The level of double thinking is astounding. Even as the Biden-[Harris] administration was publicly browbeating Israel to surrender to Hamas, which had only just invaded, tortured, raped, killed over 1200 Israelis and foreigners, and carried off hundreds — both living and corpses — they were also slow-walking weapons shipments to Israel and throwing literal billions of dollars at Iran, Lebanon, and Hamas with no strings attached as a reward.
[IsraelTimes] After Mideast czar’s defense of administration’s policy, Ilan Goldenberg suggests Biden should have tried leveraging post-Oct. 7 popularity in Israel to push for deal much sooner
No. Even to suggest such a thing is evil. Thank God Bibi Netanyahu is strong and clever enough to to have held them off.
A former senior staffer of former US president Joe Biden argued Tuesday that his former boss may have had a chance to secure a hostage deal already at the end of 2023, offering one of the first public reckonings from the previous administration regarding its handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
Still trying to undercut PM Netanyahu at home and abroad. Fortunately, the Biden-Harris administration no longer has the power nor the discretionary funds to enforce their vicious ideas.
In a post on his personal blog, Ilan Goldenberg — who served in several high-level positions at the White House and the Pentagon since 2021 — argued that Biden had an opportunity just several months into the war, when his popularity among Israelis was at an all-time high
…they mistook the purchased love of the Israeli labour socialist left for the entirety of Israeli society, as they did the same in America, discounting the conservative section as meaningless. A fatal error, as it turned out…
for his full-throttled defense
…he means full-throated defense, though fully throttled is indeed what it actually was — the bruises are still metaphorically visible on the Israeli throat…
of the Jewish state in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, and when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s popularity was still at a particularly low point, with much of the public viewing him as responsible for the failures that allowed the attack to take place.
Goldenberg maintains that at this unique moment, Biden could have given a speech directly to the Israeli public presenting them with a choice between two paths.
The first would begin with a ceasefire and hostage release deal that would require Israel to grant the Palestinian Authority a foothold in Gaza,
…not just no but Hell, no. The PA couldn’t hold Gaza against a much weaker Hamas in 2007 or so. There’s no way they could have held it after Hamas had been been trained, armed, and funded while digging in for two decades in Gaza. At the current moment I would not be surprised if even though Hamas is likely to lose Gaza, they go on to take the West Bank from the weak, corrupt, and highly disliked national socialist Palestinian Authority after Mahmoud Abbas dies in office….
which would unlock the sought-after support of Arab allies in rebuilding and restabilizing Gaza.
Rebuilding, yes, as they’ve done before for Hamas. Restabilizing, however, would only last until the next 10/7, as Hamas has promised repeatedly. Not something that Israel should desire.
Such a deal would have involved a ceasefire in Lebanon and allowed for the advancement of a Saudi normalization deal.
That would be a possibly fatal Pyrrhic victory for Israel, just what the Biden-[Harris] administration — as the third term of Barack Obama’s presidency — was working toward with malice aforethought, while posturing as Israel’s friend and protector.
The second path offered a continuation of the war for an indefinite period during which more hostages and Israeli soldiers would die, Jerusalem would be increasingly isolated in the region, and Hamas would remain in control of Gaza.
And yet here we are. And would have got to this point sooner, had not the Biden-Harris administration been full-throttling Israel with both hands.
Goldenberg acknowledged that a then-still-unpopular Netanyahu
…so unpopular that he kept getting elected for a quarter century, despite the heavy thumbs of European and Democratic American governments on the scales…
could still have rejected the effort to get Israel on the first path,
…ya think??
with the premier’s hard-right base rallying behind him, and the former Biden aide admitted that Hamas could well have played spoiler.
They never, ever miss an opportunity, etc…
“We will never know how things might have gone. What we do know is where we did end up. The war dragged on for a year with great suffering in Gaza and hostages continuing to die,” Goldenberg wrote.
Or you lot could have stepped out of the way and let the IDF work their plan to finish off the war in six months. I know which I think more likely.
“The disagreements between Netanyahu and Biden surfaced piecemeal and incoherently, with Netanyahu using every opportunity to create distance between himself and Biden, and weaken Biden’s standing with the Israeli public eventually eroding his leverage,” he added.
”And we would have got away with it, if it weren’t for that meddling Bibi!”
The reflection offered a different take on the Biden administration’s handling of the war after former White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk presented an unapologetic defense of the former president’s policy in a Washington Post op-ed last week.
In the latter account, McGurk framed Hamas as the only obstacle in hostage negotiations that dragged on for over a year between the first and second agreements.
The more senior McGurk largely vindicated Netanyahu — who retweeted the op-ed — while arguing that US support for Israel allowed for the weakening of Iran and its proxies in late 2024
..uh huh. Sure. Though we can clearly see why Mr. Goldenberg was not the senior partner in the hierarchy — he completely lacks the vision thing…
and that this led an isolated Hamas to finally compromise and agree to a hostage deal last month.
Last year, The Times of Israel revealed that the Biden administration had again weighed having the president give the “moment of reckoning” speech in May, but ultimately shelved the idea in favor of a different address during which the president revealed the components of what was then the latest Israeli hostage deal offer and called Hamas to get on board.
Shelving that speech was probably one of the smartest things the Biden-etc administration did during their time in office. Making the other speech was back to the pathetic level that was the administration's normal level of cleverness.
By then, Netanyahu’s polling numbers had begun to recover, while Biden’s favorables among Israelis had nosedived over his intensifying alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza and his decision to withhold a shipment of 2,000 lbs bombs that he feared would lead to the deaths of too many civilians.
Again overtly favouring Hamas and the entire Iran-controlled cabal.
At the end of 2023, though, IDF operations had already struck significant blows to Hamas to the point where it could not carry out another October 7-like attack, according to Goldenberg. But already then, Netanyahu had made clear that he wasn’t interested in advancing a viable alternative to the terror group, which massively increased the chances that Israel would be bogged down in Gaza indefinitely, the former Biden aide maintained.
Given Mr. Goldenberg’s overall level of perspicacity, his maintenance of any point can be taken as proof it is wrong.
