Recent events in the Middle East underscore two overarching points: The Biden administration’s “negotiate-at-all-costs” strategy has utterly failed, as have Democrats’ attempts to force Israel to prosecute a war of self-defense with one hand tied behind its back.
Out of this failure, political, military and strategic leadership in the region is shifting from the U.S. to Israel. Quite simply, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is showing, in word and deed, that only Israel is capable of pursuing a policy that has a chance of resulting in peace.
As such, President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and the rest of the Democratic Party must now realize that it is essential, substantially and politically, to support Israel.
Of course, this should have been obvious from the beginning. In war, rarely is the divide between good and evil so obvious as in Israel’s fight against multiple genocidal terrorist groups.
The Biden administration has made two primary arguments over much of the past year, neither of which is correct on its merits. The first is that everything can be negotiated, whether with Hamas, Hezbollah, or Iran. The second is that Israel alone is responsible for “de-escalating.” This latter was recently voiced by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) the same day Iran attacked Israel with 200 ballistic missiles.
Plainly, Biden’s approach has now clearly failed, dramatically highlighted by the acknowledgment that there will be no ceasefire during Biden’s term.
Similarly, Biden’s aversion to “escalation” has directly weakened the U.S.-led coalition’s attacks on the Houthis — an Iranian proxy in Yemen — and effectively left the Red Sea closed for more than one year.
Israel, on the other hand, has shown that only through military force can its case — and that of global democracy — be advanced. The U.S. must support this effort.
Unlike Biden and Pelosi, Israel knows that Iran is not interested in negotiations. Nor will the prospect of de-escalation pressure Tehran to reign in its proxies: Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis and groups in Syria and Iraq.
Case in point: In early September, when Israel was negotiating a ceasefire in good faith, Hamas executed six hostages, including one American, in cold blood.
To be sure, Biden’s elevation of diplomacy above all else gives Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah no incentive to negotiate.
They’ve consistently seen the administration’s support for Israel wax and wane, and most importantly, are not interested in peace themselves.
Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah should not be treated as the honest negotiating partners that Biden and Harris may wish them to be, but rather the terrorists they have shown themselves to be.
In that same vein, Biden’s response to Iran’s most recent missile strike highlights the dangers of his ‘negotiate at all costs’ strategy.
Immediately after Iran’s attack, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan threatened “severe consequences” for Tehran. Then, just days later, Biden undercut that threat, publicly opposing Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites and then against Iran’s energy infrastructure.
Moreover, according to Israeli media, the administration is dangling promises of additional military assistance in front of Israel, provided that Israel — which Iran just targeted with the largest ballistic missile barrage in history — refrains from targeting “certain targets” inside Iran.
It is shameful to try and shackle Israel’s response against a common enemy for domestic political reasons. And, much like Biden’s previous calls for diplomacy and restraint, this latest effort is likely to fail.
Israel recognizes the role of military force in protecting its citizens and is unwilling to sacrifice its power on the altar of diplomacy as Biden and Harris desire.
This pattern has been repeated throughout the war. Biden and Harris initially support Israel and threaten its enemies, only to backtrack, urgently pushing diplomacy as the only solution.
To his credit, Biden has provided Israel with vital defense assistance and American involvement in defending against Iran’s barrages in April and October. But too often, Biden has limited Israel’s freedom of action, prolonging the war via offers to surge or, alternatively, withhold weapons.
Further, that support, which Eli Lake described as an “American hug” that “comes with handcuffs” always devolves into tepid verbal support followed by a condescending “but.”
For instance, last March, Harris asserted Israel’s right to self-defense “but” openly opposed the Israeli military operating in Rafah — Hamas’ last bastion of power — saying it would “be a mistake.”
As we now know, Israel’s operation in Rafah was vitally necessary and was carried out with far less casualties than the Biden-Harris administration predicted.
To that end, with a presidential election less than one month away, fully supporting Israel is also politically necessary for Democrats.
Former President Donald Trump now leads Vice President Harris by 9 points (47 percent to 38 percent) on the question of whom Americans trust more to handle foreign policy, according to CNN polling. Moreover, the increasing role of Iran raises serious and significant doubts about current and past Democratic administrations policies toward Iran.
Beginning with former President Obama and now President Biden, successive Democratic administrations have taken an approach to the Middle East centered on appeasing Iran while weakening our allies. In 2009, Obama signed a nuclear deal that gave Iran more than $50 billion in sanctions relief. Iran used the money to grow its proxies into a “ring of fire” from Lebanon, through Syria and Iraq and into Yemen, with guns aimed at Israel and American soldiers in the region.
After Trump reimposed the sanctions during his term, Biden immediately repealed them, enriching Iran and contributing to the situation where Iran is now weeks away from a nuclear weapon.
It is legitimate to ask how Harris would be any different, and why anyone should believe she will.
Israel is no longer waiting for Biden and Harris to realize they must change course. Addressing the United Nations while Israeli jets were on their way to eliminate Nasrallah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “Israel has been tolerating this intolerable situation for nearly a year. Well, I’ve come here today to say enough is enough!”
Put simply, Netanyahu was saying that Israel will use force where necessary, as diplomatic means have repeatedly proven unable to achieve peace, rescue the hostages from Gaza, or allow Israelis to return to their homes in the country’s north.
The history of the Middle East is clear. Contrary to what Biden and Harris say, the only way to reach peace, bring the Israeli hostages home and end the wars is through strength and military pressure.
Israel is currently bringing this pressure to bear against Iran and its proxies. While we await retaliation for Iran’s missile strike, the Israel Defense Forces has severely crippled Hezbollah, virtually destroyed Hamas as a military threat and has done more damage to Yemen’s Houthis with just two strikes than the U.S.-led coalition has done in over a year.
Ultimately, Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu are making it clear to Biden, Harris and the world, that sanctifying diplomacy at the expense of military pressure only makes peace harder to achieve.
As the standard bearer of democracy, the U.S. must abandon single-minded diplomacy and fully support Israel’s use of overwhelming military force to achieve its goals of rolling back Iran and defeating Hezbollah and Hamas.
Douglas E. Schoen is a political consultant and the founder and partner at Schoen Cooperman Research. He served as an adviser to President Clinton and the 2020 presidential campaign of Michael Bloomberg. His new book is “The End of Democracy? Russia and China on the Rise and America in Retreat.” Saul Mangel is a senior strategist at Schoen Cooperman Research.