Is Biden lining up an Obama-style stab in the back of Israel?

JERUSALEM – As the dust settles on Donald Trump’s election victory and he begins to assemble his administration’s team, it is easy to forget President Joe Biden is currently the incumbent in the White House, despite his almost complete disappearing act over the last few weeks as campaigning ratched up.

And just because he has entered the final stretch of one of the least impressive presidential administrations in recent memory, it doesn’t mean he or his administration is devoid of power, and could potentially use it to stymie the incoming team, and potentially its allies.

The issues which have plagued the Biden administration over the last 13 months or so have neither gone away nor diminished. There are still two hot wars – in Ukraine and the Middle East – which need to be handled carefully. Trump has reportedly already had at least one conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin about containing the war, although there has been a marked uptick in the fighting over the last few days.

JUST IN: Donald Trump has reportedly already spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, told him not to escalate the war in Ukraine.

According to the Washington Post, Trump spoke of peace on the European continent.

Trump expressed interest in a follow-up conversation to talk… pic.twitter.com/gjtbX5uY87

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 10, 2024

In the Middle East, Israel is still fighting its longest war in recent memory – and will soon outstrip in length the war it fought after its establishment. Now seen by many analysts and commentators as merely the first round of an Israel-Iran war, it has metastasized from the more local conflict, which initially involved Hamas, as per its Oct. 7 invasion, and one day later included Hezbollah across its northern border.

Since then, Iran’s other proxies in Syria, Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen have joined in – attempting to draw the Jewish state into a punishing, lengthy and costly – in terms of men, treasure, and materiel – prolonged war. To that end, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed he has had some three conversations with Trump since his election win, and concluded with the two leaders “seeing eye to eye on the Iranian threat.”

JUST IN

Netanyahu: “I spoke to President-elect Donald Trump three times last week. They were very good and productive conversations. We will not allow these atrocities to repeat themselves. Trump and I see eye to eye on the Iranian threat.” pic.twitter.com/Tg7ZJWgO7A

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 10, 2024

Meanwhile, Biden is still the president, and although his personal feelings toward Israel seem inherently and instinctively warmer toward the Jewish state – after all he labeled himself a “Zionist” – than were those of his former boss President Obama – concerning news emanated from Washington.

Principally, information leaked about the Biden administration secretly waiving sanctions on the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) despite ongoing “pay-to-slay” payments to terrorists and their families, which are in contravention of U.S. law as per the 2017-2018 Taylor Force Act.

While the State Department acknowledged the PA’s violations it argued a visa ban on Palestinian officials could hinder U.S. diplomatic efforts. So, on the one hand the Biden administration – and if we are to believe her statement during the campaign, through Vice President Kamala Harris’ direct intervention – is slow-walking munitions to Israel, which it requires in its ongoing fight against terrorists in Gaza, southern Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and the country sponsoring it all, Iran; and all this, in spite of Congressional approval.

On the other side of the ledger, it is continuing to ignore sanctions violations. It is hard to look past the cynicism of these moves, and further wonder what other surprises might be in store for Israel in the administration’s dying days. Does this augur a more Obaman approach to Israel and the Middle East, rather than the more conciliatory Clintonian one, where that former president pushed so hard for a lasting peace deal?

It will be up to Biden to decide which way he wishes to go. Israel is already quite internationally isolated, and withdrawing U.S. backing to some degree is indeed a possibility.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has been putting the squeeze on Israel to allow increased amounts of aid – despite the overwhelming evidence Hamas operatives are stealing and storing it, and charging top dollar for access to ordinary Gazans to it. More than this, it has intimated it wishes to condition the further delivery of military hardware on Israel’s ability to get the aid into Gaza in the first place.

He and his administration could increase the pressure on Israel; now that it is electorally inconsequential he could talk up the plight of the Palestinians, as well as continue to bang the drum – as the likes of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has consistently done for more than a year – about the need for an independent Palestinian state. If a vote came up in the United Nations, he could make sure U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield did not abstain against an anti-Israel measure, whether that was in the General Assembly or the Security Council.

Biden doesn’t currently have much of a legacy to look upon with any great source of pride. Most politicians, especially those who have been in the arena for 50 years, would like to believe they have left a positive mark for posterity. He has that chance … but will he take it?