Shalom (July 26, 2024)
Welcome to Home & Away. It has been quite the week, capped here at Home by Joe Biden’s tweet that he would step aside and not accept the Democratic nomination for president. A follow-up tweet communicated his endorsement of his vice president, Kamala Harris. Then there was Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s visit to Washington and address to a joint session of Congress against the backdrop of the country’s ongoing war in Gaza and growing international criticism of Israel. And five hours after Netanyahu completed his remarks, Biden delivered his to the nation. Hardly a shortage of developments to reflect on. Here goes.
Kamala and Joe
Close to a week after Biden’s announcement, Kamala Harris has all but nailed down the nomination. No opponent has surfaced. Endorsements and money are flowing in. Despite their claims that Biden was too weak to stand for re-election, the Republicans clearly thought Biden would be on the ballot in November and are unhappy about the change. Meanwhile, talk has shifted to the pros and cons of various running mates for Harris. Increasingly, it appears as though the Chicago convention will be important not because of its outcome (which is known) but its impact.
That will depend on the quality of the candidate’s address, the choice of running mate, and what happens in the streets. The last thing Democrats need is a spectacle along the lines of 1968 that diverts focus away from what is going on inside the hall and reinforces the view already held by a good many Americans (thanks to the 2020 defund the police calls, progressive prosecutors, and the southern border) that the Democratic Party is the party of chaos. The defacing of Union Station and burning of American flags in Washington during Netanyahu’s visit could be a sign of things to come. The Democrats would be wise to take a page from the book of Britain’s Labour Party and show themselves to be serious people ready to govern from the center—in stark contrast to the crowd that gathered in Milwaukee.
I also want to say a few things about President Biden’s Oval Office speech to the nation on Wednesday night. His farewell address won’t come until January, but this felt like a preview. He looked a tad younger, had energy and focus, and spoke well for the most part. The best part was the thoughtful civics lesson. It was a case-study in putting the country before party or person and on what it takes for a democracy to work. My favorite line: “I revere this office, but I love my country more.”
He also cited many of his major accomplishments since taking office and discussed what he hoped to do over the next six months, the remaining one-eighth of his presidency. In particular, I look forward to hearing the details of what he proposes for Supreme Court reform, even though changing that institution in a meaningful way is not in the cards any time soon. I do wish, though, that he had expanded on his decision to step aside given that he maintained he had what it takes to do the job for another four years. That would have made his not-so-subtle pitch to reject Trump (“Here, kings and dictators do not rule. The people do.”) all the stronger.
One foreign policy thought before I turn to Israel. I wrote elsewhere that the prospect of a Trump victory in November had effectively turned Biden into a lame duck until the end of his term. Curiously, by stepping aside, he has reduced this problem, at least through November, as no foreign leader can now bank on a Trump victory. Also, Biden is liberated by his decision not to stand for re-election as he can push for what he wants without fearing the electoral consequences. All of which is to say he has a newfound degree of freedom to press for diplomatic outcomes in both the Middle East and Europe.
The other person who is liberated by Biden’s decision to stand aside is Harris. We saw this in full view in her comments following her meeting Thursday with Netanyahu, about whom much more is written below. I thought she got it just right: strong support for Israel, clear distancing from some of its policies, above all those resulting in massive Palestinian suffering, and an explicit push for what the United States wants to see, in this case a ceasefire and a return of all the hostages. “Israel has a right to defend itself,” the vice president stated, “and how it does so matters.” Exactly.
Bibi
Shalom is a word in Hebrew with three meanings: hello, goodbye, and peace. There was a lot more of the first two circulating in Washington this week than the third.
I will start with Bibi’s visit to this country and above all his address to Congress. There were some good lines (“October 7 was not a clash of civilizations but a clash between barbarism and civilization”) and Reagan-like use of guests in the gallery to back up words with images. I thought showcasing four Israeli soldiers, one of whom was from Ethiopia and another a Muslim, was an effective way of highlighting not just the diversity that is Israel but also countering those in the streets here who unfairly reduce Israel to a white colonialist country. He was generous towards Trump and respectful of Biden, whom he met with on Thursday before his scheduled Friday meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. He threatened to go to war against Hezbollah over its threat to northern Israel and Iran over its nuclear program. He also requested that U.S. arms deliveries be accelerated.
But mostly I came away from his hour-long address angry and frustrated. It was often cynical or worse. (Any criticism made here, though, doesn’t begin to compete with Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who called Netanyahu “the worst leader in Jewish history since the Maccabean king who invited the Romans into Jerusalem over 2100 years ago.”) Netanyahu went to great lengths to associate himself with the hostages even though he has rejected policies that would have brought them home. He portrayed protesters on the streets and campuses of this country as pro-Hamas and Iran’s “useful idiots.” While some might be and more than deserve to be called out for their naivete, hypocrisy, antisemitism, and ignorance, a good many are simply protesting how Israel has used military force (causing the deaths of tens of thousands who are not part of Hamas or necessarily even sympathetic to it) and how Israel has refused to meet legitimate Palestinian political aspirations. He airbrushed history when it came to ignoring instances where Israel did not facilitate food shipments, including in October when his own defense minister declared he had ordered a siege of Gaza, saying “there will be no electricity, no food, no fuel—everything is being blocked off," a policy that remained in place for almost two weeks. He said he would not allow another October 7 to happen without explaining why and how he let this one occur.
Anyone hoping to get a serious explanation of Israeli plans for governing Gaza went home empty-handed. There was talk of demilitarization and deradicalization of Gaza, again without a strategy for achieving it. There was as well a call for an alliance with moderate Arab states against Iran but no mention of Israel addressing the Saudi demand that Israel put forward a path to a Palestinian state as a precondition to Riyadh being willing to normalize relations with Israel. Overall, Bibi did little to repair Israel’s much-diminished standing in this country, which increasingly relies on Republican votes rather than broad popular sympathy.
Second is the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling that Israel should end what the Court termed its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory seized after the 1967 war, cease settlement activity there, and provide compensation to Palestinians who have lost their property. The ruling is yet another sign of how Israel has forfeited international support, not just by what it has done since October 7, but for decades prior to that. The ruling has no direct effect, but it is more a question of when, not if, rulings such as this become the basis for sanctions and related efforts to penalize and isolate Israel.
Third was a vote in Israel’s Knesset (parliament) that passed 68-9 in favor of a resolution opposing “the creation of a Palestinian state (on land) west of Jordan." The resolution went on to say that "The creation of a Palestinian state in the heart of the land of Israel would constitute an existential danger for the state of Israel and its citizens, would perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region." I note all this to underscore that opposition to the two-state solution in Israel is deep and wide and goes well beyond this prime minister and government. October 7 reinforced but did not create this political reality. What is certain is that diplomats will face an uphill struggle with Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Martin
I was determined to end this week’s newsletter on a light note, with some commentary about golf. Alas, I cannot, for the simple reason my heart is broken. My good and great friend Martin Indyk passed away yesterday at the age of 73 after a long and difficult battle with cancer. Martin struggled with his head and his heart over how to be supportive of Israel when he disagreed with its policy, about staying optimistic when so much of the evidence argued for pessimism. He more than anyone managed to find opportunity amidst crisis, to see possibility amidst loss. Here is the link to the New York Times obituary.
I will have much more to say about Martin as the news sinks in—it is one thing to know it is coming, another when it actually arrives—but for now I will simply say we have lost a kind and wise man who personified the American dream, coming here as an immigrant to become this country’s ambassador to Israel not once but twice. He dedicated more than half a century to studying and shaping the Middle East. We are all the beneficiaries of his efforts. Shabbat dinners will not be the same without him, but his memory will most definitely be for a blessing. Shalom Haveri.
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Richard Haass in the news
Article
Will the Democrats Win After Biden’s Withdrawal? (Project Syndicate)
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