On untrustworthy partners and other catastrophes – Alon Pinkas in Haaretz:
‘"Mr. President, do you realize Netanyahu will turn the tables on you and blame you for everything?" two guests asked U.S. President Joe Biden in a recent meeting with donors and political allies. "He is seeking a confrontation with you for his political needs."
Biden smiled and responded: "I know."’
(…)
‘The Gaza Strip and the Red Sea commercial routes are now the two central arenas around which the U.S.-Israel dialogue revolves, as well as American concerns about preventing an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah. In those two arenas, the United States is preempting Netanyahu's politically driven efforts to confront Biden by taking steps and exerting soft pressure.’
(…)
‘The United States has never called for a cease-fire in Gaza, but is convinced that the current course of the war in terms of force deployment, force employment and firepower has exhausted its usefulness. "Protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral duty and a strategic imperative," U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in Tel Aviv on Monday. He should know. A former four-star general, Austin was commander of United States Central Command between 2013 and 2016, and is in a position to impart the U.S.' experience and mistakes in conducting its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and how they required shifts.’
(…)
‘In terms of postwar Gaza, Netanyahu is not a partner at all as far as the Biden administration is concerned. A central theme of his fabricated narrative is that this is all about a Palestinian state that he, the historic hero, prevented and is now standing firm against U.S. pressure to advance that goal. Yet the fact is that Biden has never pushed him for a Palestinian state. Biden only described the desirable framework in the future and is asking that Israel doesn't undermine the feasibility of that solution.’
(…)
‘A destitute 2 million Gazans will be all refugees with no government to provide basic functions and services.’
(…)
‘In effect, the war aims have been reversed: At the outset, the objective was to destroy Hamas militarily but assume it would retain residual political power. Now, Hamas is still militarily alive, albeit degraded, but its ability to govern is nonexistent. This will leave a vacuum that Israel says it won't fill and has the Americans asking: so who will?’
(…)
‘This is another part of his revisionist narrative, absolving him of any responsibility or accountability for the October 7 debacle. This is not just about Hamas in Gaza – I'll take care of that, he keeps saying – but is essentially a war against Iran involving its proxies the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas. To preempt that, the United States announced the establishment of a maritime task force, in addition to the Combined Maritime Force anchored in Bahrain and the United States Fifth Fleet headquartered in Bahrain and Qatar.
This is Biden's approach: Preempt confrontation, gradually pressure through a parade of top-level visits, reiterate the commitment to support Israel, but request a change in dynamics. The war will morph, but Biden knows Netanyahu is not a trustworthy partner regarding postwar Gaza.’
Read the article here.
Israel achieved (more or less) the opposite form what it hoped to achieve with its war efforts. Hamas survived militarily, but its ability to govern is gone.
So, the burdens of governing, providing services the Gazans will become the task of the UN? I repeat, it’s a mistake to think that any international peacekeeping force will be in Gaza to provide security for Gazans and Israelis.
October 7 was a disaster, but the war and the aftermath might become the bigger disaster. See also under, the war against terrorism.
It’s unclear whether other prime ministers would have acted differently, but where Netanyahu puts his feet, the disaster becomes bigger and bigger.