Biden’s waffling war stances miffing allies, losing votes

Trapped in a Gaza war predicament between the irreconcilable goals of Israel and Hamas, US President Joe Biden has taken a whiplash approach of trying to please one side on one day and the other the next.

From offering “unwavering support” for Israel at war’s beginning, Biden now withholds some weapons in protest of Israeli war tactics.

He also faces continued inconsistency in his backing for Ukraine. Having pledged at the war’s beginning to support Kiev “as long as it takes” to oust invading Russian troops, he now says that the US will back Ukraine as “long as we can.”

Policy whiplash gives Biden’s positions a Janus-faced quality. He tries to hold opposing positions at once to keep all sides at bay, always speaking with the fervor of someone who can’t understand why no one else understands his logic.

Critics remark that he leaves a sensation that his foreign policy is simply confused. “The ambiguity of American diplomacy in the face of two major conflicts has weakened Joe Biden’s administration, with just a few months left before the presidential election,” said a commentary in Le Monde, the French newspaper. “By seeking to avoid escalation without ever imposing the conditions for a resolution, the United States has lost credibility.”

Even the latest serving of multiple billions of dollars worth of military aid provided to Israel and Ukraine failed to ease concerns over the depth of US support. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky are both unhappy.

Netanyahu responded to the partial cancellation of weapons defiantly. “Israel has to stand alone,” he said. “Israel will stand alone. I have said that if necessary we will fight with our fingernails.”

Netanyahu and Biden