Why Biden now wants regime change in Israel

US President Joe Biden, locked in a rolling dispute with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over war tactics in the Gaza Strip, is banking on the threat of constitutional regime change to alter Israeli combat tactics and put the country’s post-war peace policy in sync with Washington’s desires.

In Washington’s view, getting rid of Netanyahu is the key to the change of “regime” Biden apparently wants in Israel. It’s not clear what kind of pressure it would take to get Netanyahu either to change policies, leave office or simply call elections. So far, it is mostly tongue-wagging.

Such big power pressure by the US has been common over the past century. It usually involves intervention against governments deemed unfriendly or a threat to US interests.

Some of the interventions are violently accomplished. Take the 2003 overt overthrow of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, for instance, or the several secret efforts of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to assassinate Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

In 1989, President George H W Bush sent US soldiers, sailors and Marines into Panama City to capture Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega and transfer him to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. Bush justified the invasion under questionable legal reasons.

Sometimes, pressure simply involved support for opponents of a targeted government who might be able to topple a government on their own. Russia has accused the US of fomenting 2014 protests in Ukraine that led to the ouster of a pro-Kremlin government.

A few years ago, Washington recognized an alternate government of Venezuelans trying to overthrow the leftist regime of President Nicolas Maduro. A series of demonstrations failed to force him from power.

Of course, Biden is not