After expressing his “indignation” at the death of humanitarian volunteers in an Israeli strike, will Joe Biden take action? The US president, who is due to call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, faces growing pressure to condition US aid to Israel.
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This pressure on the 81-year-old Democrat, who will seek a second term in November, is exerted even in the most intimate circles, through his wife Jill Biden.
“We have to stop this now,” the First Lady reportedly asked, according to comments reported by Joe Biden to participants in a meeting at the White House, and echoed by the New York Times.
One of the president’s closest Democratic senators, Chris Coons, was asked on CNN on Thursday whether he was in favor of conditioning military aid on a change in military strategy in Gaza.
He replied, “I think we’ve reached that point.”
The elected official from Delaware (north-east) then clarified that these comments concerned a possible major Israeli offensive in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, to which the Americans are firmly opposed.
If Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a “major” ground offensive and without “taking measures to protect civilians,” more than a million of whom are refugees in Rafah, then “I would vote to condition aid to Israel. I’ve never said that before. I never took that position,” Chris Coons said on CNN.
“Not enough”
The American president reacted Tuesday with a statement with a more virulent tone than usual, after the death the day before of seven humanitarian volunteers in Gaza, including six foreigners, killed by an Israeli strike.
He said he was “outraged” and felt that Israel was not doing “enough” to protect organizations helping the civilian population in Gaza, facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation.
Will he therefore change his line, he who has taken on the role of primary supporter of Israel since the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, and who is making it a “personal” affair, according to the word used? by his close advisor Jake Sullivan?
The American president does not hide his frustration with Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom he has always had a difficult relationship, and he expresses it more less frontally, through press releases or short sentences that filter through the press.
But he has so far refused to impose conditions on military aid and demands that any ceasefire be linked to the release of hostages still held in Gaza.
This unconditional support earned him the anger of Muslim and Arab Americans, who accused him of contributing to the suffering of Palestinian civilians, as well as a part of the progressive electorate.
According to a Gallup poll published a few days ago, and carried out at the beginning of March, 55% of Americans now disapprove of the Israeli military operation in Gaza, compared to 45% last November.
