Meanwhile Netanyahu calls his bluff and prepares for an invasion anyway.
by Daniel Larison, Responsible Statecraft
In a Sunday interview on MSNBC, President Biden warned the Israeli government that an assault on Rafah would cross a red line, but then immediately undermined that message with contradictory statements.
The president stressed that the “defense of Israel is still crucial, so there’s no red lines [where] I’m going to cut off all weapons” and he said, “I’m never going to leave Israel.” Biden did not spell out what consequences, if any, the Israeli government would face if it crossed the red line and actually launched an assault on Rafah, and the president sapped his warning of any force it might have had by adding so many qualifications of what he would not do.

The president’s interview remarks reflect the failure of administration policy in which the U.S. uses strong rhetoric to signal its displeasure without making the necessary policy changes to give their warnings teeth. Having failed to take serious measures to challenge or rein in the Israeli military campaign for five months, Biden is in a weak position of his own making. It will be difficult for him to issue demands and warnings that the Israeli government takes seriously because the Israelis have ignored so many warnings before now without paying any penalty.
Biden did say that “they cannot have 30,000 more Palestinian dead,” but the president wouldn’t say what he would do if the assault went ahead and the civilian death toll keeps shooting up. He gave Netanyahu’s government no reason to fear that an assault on Rafah would damage the relationship with Washington or affect U.S. support for the war in any way.
Recent Posts
By Retreating In The Funding Fight, Democrats Have Abandoned Their Most Loyal Constituents: D.C. Voters
March 15, 2025
Take Action Now In capitulating on the GOP funding bill, Democrats have hung their most core constituents out to dry.By Sam Rosenthal On Friday,…
We Can’t Assume That Trump Will Author His Own Undoing
March 14, 2025
Take Action Now There will surely be turf wars and palace intrigue within the administration, but there is little reason to think that its core…
The Arrest Of Mahmoud Khalil, A Zero Hour Conversation With Sonali Kolhatkar
March 13, 2025
Take Action Now Eskow and Kolhatkar argue that if this repression is not challenged, it will escalate, targeting more individuals and further eroding…
Five Years After COVID, The GOP Is The Anti-Vaccine Party
March 12, 2025
Take Action Now Despite the ongoing spread of COVID, measles and bird flu, Trump has handed power to anti-vaxxers and vaccine skeptics.By Sasha…