Netanyahu can't unify Israel in the face of war, but Biden can

A clip of the satirical show Eretz Nehederet went viral this week featuring the character of a loudmouthed and strongly opinionated cab driver, Asher Ben Horin, driving real-life IDF reservists to their bases.

“How’s the feeling?” Asher, played by Yuval Semo, asked two reservists in the back seat of his cab.

“Not simple,” said one. “They took us out of our homes just like that, at 4 in the morning. It is not simple.”

“That’s the reserves,” the second soldier said. “It is a shlihut (mission).”

“But we will win,” exclaimed Asher in an exaggerated Mizrahi accent.

“With God’s help,” answered one of the reservists.

“We will win not only with God’s help,” Asher replied, “but because we have a strong leader... Biden.”

EFFECTIVE SATIRE mirrors truth, and Asher’s remark resonates with the sentiments of many in this country.

Even a tragedy of the magnitude of what happened on Simchat Torah has not had the ability to turn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a divisive leader for so long, into a unifying figure.

The fresh wounds of October 7, coupled with the scars many carry from Netanyahu’s long years in office, prevent a good part of this country from being able to rally around him during this time of crisis. Too much animosity, too much history.

They can, however, rally around US President Joe Biden.

Biden: The leader Israel can rally around in a time of war

Oddly, paradoxically, Biden – displaying an extraordinary combination of empathy, sympathy, a deep feeling for the pains of Jewish history, and a deep respect for Jewish tradition – has been able to touch Israelis in a way its own leadership has been unable to.

Israel is facing its own Battle of Britain moment. And the leader stepping into the role of Winston Churchill – raising morale, uniting the nation, instilling a sense of hope, articulating hard truths – is not Netanyahu but Biden.

In the first few hours and days after the Simchat Torah massacre, Biden delivered speeches and issued statements to the American people pledging moral and material support for Israel that set a new standard for backing by a US president in a time of war and tragedy.

On Wednesday, with the first-ever wartime visit to Israel by a US president and his poignant words of support and, yes, caution, Biden set the bar even higher.

“Look, folks, I wanted to be here today for a simple reason,” he said soon after landing and before meeting Netanyahu. “I wanted the people of Israel, the people of the world, to know where the United States stands.”

And just before leaving, he said again, “I come to Israel with a single message: You are not alone. You are not alone.”

Biden proved this, both with exceptionally warm words and in deeds.

Those deeds, so far, include the dispatching of two US aircraft carrier strike forces to the region with the express purpose of deterring Iran and its proxy Hezbollah from opening a second front; providing weaponry for Israel as it wages this war; drawing an unambiguous moral line in the sand and saying for all to hear that Israel is on the right side of the line, while Hamas and all those who support it are on the wrong side; pledging billions of more dollars in military support; and vetoing a UN Security Council resolution calling for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting but not including a clause affirming Israel’s right to defend itself. 

That type of support is as welcome as it is critical. But let there be no mistake: it comes with a price. And that price will be a significant US say in how the war is waged – witness the unprecedented spectacle early this week of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken taking part in the deliberations of the war cabinet – and in new arrangements that will be put into place for the Gaza Strip the day after the war finishes.

People who think support during a time of war comes without costs, who think there are free lunches, should recall the Yom Kippur War. The Nixon administration’s decision to undertake a massive airlift of military supplies to Israel helped the Jewish state survive. It also put US secretary of state Henry Kissinger in a strong position after the war to dictate ceasefire and disengagement terms.

THE HORRIFIC events of October 7 have been sobering and humbling on many levels.

First, they hammered home to Israel that as advanced as its technology is, as strong as its army is, and as good as its intelligence is, the country remains vulnerable. All those assets have not yet delivered the country to safe, impenetrable shores.

Second, they have impressed upon many the critical importance of US support and aid.

As Israel has become bigger, wealthier, stronger, and more technologically advanced over the years, there were those arguing that the Jewish state could break free of dependence on US military assistance, that Israel simply does not need it anymore, and that it ties the country’s hands.

We are seeing now in real time how untrue that is. Israel still very much needs the United States. It needs the US now to keep Iran from opening a second front. It needs the US to replenish critical munitions and arms. It needs the US to run diplomatic interference and to speak about Israel to the world with moral clarity.

But that dependence has a price, and it is already being exacted.

In the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attacks, Israel cut off electricity, fuel, and water supplies to Gaza, with government officials saying that nothing would be let into the Gaza Strip until hostages were freed. To those shouting about a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, this argument ran, Israel could justifiably reply,

“We have our own humanitarian crisis; it’s called 200 plus hostages being held by a terrorist organization.” Biden changed that policy.

On Air Force One back to the US, the president fielded a few questions from journalists and said that one of his primary goals in going to Israel was “to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

“I was very blunt with the Israelis,” he said. “I was very blunt about the need to support getting humanitarian aid to Gaza – get it to Gaza and do it quickly.”

Considering the support he has given – in words and deeds – Biden feels he has earned the right to be blunt, and as the humanitarian aid through Egypt indicates, he will not be shy about using that right.

DURING BIDEN’S public words in Israel on Wednesday – and he spoke publicly on four different occasions – he variously sounded like a supportive friend, a worried brother, an empathetic mother, and a moralizing father imparting his experience-born wisdom.

“While it may not feel that way today, Israel must again be a safe place for the Jewish people. And I promise you: We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that it will be,” he said as the supportive friend.

Here is the advice of the concerned brother: “You can’t look at what has happened here to your mothers, your fathers, your grandparents, sons, daughters, children – even babies – and not scream out for justice. Justice must be done,” he said.

“But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States.

And while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.” 

The voice of the understanding mother came out when he related in almost poetic terms to the pain and agony the families of the victims were going through:

“To those who are grieving a child, a parent, a spouse, a sibling, a friend, I know you feel like there’s that black hole in the middle of your chest. You feel like you’re being sucked into it. The survivor’s remorse, the anger, the questions of faith in your soul.”

And here was Biden, the moralizing father figure, imparting his wisdom:

“I’ve made wartime decisions. I know the choices are never clear or easy for the leadership. There are always costs.

“But it requires being deliberate,” he said. “It requires asking very hard questions. It requires clarity about the objectives and an honest assessment about whether the path you are on will achieve those objectives.”

BIDEN FLEW to Israel amid a war to give the public a tight hug, and to try to steady the hands of the leaders: to keep them from acting impulsively and only from the gut, possibly throwing the region into chaos.

It is stunning how so swiftly everything can change. Last month Netanyahu and Biden sat on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York and discussed a “new Middle East” that included an Israeli-Saudi normalization pact and trains delivering goods from the UAE to Haifa Port via Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

One of the reasons Biden was keen on that deal now, many argued, was that he wanted to have a significant foreign policy achievement going into next year’s election campaign.

This week, by contrast, Biden and Netanyahu did not discuss regional cooperation but how to prevent a regional conflagration. And instead of the Mideast as a backdrop for “Biden, the peacemaker,” it became the backdrop to “Biden, world leader in a time of crisis.”

A CNBC poll published Wednesday, the day Biden was in Israel, found his approval rating at only 37%, the second-lowest approval rating of his presidency, and his disapproval rating at 58%, the highest of his presidency.

Rushing to Israel during a war and adjusting America’s military power in the Eastern Mediterranean make Biden appear very much like a decisive, capable, and experienced statesman – a perception that, given his current low poll ratings, can only help him politically going forward.

Is this the reason Biden came to Israel now? No. Might it help him politically tomorrow? Quite possibly. •