Despite announcing full support for Israel in the first week of the Israel-Hamas war, it seems Joe Biden has changed his Israel policy, a move that is not at all good news for Netanyahu.
A report by Politico last week revealed that according to the words of two senior administration officials in the White House, Netanyahu’s resignation is what the Biden administration really wants. They even said that during his trip to Israel, Biden advised Netanyahu in their meeting to consider the scenario he was leaving for his successor.
Why is Biden now demanding an end to Netanyahu’s political career?
In the first week of the war between Israel and Hamas, Biden openly announced that Israel has the full financial and military support of the US government. Taking this position, Biden met both the expectations of the US Congress, who are mostly Republican and pro-Israel, and showed his adherence to the long-standing alliance between the US and Israel. Encouraged by these words from Biden, Netanyahu’s government gained good self-confidence to fight with Hamas and the IDF is currently engaged in a ground war in Gaza.
But now it seems that Biden has made a subtle but important turn in his policies regarding the Israel-Hamas war. From the third week of the war until today, the pro-American media (mostly Democratic) have increasingly been criticizing the high costs of American financial and military aid to Israel, and it seems that they seek to instill this thinking in the American society that Washinton should change course. There are those who believe that this country should not help Israel more because it is facing severe economic problems inside and has more serious national security issues abroad, such as the fight against Russia and China, on its agenda.
The result of inducing this thought was the protests of several thousand people in Washington, which was held on Saturday, November 4, with the protesters demanding the end of the war in Gaza and the cessation of American aid to Israel.
What exactly is going on in Biden’s mind?
What can be taken from this turn of Biden’s policy is that from the beginning, Biden intended to create a situation for Netanyahu so that he would eventually be forced to step down from power in Israel. In other words, by declaring full support for Israel in the early days of the war with Hamas, Biden intended to send Netanyahu to the war with Hamas, and then in the middle of the way, he raised the issue that America should no longer help Israe, and should take care of its more important internal and external issues.
Thanks to Biden’s play of politics, therefore, the situation for Netanyahu has moved in a worrying path, so worrying that the request for him to resign from power is heard significantly from inside and outside of Israel. In the meantime, the differences of opinion between Biden and Netanyahu, which have always existed since Biden was a representative of the state of Delaware in the United States until today, also contribute to the validity of this claim.
What benefit will Netanyahu’s withdrawal have for Biden?
Considering the fact that the US presidential election is close, it seems that Biden is seeking to discredit the Abrahamic Accords, which was the result of Netanyahu and Donald Trump’s efforts, by ousting Netanyahu.
Of course, this does not mean that Biden is not interested in peace between Israel and the Arabs and a solution to the Palestinian issue. Rather, Biden intends to present his own version of the Abraham Accords (perhaps a new Oslo Agreement between Israel and Palestine) and in this way, sign the Middle East peace initiative in his name. This is how Biden can have the upper hand in a future presidential debate with Donald Trump and increase his chances of re-election.
