American presidents are big on talking about what they believe to be their legacy, even if there is no substance to the claims they make. With Joe Biden, it is crystal clear what he can claim as his legacy: the genocide that has resulted in close to 70,000 Palestinian lives being snuffed out.
The announcement of a ceasefire days before Donald Trump’s inauguration is meant to confer credit for this deal on the Biden team when all they have done is block everything apart from Israel’s murderous campaign that was designed to clear Gaza of all human life.
But the past tells us that no chief executive of the US can pretend to be powerless in an Israeli-Palestinian stoush; there are numerous examples of how the man in the White House has put his foot down and got what he demanded.
Perhaps the best-known is the case of Ronald Reagan who got on the phone when Menachem Begin paid no heed to the US move for a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon in 1982. Israel had invaded that country and Reagan had sent Philip Habib to engineer a peace deal.
When Israel seemingly ignored Reagan’s envoy, the big man himself got on the phone and yelled at Begin. According to reports, Reagan used the word holocaust to describe the activity of the world’s most moral army. Begin was annoyed, but had no choice apart from calling his dogs in. Without the US, Israel has no weapons supplier and every Israeli leader down the ages is fully aware of that.
Biden could well have engineered a truce in Gaza by stopping the flow of weapons. But he seems to have been even more enthusiastic in the slaughter given that the same peace deal which is set to be implemented was also proposed in July last year. The nickname Genocide Joe does indeed seem to fit.
Another well-known case of the US putting pressure on an Israeli leader came just after the Gulf war of 1991 when a US-led coalition went to war against Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait. Bush Senior wanted to convene a Middle East peace conference in Madrid after the conflict was over, but Israel baulked at attending. George HW then threatened to withhold US support for US$10 billion in loan guarantees which Israel wanted.
Yitzhak Shamir was reportedly blue in the face when this was conveyed to him, but he had no choice; he had to send a team to that conference. Old man Bush did not win a second term, though. But the fact that the US could demand something of Israel and get it was again underlined.
The latest example of the US playing tough was relayed by the Israeli daily Haaretz a few days back. It appears that Trump’s Middle East troubleshooter, Steven Witkoff, contacted the Israelis and asked for a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu to finalise details of the truce that has just been announced. Witkoff called on Friday and said he would be in Israel the following afternoon. He was reportedly told that as Saturday afternoon was in the middle of the Sabbath, that was not possible; Netanyahu would only be able to meet him on Saturday night.
Witkoff is reported to have told the Israelis in what Haaretz describes as “salty English” that the Sabbath was of no interest to him. His message is said to have been “loud and clear”. And the report continues, “Thus in an unusual departure from official practice, the prime minister showed up for an official meeting with Witkoff, who then returned to Qatar to seal the deal.”
Both Biden and Trump will claim credit for the ceasefire that is set to be announced. It may not last long, it may be broken time and again. But what it makes clear is that when a US president — in this case, Trump — demands something from Israel, that country, no matter its leader, has to give in.
Biden’s claim to being the man who brought about this truce sounds very much like his voice during that presidential debate: faint and faltering.
Sam Varghese is an Australian of Indian origin who has lived in the country for nearly 26 years. He has worked as a journalist for more than 40 years and currently writes for the tech website iTWire. He has worked for the Deccan Herald and Indian Express in India, Khaleej Times in the UAE and Daily Commercial News (now defunct) and The Age in Australia.
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