No one could mistake Joe Biden’s plan to draft the U.S. military into constructing a makeshift pier on the coast of the Gaza Strip for a pro-Israel proposal.
No one could mistake Joe Biden’s plan to draft the U.S. military into constructing a makeshift pier on the coast of the Gaza Strip for a pro-Israel proposal. The president made sure of that.
The prospect of a humanitarian pier found its way into a portion of Biden’s State of the Union address that Phil aptly described as “the most anti-Israel” speech in American presidential history. It was the design of Biden’s speechwriters to float (pardon the expression) a potential pier only to indict Israel for failing to properly administer the provision of aid to Gaza’s beleaguered civilians. It’s reasonable to assume that Israel would object to the plan — a logistically complex operation likely to frustrate Israel’s tactical objectives and postpone its ultimate victory over Hamas. And yet, Israel has responded warmly to Biden’s plan.
“The naval aid will help to achieve one of the main goals of the war: the collapse of Hamas rule,” said Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister and one member of the country’s tripartite war cabinet. “We will make sure that the aid goes to those who need it, and not to those who do not,”
“We will bring the aid through a maritime route that is coordinated with the US on the security and humanitarian side, with the assistance of the Emirates on the civil side, and appropriate inspection in Cyprus, and we will bring goods imported by international organizations with American assistance,” Gallant continued.
Gallant didn’t dwell on the details. Exactly who will be distributing aid to civilians in what are still contested areas of Gaza remains a mystery. But it’s not hard to see why Israel would welcome the provision of properly inspected aid through a Cypriot port into Gaza in roughly two months’ time, which is roughly how long it will take the 1,100 U.S. service personnel to build the thing. That enterprise, once it is underway, will only take pressure off the Israel Defense Forces.
Contrary to the impression cultivated by Israel’s detractors in and outside the White House, Israel is engaged in the distribution of aid inside Gaza — often at great risk to its men and women in uniform, and for which Jerusalem receives no credit or goodwill. As of this writing, according to Israeli government statistics, over 16,000 trucks have delivered 304,000 tons of humanitarian assistance into Gaza through both the Egyptian-manned Rafah gate and the Kerem Shalom crossing via Israel proper. The IDF has overseen the inspection and distribution of that aid despite “threats of sniper fire, anti-tank missile shooting, among other threats to civilian life.” And those missions sometimes do go bad.
In recent weeks, dozens of Palestinians were trampled amid a stampede toward Egyptian aid trucks, which spooked their drivers and led them to speed from the scene, recklessly injuring many more Palestinians. When IDF troops were set upon by a menacing Palestinian group of aid seekers, Israeli soldiers fired warning shots over their heads and, eventually, at the extremities of the oncoming mob.
We only know the details of these horrible episodes because the Israeli government confessed to them. They are an outgrowth of the worsening conditions on the ground in Gaza. Even granting the undeniable fact that the profound human suffering in Gaza is a result of Hamas’s misrule, these headlines do not put the best face on Israel’s mission. Jerusalem would surely welcome America’s efforts to relieve it of some of the burden and risk associated with distributing humanitarian assistance, to say nothing of the blame it might offload onto American shoulders if (or, perhaps, when) something goes wrong.
Maybe Israel’s defense minister is merely putting on a brave show of welcoming Biden’s intervention into the conflict in the interest of preserving relations with the United States. Or perhaps Israel’s wartime government is more than happy to welcome Biden’s solicitation insofar as it takes some pressure off Jerusalem.