Secretary Blinken’s Double-talk

‘There have been two major impediments, and they both go to what drives Hamas. One has been whenever there has been public daylight between the United States and Israel and the perception that pressure was growing on Israel, we’ve seen it: Hamas has pulled back from agreeing to a cease-fire and the release of hostages. And so there are times when what we say in private to Israel where we have a disagreement is one thing, and what we’re doing or saying in public may be another.’That quote from Secretary of State Blinken, in an interview in the Times touching on the hostage talks, is schematic in the clarity with which it encapsulates Ambrose Bierce’s famous definition* of diplomacy — as the “patriotic art of lying for one’s country.” And also the error of the Biden administration in dealing with Israel. It hasn’t been truthful. It has been saying one thing in public and, on the same head, another thing in private.This may be common diplomatic parlance, used at the State Department by both Democrats and Republicans over the years. That only makes it worse. Not that we lack regard in respect of Mr. Blinken, whom we’ve encountered briefly over the years and for whom we maintain great admiration. We get that the temptation to dissemble is enormous when one gets into high office. Eisenhower almost resigned after he fibbed over our U2.If only the Biden administration had been as wary of daylight. The president famously warned Israel against going into Rafah, which he called a “red line.” Meanwhile, the Jewish state worked effectively at Rafah — a humanitarian catastrophe did not come to pass there, and the Israel Defense Forces killed there the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar. Mr. Blinken says Israel took America’s advice. Is that part of the double-talk? Once one starts talking double, things get harder.If Messrs. Blinken and Biden knew all along that Hamas was the holdup to agreements, why did Washington pressure Jerusalem and seek to micromanage its war in the first place? Particularly damaging was the slowing of matériel that was promised to Israel. The only effect of that foot-dragging has been to lengthen the war. Also, the secretary no doubt knows that the primary impediment to delivering aid to Gazans is Hamas, not the IDF.With all this Secretary Blinken and President Biden have managed to please nobody. They cannot credibly claim to be a full party to Israel’s successes after discouraging much of those efforts. Witness Vice President Harris’s declaration that she had “studied the maps” and determined that battling at Rafah was ill-advised. That and her icy posture toward Prime Minister Netanyahu failed to help her on Election Day, when pro-Gaza voters repudiated her. Wouldn’t the simpler — and the honest — solution have been to avoid double-talk in the first place? Why not, if Israel wants a 2,000 pound bomb, just send them the blasted bomb? They wouldn’t even have to drop it. Israel could just send a thank you note and copy it to the press. That would get the pressure off both Mr. Biden and Mr. Netanyahu. There would be no daylight between them. And nothing about which to dissemble.________* From “The Devil’s Dictionary.”

Secretary Blinken’s Double-talk

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