Even as Israel worked toward a ceasefire with Hamas after nearly a dozen days of violence, the Democratic Party is rapidly changing in its approach to foreign policy and Middle East diplomacy, while President Joe Biden is a throwback to another era seeking to adapt.
The White House undoubtedly views the truce as a vindication of Biden’s response, which endeared him neither to conservatives on Capitol Hill nor to the most liberal members of his own party, especially in the House.
“I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely,” Biden said at the White House Thursday after the ceasefire was announced. “My administration will continue quiet, relentless diplomacy to achieve that end.”
“Back in 2014, the conflict on the ground went on for 51 days, 51 days. We’re at about 10 days now,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday after saying for days her boss was leading a “quiet” diplomatic effort aimed at ending the rocket and missile carnage.
But the conflict went on long enough to demonstrate that Biden, whose formative years were during the Cold War when Democrats had to avoid perceptions of weakness on national security in order to win elections, will face some difficulties leading what is today a more dovish party.
Younger liberal Democrats, exemplified by “the Squad,” are especially more skeptical of Israel and supportive of the Palestinians than members of Biden’s generation. With a handful of exceptions, support for Israel was for decades largely a bipartisan issue. Most Republicans remain critical of anything that could be perceived as drawing moral equivalence between the Jewish state and terrorist groups like Hamas.
BIDEN’S SHOWDOWN WITH THE LEFT IS COMING
The president’s trip to a Ford F-150 plant in Michigan was marred by a confrontation on the tarmac with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a local left-wing Democrat who chastised Biden for not taking a harder line against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As he did in his advocacy for a ceasefire, Biden opted for a softer and more diplomatic tone in public.
“I admire your intellect, I admire your passion, and I admire your concern for so many other people,” Biden later said of Tlaib in his speech in Dearborn before referencing her grandmother, who lives in the West Bank. “From my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well. I promise you, I’ll do everything to see that they are.”
Tlaib joined with fellow Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, and other liberals in offering a resolution to halt a new arms sale to Israel. “For decades, the U.S. has sold billions of dollars in weaponry to Israel without ever requiring them to respect basic Palestinian rights. In so doing, we have directly contributed to the death, displacement and disenfranchisement of millions,” said Ocasio-Cortez in a statement.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats and sought the party’s presidential nomination in both 2016 and 2020, led a similar effort in the upper chamber. “At a moment when U.S.-made bombs are devastating Gaza, and killing women and children, we cannot simply let another huge arms sale go through without even a Congressional debate,” the socialist lawmaker said in a statement. The sale would total $735 million.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, blasted Democrats “whose statements might as well be issued on behalf of Hamas.” Sen. Tom Cotton did not exempt Biden from his criticism. “Joe Biden’s been rapidly caving to the Left this week,” the Arkansas Republican said at a press conference. “He started out by saying he supports Israel’s right to defend itself. Then, it became, ‘He supports a ceasefire.’ Then, his aide said, ‘Well, he talked really tough to Benjamin Netanyahu.’ Today, he said he expects ‘a significant de-escalation’ from Israel. Joe Biden pretty soon is going to be supporting a resolution to block arm sales to Israel.”
Nevertheless, Biden and the White House press team, along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, have tended to emphasize Israel’s right to defend itself in public remarks. Whatever pressure Biden brought on Israel was mostly in private, which vexed some on the Left who wanted his calls for a ceasefire to be louder and earlier.
Many younger Democrats are shaped not by the events of the Cold War but rather the war in Iraq. They also are more likely to hold views about racial issues that predispose them against siding with wealthy Western military powers against poorer, militarily weaker people of color in conflicts.
Biden voted for the Iraq War and played a major role in passing an authorization of force that was more in line with what President George W. Bush was seeking at the time. His current national security team is ideologically consistent with those who have advised Democratic presidents dating back to Bill Clinton in the 1990s. “The Left didn’t win many personnel battles there,” said a Democratic strategist.
At the same time, Biden advised President Barack Obama against the 2009 Afghanistan surge while serving as vice president. He has pledged to withdraw the last troops from the United States’s longest war by September. But that, too, elicited criticism both from lawmakers who wanted the troops to stay or who wanted them out faster, such as former President Donald Trump’s May deadline.
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“President Biden’s decision to withdraw all American troops in Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, is flat tone-deaf,” said a veteran Republican strategist. “Trump is right, not only should U.S. troops be brought home from the region immediately, but invoking Sept. 11 as an exit target waters down the meaning of a solemn date in U.S. history that should be exclusively reserved for reflection.”
If an Israel-Hamas ceasefire becomes Biden’s first diplomatic win, no sure bet given the ease with which fighting could resume, the days leading up to it will show how in domestic politics, victories on these issues are hard to come by.
