Amid Talk of ‘Pauses’ in Israel-Hamas War, ‘Daylight’ Is Seen Emerging Between Washington and Jerusalem

While President Biden’s steadfast support of Israel is being widely applauded in that country, signs are growing that some “daylight” is emerging in the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem. “When there is no daylight,” President Obama told Jewish leaders in 2009, “Israel just sits on the sidelines, and that erodes our credibility with the Arabs.” Clearly departing from that notion, his former vice president is now impressing Israelis with his support, including becoming the first American president to visit the country in time of war. Yet, Washington’s increasing pressure on Jerusalem to “pause” its pursuit of terrorists in Gaza is causing some public fissures. Israel is more united than ever behind the goal of ending the terrorist group Hamas — and doing it without pause. At Tel Aviv Friday, Secretary Blinken sat in on a long meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s war cabinet. All made clear to the American that Israel has no intention of halting the war before achieving that goal. Yet, emerging from the meeting, the state secretary pointedly called for “humanitarian pauses.”Immediately afterward, Mr. Netanyahu announced Israel has no intention pausing, at least before all 241 hostages held in Gaza are released. Protesting at Tel Aviv Monday, family members demanded the government stop any humanitarian assistance to Gaza until progress is made on the hostages. From Israel, Mr. Blinken continued to Jordan, the West Bank, Iraq, and Turkey. Eager reporters were pressing him at every stop, asking whether America is sufficiently pressuring Israel over the “humanitarian pauses.” Not asked: What is Hamas’s responsibility for ending the war, and how can its regional patrons help? At Ankara, President Erdogan snubbed Mr. Blinken, pointedly leaving the capital Monday for a tour of a Black Sea resort. Mr. Blinken was received by a low-level official at the airport. The secretary was granted a meeting with the foreign minister, Hakan Fidan. Both agreed on the “critical importance of protecting civilians and ensuring humanitarian assistance reaches civilians in Gaza,” according to the Department of State.“Israel continues to reject the humanitarian pauses,” a reporter told Mr. Blinken at Ankara. “We continue to see these images coming out of Gaza of the civilian toll here. So given all of this, do you feel that you accomplished the mission you set out on this trip?”Mr. Binken’s response was as telling as the question: “We’ve engaged the Israelis on steps that they can take to minimize civilian casualties.” If he was “engaging” Turkey, he refrained from saying so. Until June, when he was named foreign minister, Mr. Fidan was Turkey’s intelligence chief charged with promoting Ankara’s ties with Hamas. Mr. Erdogan now calls Israel, rather than Hamas, a terrorist, and last week Turkey recalled its ambassador at Tel Aviv for “consultations.” Ankara, in other words, is in a better position to pressure Hamas than to influence anyone in Israel. Yet, while America and others increasingly are pressuring Israel to compromise its pursuit of terrorists, there is “no demand on Hamas to end the war,” a vice president at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Jonathan Schanzer, tells the Sun. At least publicly, America is not using its influence over Hamas’s top backers, including Qatar and Turkey, to demand that they pressure the terrorists to surrender. After all, “if Hamas continues to fight all the way to the end, Israel will fight to the end,” Mr. Schanzer says.Yet, America seems intent on pressuring Israel to modify its war goals. “Yes,” President Biden said Sunday, when asked if there is progress on humanitarian pauses there. Yet, he opposes a “ceasefire,” arguing it would only benefit Hamas.Senator Sanders of Vermont told CNN over the weekend that he too cannot fathom a permanent ceasefire with “Hamas, which is dedicated to destroying the state of Israel.” Yet he added that Israel has no right to kill “thousands of innocent men, women, and children who had nothing to do with that attack,” so it has to pause “now.”Asked how can Israel end Hamas and, at the same time, “stop” the war, Mr. Sanders said, “That is exactly the right question to ask military experts, of which I am not one.”While the IDF is attempting to avoid harming Gaza civilians, it has no intention to halt its pummeling of Hamas. As destruction in the Strip fills television screens, anger at Israel grows across the Arab world. Mr. Blinken’s trip was seemingly designed to calm such emotions in the region and beyond.Mr. Biden’s support, Washington’s close coordination with Jerusalem, and the dispatching of military assets to the region have bought the president many Israeli admirers. Yet, his public demands of the IDF to fight Hamas without harming the civilians it hides behind is seen in Israel as mission impossible. While Israel’s goal is to end the genocidal threats it faces, the world increasingly sympathizes with Gaza civilians. “America is far more aware of what the world is saying, while Israel is more aware of what Israelis are saying,” Mr. Schanzer says.

Amid Talk of ‘Pauses’ in Israel-Hamas War, ‘Daylight’ Is Seen Emerging Between Washington and Jerusalem

Amid Talk of ‘Pauses’ in Israel-Hamas War, ‘Daylight’ Is Seen Emerging Between Washington and Jerusalem

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