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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/opinion/biden-israel-gaza-policy.html
Why Biden Isn't Pressuring Israel
(New York Times) Aaron David Miller - President Biden may be increasingly uncomfortable with how Israel is waging this war and the appalling loss of life of innocent civilians, but he shares Israel's war aims: to both eliminate Hamas' capacity to pull off another Oct. 7 and end its sovereignty in Gaza. This is a war against Iran-backed Hamas - a terror organization that seeks to replace Israel with an Islamic state; that engaged in a rampage of indiscriminate, sadistic killing and raping; and that holds hostages. That war is occurring in a densely populated area roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C., where Hamas has embedded its military assets around and under civilian structures and population. If the president had a compelling alternative to how Israel could wage a war in these circumstances without doing grievous harm to civilians, he might have more leverage. Moreover, a large majority of Israelis, including Prime Minister Netanyahu's rival, Benny Gantz, support the war. The writer, a former State Department Middle East analyst and negotiator, is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.