Dem
49
GOP
51
A Dick Nixon, that is. Or that is how it appears, at least.
By now, most readers will have seen the stories that Israel has turned up the heat in its current war, targeting Hezbollah, in particular, in a series of attacks made possible by exploding pagers and walkie-talkies. This might make a great movie, but it makes for a terrible reality.
This obviously does not look like a situation that is headed toward peace anytime soon. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz takes it one step further, and is reporting that Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that he will not agree to a cease fire, under any circumstances, in the next 45 days. The U.S. presidential election, as "chance" would have it, is 42 days away. We cannot find any other outlet that has the 45 days bit, but The Times of Israel and The New York Times are both reporting that Joe Biden now doubts that he will be able to work out a cease fire or a hostage exchange before leaving office, despite his best efforts. This would seem to confirm Haaretz' reporting, albeit indirectly. Thanks to reader L.S.-H. in Naarden, The Netherlands, for the heads up on this news, incidentally.
Back on August 14, pretty much all the major news outlets reported that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu had just had a phone conversation with Donald Trump. The next day, Netanyahu's office denied the call ever happened, while the Trump campaign declined comment. Maybe there was no call, but we seriously doubt that. The nation's major news providers do not move all forward, at the same time, with a made-up story. Plus, Netanyahu is an inveterate liar, and would never admit to a phone call if there was any chicanery involved.
Add it all up, and it sure looks like Trump interfered with efforts to secure peace, in much the same way that Richard Nixon managed to derail a peace deal in Vietnam in 1968. And even if you want to give Trump a pass here, one cannot avoid the conclusion that Netanyahu believes (almost certainly correctly) that he'll get a better deal under Trump than he will under Biden or than he would under Kamala Harris, and he's doing what he can to achieve his desired outcome—increasing the violence, while maneuvering away from any possibility of peace. It's a risky game, since if Harris does win, she is not going to have warm and fuzzy feelings about Netanyahu, to say the least.
It is an unfortunate final chapter in Biden's long and distinguished foreign policy career. He delivered his final address before the U.N. on Tuesday morning (read it here or watch it here), and it was very good and very compelling. His argument was that anything can be achieved by cooperation, and that world peace is within reach. However, he was clearly thinking, in the back of his head, about the two ugly conflicts—Ukraine and Israel—that will still be underway when he leaves office, despite his best efforts to resolve them. (Z)