In 2023, a few months before the current Israel-Gaza conflagration began, renowned American academic Noam Chomsky was asked about the state of US-Israeli relations.
Chomsky indicated that a change is happening.
Historically, he said, “when the United States asked Israel to do something, it did it.”
Chomsky observed that things have changed in recent years as Israeli political leaders have openly declared that they are asserting Israel’s independence from the United States.
“This is the first time that the confrontation (between the United States and Israel) has been so clear, and it is unclear how the United States will react,” he said.
Israel’s current war on Gaza has revealed what the United States’ response to Israeli intransigence will be: acquiescence.
Rather than using its considerable influence to force Israel to comply with American positions, President Joe Biden’s administration has consistently caved in to Israel. This response not only reinforces perceptions abroad of American weakness, but could also have damaging repercussions for its domestic affairs and even democracy.
A model of acquiescence
There is no doubt that the United States has bought into much of Israel’s war plan, including its goal of destroying Hamas, and there is no doubt that the Biden administration has approved much of the violence Israel has carried out in Gaza so far.
However, mounting evidence shows that Israel has systematically ignored the positions, advice and concerns of the US government regarding its conduct of war.
This has repeatedly forced the Biden administration to shift its positions and rhetoric to be more in line with Israel’s.
A good example is the Biden administration’s push last December to force Israel to end its major combat operations in Gaza, which the Israeli government ignored.
Embarrassed by images of Palestinian civilian casualties, Biden said on December 12 that Israeli bombings on Gaza appeared “indiscriminate.”
On December 14, Biden called on the Israeli military to “save civilian lives” and “be more careful” in conducting its attacks.
On December 18, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to be more “surgical” in his attacks on Gaza, to move to a “lower intensity” phase of warfare and to “reduce harm to civilians.”
But Israel’s immediate response was to intensify its attacks on civilian areas. For example, on December 14, at least 179 Palestinians were killed, including dozens of members of two families whose homes had been shelled by the Israeli army. Dozens of Palestinians were also killed on December 15, including more than 30 people sheltering in a United Nations school in Khan Younis. Similarly, numerous casualties were reported through the end of December.
The familiar pattern reappeared when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the region in early January.
Just before his arrival, Israel targeted and killed Tel Aviv Tribune journalist Hamza Dahdouh and his colleague Mustafa Thuraya. As Blinken made statements about wanting the war to “end as soon as possible,” Israel killed more than 126 Palestinians in 24 hours.
Despite further calls by US officials to protect civilians, Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure, hospitals, schools and displacement camps have not abated to date.
Israeli disregard for US concerns and warnings was even more evident in the run-up to the ground invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
In March, a leaked government cable suggested the US believed the operation would be “catastrophic” for Palestinian civilians.
Shortly afterward, Biden said in an interview that an offensive on Rafah was a “red line” for him. Other U.S. officials have also expressed opposition to the offensive, including Vice President Kamala Harris.
After it became clear that Israel would invade Rafah with or without US approval, the US subtly changed its tune, saying that an offensive on Rafah would require “serious planning.” As the Israeli military intensified its attacks and pushed deeper into the city, the Biden administration maintained that it was not crossing any “red lines.”
The invasion led to the displacement of more than a million Palestinians and the massacre of dozens more – among them 45 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a tent camp that had previously been declared a “safe zone”.
Throughout the ten-month war, Israel has also consistently ignored American requests for it to increase humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.
Worse still, it has actually pursued a clear policy of forced starvation of Palestinian civilians.
Unable to persuade Israel to open crucial land crossings and perhaps hoping to distract from the humanitarian catastrophe, the Biden administration decided to send its own military personnel to build a $320 million makeshift pier off the coast of Gaza.
The dock, which has been criticized for its glaring inadequacy in delivering aid, would not have been sufficient to meet Gaza’s needs even if it had been fully functional. Weeks after its installation, the dock had to be dismantled because it kept tearing.
The mere fact that the United States had to build a pier at all – in effect to circumvent Israeli obstinacy and obstructionism – should be considered an embarrassment to the Biden administration.
Compromising American interests
As the death toll in Gaza mounts, American outrage is growing. This sentiment, particularly strong among Democratic voters, has translated into political action, with campaigns calling for people to “abandon Biden” in the November election, to vote “noncommittal” in the Democratic primaries, and to participate in protests, including on hundreds of college campuses.
Feeling domestic pressure, Biden announced a ceasefire plan on May 31 that he said had been proposed by Israel.
His administration has repeatedly indicated that the Israeli government has already accepted the deal. However, recent reports in Israeli media suggest that Netanyahu manipulated Biden, apparently lying to him about Israeli intentions.
Even if it was not immediately obvious that Netanyahu was lying, the US administration should have realized it.
The Israeli prime minister has repeatedly refused to publicly declare that he accepts a ceasefire and has made clear through actions that he is determined to undermine it.
Netanyahu has stepped up, rather than reduced, his attacks on Gaza and has repeatedly said he will not end the war until Israel achieves a “total victory.”
More recently, Israel assassinated chief Palestinian negotiator Ismail Haniyeh, an action that was likely planned as intense ceasefire negotiations were underway.
The Biden administration should have known better than to believe that the Israeli government was serious about a ceasefire. It should also have known better than to put itself in such a weak position.
The prevailing view in international affairs is that the United States, as the world’s sole superpower and the main sponsor of the Israeli military, has some leverage over its much smaller ally.
The last ten months, however, have demonstrated that the situation is reversed: it is Israel that has the most influence over the American government, which has yielded to its dictates at almost every turn of the Gaza war.
The end result has been a growing embarrassment for the Biden administration, with some analysts suggesting that the United States is emerging as the “junior partner” in U.S.-Israel relations.
But more importantly, by allowing Israel to dictate the terms of the war in Gaza, the United States has compromised its own interests.
The United States has recently sent ships and fighter jets to the Middle East and is on the brink of an all-out regional war, which it is desperate to avoid.
If the United States goes to war, it will not be because it needs to or wants to. It will do so on Israel’s behalf. It would be a fitting, but unfortunate, end to nearly a year of appeasement toward Israel.
When the dust of the Gaza war settles, the United States will be seen as complicit in genocide, the crime of crimes, and America’s international standing will be seriously compromised.
But the consequences for American politics would be even more profound.
Democrats have drawn the ire of young Americans critical of Israel, which could well cost them the White House in November.
By possibly allowing Donald Trump to be re-elected, the Biden administration could cost America more than just some of its strategic imperatives.
It may cost him his democracy.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.