The very serious crisis in the Middle East has caused the White House to react. And unsurprisingly, Joe Biden on Saturday assured Israel of the United States’ “stone-in-stone and unwavering support” in the face of what he described as “horrible terrorist attacks by Hamas.”
This support could initially manifest itself through military assistance. Contacts at the highest level between American and Israeli officials have increased after the surprise offensive launched from the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Islamist movement. In particular, the two sides had an “in-depth discussion” on the Jewish state’s military aid needs.
Biden speaks of a “human tragedy”
According to a senior White House official, an announcement on the American side is possible as early as this Sunday. However, he recalled that the executive was facing a complicated institutional situation, since one of the chambers of Congress is paralyzed after the dismissal of its Republican leader.
The American president, who spoke earlier with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke of a “human tragedy” during a short and solemn speech at the White House. “Israel has the right to defend itself, period,” declared the 80-year-old Democrat.
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, for his part, spoke with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Choukri in the hope that Cairo, a key intermediary between Israel and Hamas, will help put an end to the latter’s offensive, according to the State Department.
A headache for the White House
The outbreak of this war is a headache for several reasons for the Biden administration. First of all, it undermines the American president’s major project in the region, namely to achieve a normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, two of the oldest allies of the United States in the Middle East, which share the same concern about the development of the Iranian nuclear program.
Furthermore, the Hamas offensive gave Joe Biden’s Republican opponents the opportunity to relaunch their criticism of his policy deemed too lenient towards Iran, which officially welcomed this operation on Saturday. Some right-wing officials in particular resumed their strong criticism of a recent exchange of prisoners between the United States and Iran, which led to the transfer to Doha of frozen Iranian funds, amounting to six billion dollars. A Republican senator, Rick Scott, estimated that by authorizing this transfer, Joe Biden had “financed” the Hamas attack.
A White House spokesperson called the claim a “blatant lie,” saying that “not a cent” of the $6 billion had been spent, and stressing that the money could not be spent anyway. be used only for humanitarian expenses.