Amid deepening tensions, White House weighs how to respond if Israel defies Biden with Rafah invasion

[Uncle Joe]

The Biden administration wants to see an Israeli plan for protecting Palestinian civilians in the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip.

(snip)

Administration officials also have advised the Israeli government to avoid a large military operation in Rafah, and instead launch smaller, targeted counterterrorism missions, according to an administration official.

“We have been clear about the need to prioritize civilian protection,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council said.

The level of distrust and tension between the U.S. and Israeli governments marks an extraordinary shift from the bearhug Biden and Netanyahu shared five months ago shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel.

(snip)

Biden embraced the bearhug approach to Israel immediately after Oct. 7 because he believed it was the most effective way to have influence on Israel as it carried out its military assault on Hamas. But that strategy quickly began to reveal its flaws, with Israel ignoring Biden’s pleas for doing more to protect Palestinian civilians and increase the amount of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza.

(snip)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-weighs-respond-israel-defies-biden-rafah-invasion-rcna143676

[yankee87]

1. Thank goodness for President Biden

I don’t know what the solution is, but I trust President Biden to make the correct decision.

[BComplex]

2. YOU CANNOT play nice with war criminal, right wing dictators, which is what Netanyahu wanted to achieve

by putting the Israeli judiciary under his thumb.

Right wing extremists are NOT in favor of peace for everyone.

[Basic LA]

3. This is the big showdown.

Cue the theme from A Fistful of Dollars. Bibi & Joe, face to face across the red line. The world peeks out from behind the swinging saloon doors, waiting to see who is faster & stronger.
Go Joe.

[ColinC]

4. In what is possibly an election year for both of them

A lot at stake in what happens next, I imagine.

[Basic LA]

5. At stake: Honor, Prestige, Lives.

Who will blink first? Will the starving children be fed or bombed?
We're about to find out.

[ColinC]

6. Indeed