Now Biden Must Show Netanyahu That Enough Is Enough
If Israel ignores the American demand for a ceasefire, the White House must halt all arms shipments.
Netanyahu has repeatedly and brazenly snubbed Biden.
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP--Getty ImagesThe White House described the most recent phone call between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “tense and challenging.” And what else could it have been? For the first time since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel began retaliating massively against the whole Gaza Strip, Biden demanded an immediate ceasefire. He apparently added an or-else: “If there are no changes in their policy,” said a spokesperson, “there will have to be changes in ours.”
That still seems too little too late to lots of people, even and especially in Biden’s own government. While Biden was on the phone with “Bibi” Netanyahu, I was talking to Annelle Sheline, who just last week resigned very publicly from her mid-level job in the State Department, in protest over what she regards as American failures to observe international and US laws in supplying Israel with weapons even as it commits humanitarian crimes in Gaza.