state solution was the only answer to permanently solve the crisis.
Contrast what is being said with what is happening. Gazans are being pushed hard against that Egypt border. They are being starved and killed. Where does this end if US watches it continue?
And yet they will do nothing to make it happen, just like every administration before them. At what point will you care that it's just lip service?