The US government could hardly have sent a clearer message to Israel. This Wednesday, the United States publicly announced that it would not supply any more bombs to the Israeli government for the time being. The Israeli side ordered a mix of large and medium-sized bombs, as well as ammunition, for the war in Gaza. Until now, the USA had always delivered at any time. But now, from the US perspective, for the first time since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7th, there are some questions.
live
:Biden: US refuses to give Israel weapons for Rafah offensive
The US President is threatening Israel with further restrictions on the delivery of American military aid. The United States would not provide weapons for an offensive in Rafah. Defense Secretary Austin had previously confirmed the stop of an ammunition delivery.
Parts of his party are calling on him to either reduce or completely stop military support for Israel. Last but not least, there are vehement protests against his Middle East policy at universities across the country. Recently, democratic parliamentarians have also shown solidarity with these protests, especially those from the left wing of his parliamentary group.
Vague rhetoric
Biden cannot afford to lose the votes of young voters if he wants to prevent his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, from becoming his successor. So far, Biden has avoided publicly opposing Israel. In every speech he has made, he has clearly stated that the United States will always stand with Israel. He has sworn his government team to this line.
And to this day he likes to tell the story of how he visited Israel for the first time in 1973 and, as a young senator, stood next to then Prime Minister Golda Meir. That was more than 50 years ago.
Biden is still impressed by this encounter to this day, as he says often and again. It shaped his position in this conflict. It was all the more remarkable that on Wednesday his defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, stood in Congress and said: “The United States has been clear from the beginning that Israel should not launch a major attack in Rafah without ensuring that civilians in this combat zone are safe.” This could be read, uncharacteristically for the US government, as an instruction to Israel, almost as a threat. In Biden’s name.
The rhetoric of war is fundamentally vague. Does the phrase “no major attack” possibly leave room for a “small attack”? What is undoubted is that the Israeli army invaded parts of Rafah at the beginning of the week, and since then the question has been raised as to whether the USA could limit or even stop its financial and military support. Defense Secretary Austin told Congress on Wednesday that they had analyzed the situation and concluded that some deliveries to Israel should be temporarily suspended. An unprecedented process.
Specifically, it involves the delivery of 1,800 bombs weighing 2,000 pounds each and 1,700 smaller bombs, each weighing 500 pounds. The White House said Biden was particularly concerned about the devastating effects of the larger bombs if they were used in one of the densely populated areas in Rafah. Therefore, the delivery has been stopped for the time being. The Washington Post quotes a Biden employee as saying that the suspension of the delivery was a “shock shot” to finally make it clear to Netanyahu that the USA had an increased interest in a peaceful solution.
John Kirby, Biden’s White House national security spokesman, said: “The president does not want the Israeli operation in Rafah to endanger more than a million people.” Negotiations on a ceasefire should therefore quickly lead to a result. He was asked whether Biden could actually refuse further aid to Israel. Kirby said, “I really don’t want to go into the details.”