The Biden-Harris administration has long worked to keep Israel from confronting Hezbollah. That policy backfired Saturday when the Iran-backed terror group launched an attack on the Jewish state that killed 12 civilians, mostly children. Now, the administration is once again pushing to contain Israel's response.
A Hezbollah missile struck a Druze town in northern Israel on Saturday, exploding on a soccer field and killing several children in the deadliest standalone attack on the Jewish state since Oct. 7. Israel launched several retaliatory strikes across Lebanon, including strikes on Hezbollah weapons caches, and is reportedly plotting a larger response.
The Biden administration wants to stifle that response.
American diplomats spent the weekend working the phones at Lebanon's behest to "urge restraint from Israel," according to the Washington Post. "What happened today could be the trigger we have worried about and tried to avoid for 10 months," an anonymous U.S. official told Axios on Saturday. CBS News reporter Margaret Brennan said the administration's pressure campaign on Israel is meant to "contain the fallout" and stop an "all out war."
That campaign reflects what has been a key pillar of the Biden-Harris administration’s policy in the Middle East, where, through efforts led by energy envoy Amos Hochstein, it has worked to foster a detente between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hochstein led efforts to broker a 2022 maritime gas deal between Israel and Lebanon that was "supposed to prevent escalations like the one we are witnessing now," according to Jonathan Schanzer, a Middle East analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. Hochstein also traveled to Israel last month "to work on de-escalating the conflict" between the Jewish state and Hezbollah.
"But with the benefit of hindsight," Schanzer wrote Saturday, "Hochstein’s effort should be seen for what it is: a failed attempt to appease Hezbollah."
In addition to Hochstein's efforts, Biden himself pressured Israeli prime minister Bibi Netanyahu to forgo a preemptive strike on Hezbollah days after Oct. 7. The United States has provided upwards of $100 billion in sanctions relief to Hezbollah's benefactors in Tehran in just under four years, flooding Iran’s hardline regime with the cash needed to support Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Schanzer now says that "a big war in the north" is likely, even as the United States pressures Israel to hold off—much like it did in the wake of Hamas’s unprecedented terror attack in Israel’s south.
"And it’s not pretty," Schanzer said in a weekend analysis. "Hezbollah has 200,000 rockets in its arsenal, thousands of drones, and an estimated 1,500 precision guided munitions that can strike military assets or even strategic infrastructure in Israel. To be clear: skyscrapers could fall."
While the White House National Security Council said in a statement that America's "support for Israel's security is ironclad and unwavering against all Iran-backed threats, including Hezbollah," Republican officials blamed the Biden-Harris administration’s "weak and ineffective" policies toward Tehran for fueling the Saturday strike.
"Iran’s terrorist proxies have again committed mass murder against innocent Israelis, mostly children," Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) said. "Yet Joe Biden and Kamala Harris continue to put more pressure on Israel than on Iran and the terrorists. The United States should instead back Israel to the hilt to destroy our common enemies."
Harris, the Democratic Party's presumptive 2024 nominee, has not personally commented on the attack. It took her national security adviser, Phil Gordon, roughly 24 hours to issue a statement on her behalf. That statement called for a "diplomatic solution."
"She condemns this horrific attack and mourns for all those killed and wounded," Gordon said. "Israel continues to face severe threats to its security, and VP's support for Israel's security is ironclad. The U.S. will continue working on a diplomatic solution to end all attacks once and for all, and allow citizens on both sides of the border to safely return home."
Harris met with Netanyahu last week and left the meeting calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, signaling that pressure on the Jewish state would be a key part of her foreign policy outlook in the White House.