An analysis published by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Saturday said that the US President is trying to ensure that Israel does not turn into a “pariah state” as happened previously with countries allied with Washington in the past, such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
The analysis, written by journalist Zvi Barel, said that Biden has a commitment to preserving the historic alliance between the United States and Israel, but Israeli politicians are not aware of this at the same time.
Burrell gave two examples of the difference in the United States’ dealings with Israel compared to two countries that are Washington’s allies, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
The writer says that former US President Donald Trump dealt with Ankara firmly when it tried to invade Kurdish areas in northern Syria in 2019, as well as because of its purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system.
During that period, the United States imposed economic sanctions on Turkey as well as sanctions on senior Turkish defense officials, which sent a clear message to Ankara that “even America’s allies are not immune from sanctions.”
Regarding Saudi Arabia, the writer shows that Biden pushed to stop the war in Yemen, which caused the death of more than 100,000 people.
Since then, the writer says that Washington’s relations with Riyadh have improved, as last December Biden canceled the freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and his complete boycott of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which followed his pledge during his election campaign to turn the country into a pariah state due to the killing of the journalist, Jamal Khashoggi also ended.
He adds that Saudi Arabia has once again become a strong partner of Washington and is now a party to the American ambition to normalize Saudi-Israeli relations and a candidate to conclude a defense agreement with the United States.
But as it did with Turkey, Washington made clear to Saudi Arabia that the strategic relationship requires taking into account American values, not just American interests, according to the author.
However, the writer points out that the situation with Israel is completely different, as Biden sees how the country, an ally of the United States on moral grounds, can become a pariah state, not only on American university campuses, but also in Congress and among major sectors of the American public.
He continues that Biden believes that it is not possible to stand idly by and let it become like Saudi Arabia before the relationship is repaired, or like Turkey.
“This is not only because his administration does not want to be seen as supporting, financing, and arming a state waging a brutal war in Gaza, but also because his administration is committed to preserving the opportunity to serve the foundations of the sacred, historic American-Israeli alliance well into the future as well.”
The writer concludes by saying, “This is not just a strategy, but rather an important vision, which Israeli leaders seem to have abandoned.”
This week, the United States suspended sending a shipment of weapons to Israel that includes heavy bunker-busting bombs that it uses in the military invasion of the Gaza Strip which resulted in the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza.
Biden warned Israel in public comments for the first time, made in an interview with CNN on May 8, that the United States would stop arms supplies if Israeli forces invaded the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, given that this could endanger the lives of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians.
Israeli military invaded the Gaza Strip, following the attack by the Hamas movement on Israel on October 7.
During the attack, about 250 people were kidnapped, 130 of whom are still hostage in Gaza, according to official Israeli estimates.
In response to the attack, Israel pledged to “eliminate Hamas”, and has since carried out a bombing campaign followed by ground aggression since October 27, resulting in the killing of about 35,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women.
Israeli invasion caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, which had a population of 2.4 million people, and led to famine in its north, according to the World Food Program.
