President Biden’s reaction to the Hamas execution of six hostages, including American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was emblematic of the incoherent mess he has made of U.S. policy toward Israel since the terrorist group massacred over 1,200 in the October 7 attacks. In a Sunday statement following the Israeli discovery of the bodies, Biden warned, “Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes.” Yet by the next morning, Biden told reporters that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t doing enough to secure a cease-fire and that his administration was working toward a new “final” deal that would no doubt provide more concessions to Hamas — in effect, rewarding the terrorist group for its latest acts of brutality.
The murder of the hostages has also added fuel to the already-hot political environment within Israel. Massive protests took place in Tel Aviv to demand that Netanyahu agree to a cease-fire deal that would bring the remaining 100 or so captives home from Gaza. Also, the country’s largest union ordered a general strike that risked shutting down Ben Gurion Airport. The strike did end up disrupting schools, transportation, and hospitals but was called off by a court after a few hours.
It is worth putting these protests in context by remembering that in leading Israel for most of the past 15 years, Netanyahu has gained many domestic political enemies. Before the October 7 attacks, the prime minister faced regular protests over his pushing to restructure the nation’s judicial system. In the wake of the attacks, there was also fair criticism of the intelligence and security failures that allowed thousands of Hamas members to enter Israel and terrorize southern communities surrounding the Gaza border for hours. Over time, Netanyahu’s failure to show accountability has earned more enmity.
There is also a more complex issue, which is the tension between the goals of destroying Hamas and bringing all the hostages home. To the most vocal families of hostages as well as many Israelis, securing captives should take priority. But Netanyahu is tasked with considering the security of all Israelis both now and in the future. A cease-fire deal in which Hamas survives and rebuilds is one in which it can pull off future attacks. Sending the message that the group can survive by taking hostages is an incentive for future hostage-taking. Releasing thousands of terrorists from Israeli prisons as part of a swap would free people who could threaten Israel in the future (current Hamas leader and October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar was released from an Israeli prison as part of the deal to return Gilad Shalit). A current sticking point in negotiations is Netanyahu’s insisting that Israel maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor that runs along the border of Gaza and Egypt — a reasonable demand considering that Hamas has dug a vast network of tunnels underneath through which it has smuggled weapons.
For a time, the sense of national unity over the war effort and hope that hostages could be rescued as Israel made military gains helped tamp down the protests. But that period has passed, and, as Israel has gotten bogged down in Gaza and there’s less confidence that the hostages could be freed en masse without a deal, Netanyahu’s political opponents have become louder. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, a consistent Bibi critic, took things to a new level by pointing the finger at Netanyahu for the murder of the hostages with a despicable comment: “They were alive. Netanyahu and the death cabinet decided not to save them.”
For Biden and Vice President Harris, however, the considerations are a bit different. Their administration has spent years appeasing Iran with sanctions relief and turning a blind eye to the malignant activity of the regime and its proxies. Forty-five Americans were killed by Hamas in the October 7 attacks, and eight were taken hostage (in addition to Goldberg-Polin, three others are believed to be dead). Despite this, they have repeatedly sought to restrain Israel and pressure our ally into making more concessions to Hamas.
The bodies of the slain hostages were found in the vast network of tunnels under Rafah, a stronghold of Hamas where Biden and Harris for months prevented Israel from conducting a major operation. Biden declared it a “red line,” and Harris said she had been “studying the maps” and warned Israel of “consequences” if they disregarded the administration’s demands.
In May, Biden announced a cease-fire plan that he said Israel had agreed to, claiming all it would take is for Hamas to do so. Hamas rejected the offer. Last month, Israel agreed to a “bridging” proposal, and once again Hamas said no. And yet, Biden’s response to the murder of an American has been to say that Netanyahu isn’t doing more.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s parents gave an emotional speech to the Democratic National Convention just two weeks ago as delegates chanted, “Bring them home.” Hamas’s execution of him should not be treated as merely an issue of concern for Israel but as a brazen act against the United States. It would send a terrible signal if the response from the Biden-Harris administration were to move closer to Hamas’s position in cease-fire negotiations. Instead, Biden must follow through on his declaration that Hamas will pay.