As Secretary Blinken sets out to visit Israel tomorrow, the question that increasingly nags at us is: Why? Is he there to help release all hostages or, conversely, to put an end to the Gaza war? As he has done several times since October 7, our state secretary will sit in on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s war cabinet Thursday. He has made his agenda public: Extend the pause in fighting to allow for more hostage diplomacy at Doha. 

That’s where Qataris dangle bait on behalf of Hamas and play the heartstrings of Israelis who yearn to see all abductees return home. Qatar’s goal is ending the war. Hamas has been hit hard by the IDF’s capture of northern Gaza. Yet, the group’s military arm is far from defeated. If war ends today, the terrorists who committed the October 7 atrocities and vowed to follow up with additional massacres will remain in control of the Gaza Strip. 

Would America support such an outcome? The State Department is in a behind-the-scenes revolt. President Biden’s statements about Hamas-less Gaza are slowly disappearing from his talking points, giving way to talk of hostage negotiations and delivery of humanitarian goods to Gaza. In a press conference at Brussels today, Mr. Blinken spoke at length about the need to extend the fighting pause. He spoke eloquently of “the day after and the day after the day after” the war. 

Yet Mr. Blinken sidestepped a question from a New York Times reporter who wanted to know if it’s “possible that Israel’s offensive would not resume at all.” Mr. Netanyahu, in contrast, has a clear answer. After the current phase of hostage negotiation is complete “there is,” as he put it, “no situation in which we do not go back to fighting until the end.” He adds that his cabinet is united behind that determination. 

Hamas plays cynical games. Today the terrorists say that the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, and his family are dead. That could be true or not. The deal’s first stage is far from complete, and today’s installment was delayed. Yesterday terrorists detonated explosives next to IDF soldiers. Agreements with Hamas might as well be signed in disappearing ink, even while Israel uses the Doha channel to get as many hostages out as it can. 

Israel is also readying a move to where the terrorists have escaped after the IDF gained control of northern Gaza. Washington fears that this move to southern Gaza and its underground tunnel system, would entail further suffering for Gaza civilians. Yet, placing civilians in harm’s way is Hamas’s very strategy. “If there was a magical solution where we could just tweeze the people out, we would do it,” a former prime minister, Naftali Bennett, tells CNN. 

The IDF has yet to devise such a formula, and Secretary Austin, the architect of the last decade’s wars against ISIS, is well aware of America’s own harrowing record on civilian casualties. Yet, and despite spectacular military failures like the Afghanistan debacle, Mr. Biden’s team insists that it can micromanage Israel’s conduct of the war. At Tel Aviv Mr. Blinken, who has no military background, will attempt to leverage American aid to temper Israel’s advance. 

Such kibitzing, combined with threats in Congress to condition aid on Israel’s adhering to the “laws of war,” signals that America’s backing of its Mideast ally is limited. It is bound to whet the appetites of Hamas and its Qatari sponsors for more concessions, including ending the war. Mr. Biden fears that further destruction in Gaza would damage his vision of widening the circle of Mideast peace to include Saudi Arabia. 

Yet Mr. Biden, by signaling that he can curb Israel’s military, risks undermining his own goal. If Israel fails to extirpate Hamas, no Sunni Arab would respect Israel’s — or America’s — signed agreements. Such a failure could shake Israelis’ confidence in America as a wartime ally. To assure the Jewish state’s survival the future of Hamas must be put paid. Israelis know that losing sight of that goal could deal Zionism a mortal blow. Do Americans?