Funny, I was just thinking about posting this, even though it’s like ten years old! For anyone who’d like to read more on this topic from the article’s author, have a look here (PDF).
Why couldn’t Biden have said about the hospital bombing in Gaza, despite the (supposed) evidence to the contrary, something like “this is a terrible tragedy for the Palestinian people,” (which he may in fact have said), but much more importantly, “it’s not clear who is responsible for this terrible attack,” even if there was 100% incontrovertible evidence that Islamic Jihad did this (which they may or may not have, I honestly don’t know). Everyone in the Arab world thinks, rightly, that the US will back Israel no matter what, and that we’re not a fair dealer in any of this. No one in the Arab world believes that IJ did this, they all believe Israel is responsible, and why shouldn’t they? What reason do they have to trust the US and Israel? This is where some diplomatic fudging could have really helped the situation. But Biden didn’t end up meeting with a single Arab leader because of this. At a certain point you have to throw the other side a bone if there is any hope of them ever trusting you. I confess that despite some things I definitely don’t like, I have been pleasantly surprised at how good the Biden presidency has been overall. But his trip to Israel may have made things a lot worse. No negotiations mean that no hostages will be released, no ceasefire can be implemented, no progress can be made.
I’m reminded of the 2015 Paris Attacks, in the aftermath of which their Prime Minister said “France without Jews is not France;" I really feel like he should have also said, especially at that moment, “France without Muslims is not France.” The national ban on wearing the hijab, which I believe is still in place, is an outrageous violation of human rights.