On a dreary Sunday, Israel revealed the discovery of the remains of six individuals who had been held as captives in Gaza. Among the victims was a youthful Israeli-American named Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose captivity under Hamas had gained considerable visibility as his parents sought international assistance for his release. The Israeli military confirmed that the lives of all six were brutally snuffed out just prior to the arrival of Israeli forces on a rescue mission.
The unfortunate episode catalyzed a surge of anger against Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The broad spectrum of Israeli citizens alongside the families of the hostages laid the blame squarely on Netanyahu for not securing their return through a negotiated agreement with Hamas, thereby ending the war that has persisted for 10 long months.
Netanyahu, a square peg in a round hole, expressed regret over the dismal outcome. His rhetoric, however, reflected a misguided attempt to hold Hamas accountable for executing the hostages in ‘cold blood’. According to Netanyahu, these deaths allegedly demonstrate Hamas’s reluctance to reach a ceasefire agreement, a hardly compelling argument in the eyes of many.
The spotlight was on 23-year-old Goldberg-Polin and four others who had been wrongfully imprisoned at a music festival during Hamas’s incursion into southern Israel on October 7, an unprecedented act of aggression that jump-started the war. The Californian native from Berkeley suffered a ghastly injury, losing a chunk of his left arm in a grenade attack.
Hamas remained unsurprisingly unyielding, proposing an end to the war, withdrawal of Israeli forces and liberation of a multitude of incarcerated Palestinians, including infamous militants, in exchange for the hostages. This proposition was received with much skepticism and was firmly rejected by the Israeli government.
Besieged families, having paid the ultimate cost, are calling for a cessation of all national and international activities. Netanyahu, not commenting directly on the calls from the victim’s families, postured strongly saying that the war would go on until every trace of Hamas was annihilated. He argued for the need to maintain military pressure to secure the release of the hostages, an opinion not widely echoed amongst the populace.
Among those who seem genuinely blindsided by the situation is President Joe Biden, who claimed to be ‘devastated and outraged’. He had previously met with Goldberg-Polin’s grief-stricken parents in an attempt to offer solace. Amidst these baseless emotional overtures, it’s clear that Biden and his team failed miserably to prevent this devastating outcome.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s reactions weren’t far removed from Biden’s less than satisfactory response either. She offered her prayers to the Goldberg-Polin family whilst condemning Hamas. However, her expressions of sympathy and words of consolation appear to be nothing more than empty platitudes amidst the context of their administration’s inaction.
The audacious lack of clear-cut strategies from both Biden and Harris has come under severe criticism. It is evident that their interventionist policies fail to address the actual matters at hand, instead only serving to exacerbate the prevailing issues. Their inability to meaningfully engage has left a palpable sense of disappointment amongst Israelis.
The blatant disregard for the safety of Israeli-Americans by the Biden administration is difficult to ignore. Could more have been done to rescue Goldberg-Polin and his fellow hostages? This question tantalizes not only the Israeli public but also Americans recognizing the failed leadership of their current administration.
Biden’s inflated claims of devastation coupled with Harris’s hollow condolences to the Goldberg-Polins have been met with dismay. As the gulf between their normative positions and the harsh realities grows, one cannot help but scrutinize the incompetence of their foreign policy approach.
From the start, Biden and Harris have shown an alarming inclination to dismiss the Israeli viewpoint. Their lazy response to the hostage situation and the subsequent loss of lives demonstrates a clear lack of commitment towards US allies, undermining confidence in their leadership.
In conclusion, the unfortunate incident brings into sharp focus the respective failures of both Netanyahu and the Biden administration. While Netanyahu failed to protect his citizens through effective negotiations with Hamas, Biden and Harris let down their Israeli-American constituents by their lackadaisical approach to the crisis. It’s sadly clear that their policy decisions and lack of decisive action contributed to the loss of lives.
Biden’s Blatant Disregard for Israeli-American Lives Exemplified appeared first on Real News Now.
About Author
