Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Last night the White House was lit up in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, a bold visual reminder by President Joe Biden of his unflinching support for one of America\u2019s closest allies and a clear sign about how he sees the conflict.<\/p>\n
Away from the lights, Democrats in Washington are deeply concerned that the outpouring of goodwill toward Israel in the wake of the horrific attacks by Hamas may be fleeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the last couple of days we’ve seen all the pictures of girls who were killed at this festival and the children and the parents and the Holocaust survivor and the elderly, and the hundreds of people who are dead and the stories about them being raped,\u201d said one Democratic lawmaker, who like others, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about sensitive internal politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s over. Okay? The media is going to turn from all of that real soon. And the only images we’re going to see for the next couple of weeks are dead Palestinians,\u201d the member added. \u201cSo that’s when the Progressive Caucus will get all ginned up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Gallup reported on an important public opinion milestone<\/a>: \u201cAfter a decade in which Democrats have shown increasing affinity toward the Palestinians, their sympathies in the Middle East now lie more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, 49% versus 38%.\u201d<\/p>\n Biden, who has been defying that trend for years, will now have to defend Israel against skeptics in his party the same way he has been defending Ukraine against skeptics in the GOP. He\u2019ll have his first chance when he speaks about the conflict on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s relationship with Israel stretches back much farther than that of most living Democrats. He first visited the country as a freshman senator in 1973, and often likes to tell the story<\/a> of how the hour he spent with then-prime minister Golda Meir, a few weeks before a surprise Arab attack on Israel started the Yom Kippur War, was \u201cone of the most consequential meetings I\u2019ve ever had in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n His vice presidency and presidency have coincided with the most strained period of relations between the Democratic Party and the Israeli government, yet Biden has generally resisted the advice of younger aides who have urged him to snub Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. <\/p>\n During a trip to Israel as vice president, Netanyahu seemed to purposefully embarrass Biden by announcing an expansion of housing in East Jerusalem, but Biden declined to retaliate by leaving the country early as some aides wanted.<\/p>\n The relationship has been further tested in his presidency. The key episode to revisit is Israel\u2019s May 2021 incursion into Gaza after a major Hamas rocket attack. Biden backed Netanyahu unequivocally: \u201cIsrael has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But with each passing day of the conflict, as violence in Gaza mounted, the criticism from some Democrats in Congress escalated, and Biden felt more pressure in his private conversations with Netanyahu to push for a ceasefire, which came 11 days after the initial attack.<\/p>\n The scale of Hamas\u2019s attack on Saturday is far greater and more barbaric than any recent violence against Israel, but several House Democrats we spoke to last night are convinced that this political cycle will repeat itself.<\/p>\n The most pro-Palestinian Democrats already see the conflict in starkly different terms from Biden and are using language that equates the Hamas attack and the Israeli response. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), for instance, decried lives lost<\/a> on both sides \u201cfollowing attacks by Hamas militants on Israeli border towns and Israeli military bombardment of Gaza.\u201d <\/p>\n She joined a handful of others on the left in calling for a \u201cceasefire and de-escalation\u201d rather than reinforcing Israel\u2019s right to retaliate and prevent future attacks.<\/p>\n A second Democratic member said that such views remained on the fringe but could easily spread, the same way that Ukraine aid skeptics went from the GOP\u2019s fringe to its mainstream.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone just presumes that they’re going to play to type and say what they’re going to say. I don’t think anyone’s surprised about that. The key is making sure that it doesn’t grow and metastasize,\u201d that lawmaker said. \u201cThe question is, a week from now or five days from now, what are we looking at when the counterassault begins in earnest?\u201d<\/p>\n This tension among Democrats between backing Israel unequivocally and calling for restraint exists not just in Congress but within the Biden administration, as well. Secretary of State Antony Blinken deleted a tweet<\/a> urging a \u201cceasefire\u201d on Sunday, while State\u2019s Office of Palestinian Affairs deleted a tweet urging \u201call sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n