Dems and GOP united on Israel against Hamas, but will gridlock halt progress?
President Joe Biden speaks on the terrorist attacks in Israel alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken from the State Dining Room at the White House, Oct. 7, 2023. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
The Biden administration and U.S. lawmakers from both parties have given every indication that they will provide steadfast support for Israel, 24 hours after Hamas’ historic attacks on Israel from Gaza.
But whether this sentiment can be turned into action is a different question thanks to the chaos that has overtaken Washington following Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as House speaker.
While everyone is united in their horror over the attacks, Republican presidential candidates and members of Congress are increasingly blaming President Joe Biden for allegedly provoking Iran to back Hamas and its belligerent actions.
Questions about whether the Americans can pass legislation on anything, including Israel, combined with the steadily increasing sniping, reflect the fleeting nature of universal support in U.S. politics.
U.S. officials were engaged on the matter starting at 2:30 A.M. Washington time, with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan kicking off the direct engagement with a call to his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi, at 7 A.M.
Soon after, Biden convened a call with senior members of his security team including Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and CIA Director William Burns.
Biden phoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately after and offered America’s full support, as well as full coordination between the two countries’ military and intelligence officials. Austin followed up with a call to his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, while Biden phoned Jordan’s King Abdullah.
Blinken, for his part, launched a marathon day of calls with 12 counterparts from across the Middle East and Europe including President Isaac Herzog, his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
Other U.S. officials – including senior National Security Council staffers Brett McGurk and Jon Finer, Central Command chief Gen. Erik Kurilla and State Department officials Victoria Nuland and Barbara Leaf – similarly remained engaged with Israeli and regional counterparts throughout the day.
A senior U.S. official added that the conversations included “some of the needs that Israel anticipates,” adding that “this is very much underway.” On Sunday, Biden directed additional support for Israel, the White House press office said without detailing the measures.
Much of this effort would have to come through Congress. The head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin, said he would advance legislation focusing on assisting Israel both militarily and diplomatically.
“I intend to move forward legislation at the first opportunity that will focus on providing Israel what it needs to defend itself. That includes replenishment of missile defense for Iron Dome that ensures such interceptors are always available,” he said.
“I also urge consideration for supplemental funding for Israel’s defense as it navigates the immediate aftermath of this terrorist attack. Finally, I plan to lead a resolution reinforcing our commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship.”
Cardin added that he hoped the Senate would move swiftly in confirming Jack Lew, Biden’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel. Other Senate Democrats have said Lew’s confirmation should be expedited as soon as the Senate returns from recess next week.
A spokesperson for the committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Jim Risch, signaled that the senator would be open to cooperate, telling Politico that Lew’s nomination file was completed last week ahead of the necessary due diligence. If all goes to plan, Lew could be confirmed in weeks.
The more pressing question, however, is whether the House could pass legislation on Israel even if it wanted to – whether relating to supplemental aid or a symbolic resolution.
The acting speaker pro tempore, Rep. Patrick McHenry, may not even have authority to bring bills to the House floor or attend so-called Gang of 8 intelligence briefings of House and Senate leaders.
“It’s actually something we were discussing today, because there probably is a role for Congress here, and without a speaker of the house, that is a unique situation we’re going to have to work through,” the senior U.S. official said.
But unlike previous rounds of fighting between Hamas and Israel, there seems to be near unanimous support for Israel this time – from both houses of Congress and both parties at all levels, including progressive lawmakers typically critical of Israel.
Other Republican lawmakers and presidential contenders have followed former U.S. President Donald Trump’s lead by slamming the Biden administration for allegedly permitting $6 billion worth of Iranian oil assets held in Qatar to be used by Iran to aid Hamas.
The administration has sharply pushed back on these allegations, noting that none of the restricted money has been spent, and it can only be used for humanitarian purposes.
“I cannot think of a more irresponsible claim to make in such a situation. This is about the hostage deal – and it’s also completely false,” the official said.
“It’s just unfortunate that we have to spend our time responding to total lies based on either a complete misunderstanding or a complete mischaracterization and disinformation of facts.” The official declined to speculate on Iran’s role in the attacks.
“It’s too early to say whether the State of Iran was directly involved or planning supporting; I’m not going to get ahead of that. We’re going to be looking at that very closely,” the official said.
“That said, there’s no doubt that Hamas is funded, equipped and armed by Iran and others. That’s why we have taken action throughout this administration to hold Iran accountable.”
The criticism comes amid questions about the war’s impact on a potential Israel-Saudi normalization deal, with lawmakers from both parties expressing concern that these efforts could be derailed.
“It’s really premature to speculate, as to say the impact,” the official said. “I would say, for certain, terrorist groups like Hamas will not derail any such outcome, but that process has a ways to go.”
The official denied that the attacks followed the Biden administration’s sidelining of the Palestinian conflict in favor of prioritizing Israel’s integration in the region and expanding on the Abraham Accords normalization agreements with Arab countries.
“We have been in deep, deep discussions with the Palestinians, talking to them almost every day and every week. We brought the Israelis and the Palestinians together for face-to-face talks twice for the first time in almost a decade at Aqaba and Sharm have been working to find some rules of the road,” the official said, referring to Aqaba in Jordan and Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
“We have really been all over this. This was an unprovoked assault by a terrorist group, Hamas. That’s what this was and that is also going to influence the scope and significance of the Israeli response.”
Either way, it cannot be denied that Israel suffered perhaps the worst day in its 75-year history days after Sullivan claimed that the Middle East had not been so quiet in two decades – a belief that has underpinned Washington’s unprecedented diplomatic efforts with Saudi Arabia.
“We walked into office with a situation where we had basically severed ties entirely from the Palestinians. We have worked to restore that and to try to begin a process. I think that’s going to continue, but Hamas was never part of that process,” the official said, stressing the uniqueness of the situation in Gaza vis-à-vis the rest of America’s engagement.
“Hamas is in charge of Gaza, and that is a situation that we’ve been dealing with,” the official added. “What we’re really focused on right now is trying to ensure, in a number of ways that we’re working on this, that this does not spread to the West Bank and make sure this is contained in Gaza.”
This tension was reflected in the U.S. reaction to Netanyahu’s call on Gazans to “leave now” – even though Gaza’s borders remain closed – ahead of Israel’s expected powerful response.
“We will be working through with the Israelis and others contingency scenarios – working with Egyptians, I’m sure – about what’s going to unfold over the coming days and weeks. But I’m not going to speculate about what that means,” the official said, referring to Netanyahu’s remarks.
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