Last month, I posited that Joe Biden was essentially rooting for World War III to happen in the hopes that he could ride the wave of being a “wartime president” all the way to victory next November. The theory still makes sense as Joe Biden’s poll numbers are still terrible and a large international conflict could, in theory, make economic factors weighing down his candidacy less of an issue.
That may have been the hope of the White House, but it clearly had a few miscalculations. Not only have polls shown that Americans don’t approve of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, but the war has also showcased his administration’s incompetence.
On Thursday morning, the Biden White House announced that Israel had agreed to implement four-hour “humanitarian pauses” in the Gaza Strip.
White House spokesman John Kirby announced the pauses and the opening of two humanitarian corridors in northern Gaza to allow Palestinians to seek safety from Israel's military operations.
Biden told reporters as he left the White House he had sought a longer pause. "Yes," he said. "I've asked for a pause longer than three days."
Asked if he was frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said, "It's taken a little longer than I hoped."
Presumably, Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed this and came to an agreement. But it turns out that wasn’t the case at all. It’s no secret that Biden has been under pressure to do more for the Palestinians, and maybe, just maybe, Biden had succeeded in getting what he wanted from Netanyahu.
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Or not. Israeli media reported later that Netanyahu "dismisses a White House statement that says Israel has agreed to a daily four-hour humanitarian pause in northern Gaza starting today."
While this is the first time the US has announced this policy, Israel has been implementing these pauses since Sunday, opening a daily four-hour humanitarian corridor on Salah a-Din road for Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza to its south. However, it has been referring to the policy as a “humanitarian corridor” and not “humanitarian pauses,” ostensibly sensitive to the limited political appetite in Israel for the IDF to be holding its fire while the hostages remain in Gaza.
Nonetheless, the localized pause has been implemented each day. On Wednesday, it was extended by one hour, and on Thursday, it was six hours due to the large number of Palestinians seeking to leave the area.
The IDF estimates that on Wednesday alone, some 50,000 Palestinians used the corridor to head south.
So what exactly happened? Did the Biden administration completely mess this up because they have no idea what they are doing? Given its history, that’s certainly a likely explanation. Of course, there’s also the possibility that this was an attempt by the Biden administration to pressure Israel to cave to what the administration wants. Well, that didn’t exactly work either, and now the Biden administration has egg on its face.
