Is politics nothing but the art of deliberately lying?—Voltaire

Dear Friends + Interlocutors,

Behold two veteran, corrupt politicians in their last, shameless hurrah. Biden and Bibi certainly deserve each other. Terrified of the Israel Lobby, the catty, “progressive” writers at Vanity Fair don’t know which way to jump. Am I laughing.  

Imbecile Papa Joe Biden and his mendacious, Janus-faced foreign policy crew are being dragged along the rocky ground by the out-of-control Tel Aviv-Netanyahoo war chariot. On the one hand, Washington is shouting, “Go faster!! Please! What can we do for you?”  

On the other, “Maybe, you could slow down, just a bit. This is embarrassing. We are getting skinned alive by domestic public opinion. But of course, it’s entirely your decision!” 

In fact, if Papa Joe does not drop out of the 2024 POTUS race, the slavish policy toward his Murder, Inc. ally occupying Palestine might just cost him the election. In which case, presumably we’d get another cheerleader for Tel-Aviv in the White House who will be a tad less hypocritical. 

I’m talking Trump, of course. He gave the farm away to Netanyahoo in his first term as POTUS and proudly boasts about it. God knows what Trump might do for the Israel Lobby in his second. As for Biden, he has nowhere to turn. He’s locked in. His hypocrisy and lies are without limits.

It was your country. 

Patrick

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Biden Says Netanyahu Must “Change” His Government—But Vows “Unshakeable” Support Either Way

By Eric Lutz December 13, 2023

Joe Biden has been steadfast in his support for Israel since the start of its war against Hamas, and after two months of Benjamin Netanyahu’s military campaign in Gaza, the president is still resisting calls to change that posture—even as the humanitarian crisis there grows increasingly dire.

But during a campaign event on Tuesday, Biden did deliver a rare public warning to his Israeli counterpart: While “most of the world” has stood behind Israel as it responds to the horrific October 7 terror attack by Hamas, the country, he argued, is “starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place.”

“I think he has to change,” Biden said of Netanyahu, criticizing his war cabinet and “the most conservative government in Israel’s history.”

Biden emphasized that his commitment to Israel remained “unshakeable,” saying that “not a Jew in the world is safe” without Israel. But he also once again called for a two-state solution—and for Israelis to put pressure on the right-wing government, as thousands did earlier this fall while Netanyahu pushed an anti-democratic overhaul of the country’s Supreme Court. “That wasn’t any outside influence,” Biden said. “That came from within Israel.”

“We have to work toward bringing Israel together in a way that provides for the beginning of an option of a two-state solution,” Biden said.

Biden’s remarks were perhaps his strongest yet against Netanyahu, who said earlier Tuesday that there was “disagreement about ‘the day after Hamas’” between the U.S. and Israeli governments. But that shift, for now, remains almost entirely rhetorical: Biden is expressing concern for the plight of Palestinian civilians, but has not backed the kind of humanitarian ceasefire the United Nations requested in a non-binding resolution Tuesday.

The U.S. was one of ten nations to vote against it, days after once again vetoing a similar resolution before the United Nations Security Council last week. Biden is calling for Israel to rethink its “indiscriminate bombing,” but he and his administration have made clear that there is no plan to condition military aid on protecting civilians.

And while he may now be openly acknowledging his disagreement with the current Israeli government—members of which, he said, don’t “want anything remotely approaching a two-state solution”—Biden noted Tuesday that “in the meantime, we’re not going to do a damn thing other than protect Israel in the process.”

“We got a lot of work to do,” he said. “But we’re not going to…walk away from providing Israel what they need to defend themselves and to finish the job against Hamas.”

The love Biden is giving Netanyahu may be a bit tougher than usual, but his approach so far remains materially the same: to back his counterpart publicly, while putting pressure on him behind the scenes. That may have helped lead to a brief pause in fighting last month, allowing more aid to flow into Gaza and the release of some hostages.

But it hasn’t stopped Israel’s bombardment, its ground invasion of southern Gaza, or suggestions by Netanyahu and his allies that Israel would become an “over-reaching military envelope” in Gaza, as the prime minister put it to CNN in November.

It also hasn’t relieved the political backlash Biden has faced at home. While polling suggests Democrats generally approve of Biden’s handling of the conflict, it has exacerbated tensions between the president and parts of the coalition that helped him defeat Donald Trump in 2020. Progressive pressure has pushed some Democrats, including Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, to call for a ceasefire, while others, like Bernie Sanders and Chris Murphy, have suggested conditioning military aid on human rights.

It’s possible Biden’s comments Tuesday are an indication that the pressure is beginning to move him, as well. The question is whether this subtle shift in rhetoric eventually comes with a meaningful shift in policy—and if it’s enough to change the course of the humanitarian catastrophe or his own political standing.

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