From what I have learned from senior American officials, Biden has failed to convince Israel to step back and think about all the implications of the Gaza invasion for Israel and the United States. So let me put this in as stark and clear language as possible:
I believe that if Israel now rushes into Gaza to destroy Hamas - and does so without expressing a clear commitment to seeking a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority and ending Jewish settlements deep in the West Bank - it will make a grave mistake, and that will be devastating to Israeli and American interests. . This could ignite a global conflagration and blow up the entire pro-Washington coalition structure that the United States has built in the region since Henry Kissinger engineered the end of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
Unfortunately, a senior American official told me that Israeli military leaders are actually currently more extreme than Prime Minister Netanyahu. They are at the peak of anger and determined to deal a blow to Hamas that the entire region will never forget. I understand that. But friends don't let their friends drive angry. Biden should tell this Israeli government that taking Gaza without linking it to a completely new approach to the settlements, the West Bank, and the two-state solution would be a disaster for Israel and a disaster for America.
It's late. I have never written a column with this much urgency before because I have never been so concerned about how this situation is spiraling out of control in ways that could irreparably harm Israel and irreparably harm U.S. interests. ...and threatens Jews everywhere and destabilizes the entire world. I beg Biden to tell the Israelis this immediately – for their sake, for America’s sake, for the world’s sake.)
Thomas Friedman, The New York Times.
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