(Washington) Where is Joe Biden’s “red line” really? While Rafah is subject to incessant bombings, the White House continues to judge that Israel has not launched a “major” offensive against this city in the south of the Gaza Strip, likely to call into question American support.
“The word “tragic” is not enough to describe” what happened, Vice-President Kamala Harris responded on Tuesday, when asked about the Israeli airstrike which left 45 dead on Sunday evening, according to the Ministry of Health. Gaza, and set fire to tents occupied by Palestinians in a camp for displaced people.
The spokesperson for the American National Security Council John Kirby deplored on Tuesday a “horrible loss of human life”, and said he was waiting for the results of the investigation led by the Israelis.
He added, however, that the White House still did not see a “major ground operation” against Rafah, and that therefore there would be “no change in US policy” of support for Israel.
“A major land operation would be thousands and thousands of soldiers” acting “in a coordinated manner against several objectives on the ground,” he said.
“Not a big bomb”
“The Israelis said they were using [à Rafah] 37 pound bombs” or around 17 kilos, “precision guided munitions”, John Kirby said, adding “37 pounds is not a big bomb”.
“If that’s what they’re using, it certainly indicates an effort to be targeted and precise,” he said.
The American president did not comment on Sunday’s strike, which sparked a wave of international indignation.
“In an election year, the red lines [de Joe Biden] are increasingly blurred,” notes Colin Clarke, of the New York research center Soufan Group.
“He is under pressure from progressive Democrats because of the ever-increasing toll of Palestinian civilian victims, and under that from pro-Israel Democrats,” he explains, predicting that the 81-year-old Democrat, who will run for a second mandate in November, will “continue to tack […] depending on events on the ground.
“I said it clearly to Bibi [Benyamin Nétanyahou] and in the war cabinet, they will not have our support if they really enter the population centers” of Rafah, the American president explained on May 8 on CNN, saying he was ready to interrupt certain arms deliveries to Israel.
“It’s a red line,” he declared on March 9, 2024, on the MSNBC channel, regarding a major offensive in Rafah.
Election
Since the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7 on Israeli soil, Joe Biden has offered Israel almost unconditional support, while occasionally criticizing the way in which the Israeli army carries out its operations in Gaza.
This positioning aroused the anger of the electorate of Arab origin and part of the progressive electorate against Joe Biden.
“The president is one of those rare politicians who acts according to his deep conviction rather than for his own electoral benefit,” says Gordon Gray, professor at George Washington University, noting that “any [sa] career had been marked by unambiguous support for Israel.”
The 81-year-old Democrat is not the first American president to stumble upon a publicly expressed “red line” in international politics.
His predecessor Barack Obama (2009-2017) declared in 2012 that the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would be one that would require an American military response.
A year later, when nearly 1,500 people, including hundreds of children, died in a chemical attack near Damascus, blamed on the regime, it did not trigger American strikes.