And by officially, I mean publicly and formally.
The State of the Union, strangely enough, was the point at which the Biden administration decided to roll out its public anti-Israel campaign, beginning with the staged “hot mic” moment. There had been a drumbeat of leaks and anonymous statements in the weeks leading up to it, but now Biden has gone on record that:
1. He’s opposed to Israel’s government.
2. He wants a ceasefire.
3. He’s preparing to pull the resupply of weapons.
Some of these revelations came in an MSNBC interview. It’s no coincidence that this was prepped for an interview with the most leftward cable channel and the one most opposed to Israel.
Biden told MSNBC that he wants a “six-week ceasefire” and that Israel going into Rafah to finish off Hamas would be a “red line.” He criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and claimed that he’s hurting Israel by continuing to fight Hamas.
Biden defended the pro-Hamas Arab Muslim campaigners in Dearborn, claiming that, “What they said was that they’re very upset, and I don’t blame him for being upset...They want something done about it. They’re saying, ‘Joe, do something.’
“That’s why I’m doing everything I can to try to stop it.”
He also appeared to suggest that he might pull offensive weapons from Israel’s resupply package.
Biden blamed Israel for the carnage, saying, “There are other ways to...deal with with the trauma caused by Hamas.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, as usual, was worse, giving an interview to CBS News in which she stated, “Our work, as always, as the United States, is to do what we must, and what we always have, to stand for the security of Israel and its people, and also to do what we have done behind closed doors and in public around forcing a better path forward in terms of what’s happening currently in Gaza.”
She noted that “it’s important for us to distinguish or at least not conflate the Israeli government with the Israeli people.”
This is the same language that the administration used toward the so-called “Palestinians” and Hamas.
Kamala also noted that, “The Israeli people are entitled to security—as are the Palestinians. In equal measure.”
The equal measure is a clear withdrawal of any special relationship with Israel or support for it.
After this, things are only going to get worse. The Israeli government erred in the same familiar way by thinking that if it did everything possible to meet the demands of D.C., it would be allowed to fight the terrorists.
That was always a mistake. And it was a mistake this time.
Instead of finishing quickly, Israel assumed that if it focused on avoiding civilian casualties and harm, it would retain the support of the White House. But that support was always going to go away. The government now has a limited window in which to finish the job before the combination of political, economic and even potentially military pressure makes that prohibitive.
Appeasing Biden will no longer work. He’s under too much domestic political pressure. The time to finish the job is now. There will be no later.
