{"id":145663,"date":"2024-10-01T16:38:07","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T16:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/01\/biden-was-clear-so-why-is-israel-defying-its-closest-ally-again\/"},"modified":"2024-10-01T16:38:07","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T16:38:07","slug":"biden-was-clear-so-why-is-israel-defying-its-closest-ally-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/01\/biden-was-clear-so-why-is-israel-defying-its-closest-ally-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden was clear – so why is Israel defying its closest ally again?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Biden<\/div>


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The US president could not have been clearer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked whether he was comfortable with reports Israel was about to launch a ground invasion into Lebanon, he said: “No. I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now.”<\/p>\n

Israel’s response? To launch an invasion anyway<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Middle East latest:
Iran ‘preparing imminent missile attack on Israel’<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a remarkable moment in US-Israel relations. Israel depends on American patronage. Without American support, it would simply be unable to defend itself.<\/p>\n

And yet Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government is thumbing its nose at its closest ally and carrying on regardless.<\/p>\n

Most of all, Americans fear a wider war sucking in most of the region. Those fears seem vindicated by the news Iran is apparently planning another direct attack on Israel<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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It has been an extraordinary week for the Israeli-American alliance.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Israeli prime minister misled the Americans for all the world to see.<\/p>\n

On the eve of his address to the UN, he agreed to the idea of a ceasefire. US officials then said publicly they were confident a truce would be implemented “in the coming hours”<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The next day, as he actually landed on American soil in New York, he rejected the idea and then authorised the biggest escalation of this war – the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

He has made the Biden administration look foolish and impotent.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Netanyahu\n <\/div>
\n Image:<\/span>
\n Netanyahu warned at the UN that there was ‘no place’ in Iran that the long arm of Israel couldn’t reach
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\n \"Joe\n <\/div>
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\n Joe Biden had a very different message at the UN last week. Pic: Reuters
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Unable to stop the invasion of Lebanon, Joe Biden’s diplomats are trying to restrain Israel instead.<\/p>\n

Well-sourced reports say the US has been urging Israel to make its invasion of Lebanon limited in scope.<\/p>\n

That may be a forlorn hope. Israel has moved four more brigades to the north. It clearly sees this as an opportunity to do maximum damage to Hezbollah.<\/p>\n

Even if its plans are for a limited operation, plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy, as a Prussian military strategist famously once observed.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Follow
\n <\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n <\/div>\n
\n Follow Sky News on WhatsApp<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News<\/p>\n

Tap here<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Why is Israel able to get away with this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because Benjamin Netanyahu has Joe Biden exactly where he wants him. The American president is snookered.<\/p>\n

Just over a month away from the US election, he cannot possibly fall out with the Israeli prime minister while Israel is under attack. That would be politically disastrous.<\/p>\n

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Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n


\n \"Crawford
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\n 0:46<\/span>
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‘Not safe to cross river’ in Lebanon, says Israel<\/span>
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The US must also stand fast with Israel for pressing strategic reasons.<\/p>\n

The US is deeply worried Iran might wade into this war. Those fears now seem well founded. Any distance between America and Israel might encourage Iran to do its worst.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, the US welcomes the death of Hassan Nasrallah and the degrading of Hezbollah. It has the blood of hundreds of Americans on its hands.<\/p>\n

And the US government is absolutely committed to Israel’s right to self-defence.<\/p>\n

But the Biden administration wants this to end – and end now – with a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

Read more:
What is Iran’s ‘axis of resistance’?<\/a>
Lebanese families wiped out in village<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

Blow for Biden after years of support for Israel<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Joe Biden and his vice president, the spectacle of the Middle East descending into fiery chaos is an electoral nightmare.<\/p>\n

Kamala Harris’s opponents have long fostered the impression their combined term in office has been a disaster overseas.<\/p>\n

American officials are deeply concerned the Israelis do not have an endgame.<\/p>\n

They fear mission creep, and the risk of Israel being drawn into a quagmire in Lebanon.<\/p>\n

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Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n


\n \"Israeli
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\n 0:40<\/span>
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Rocket lands on Israeli motorway<\/span>
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President Biden has been a steadfast supporter and friend of Israel in a half-century of public office.<\/p>\n

He has sent Israel billions of dollars of aid since 7 October and the Hamas attacks<\/strong><\/a>. He has paid a political price for that support of Israel, branded “Genocide Joe” by his opponents.<\/p>\n

One very senior diplomat from the region who knows both the Israelis and Americans very well put it like this – after all he has done for Israel, the least the US president could have been given in return in his last few weeks in office was a ceasefire in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Instead, he says the Israelis have given Joe Biden “a kick in the teeth”.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US president could not have been clearer.\u00a0 Asked whether he was comfortable with reports Israel was about to launch a ground invasion into Lebanon, he said: “No. I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now.” Israel’s response? To launch an invasion anyway. Middle East latest:Iran ‘preparing imminent missile attack on Israel’ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/10\/768x432\/skynews-israel-lebanon-golan-heights_6702649.png?20241001115005","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[143,45,6477,72603,9794,38],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145663"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145665,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145663\/revisions\/145665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}