Biden pardons his son, clueless about the implications for Israel and America
President Joe Biden, in pardoning his son Hunter, said he thinks America will understand the feelings of a father in his position.
This is probably true.
Alas, it is also irrelevant, given Biden’s own statements that he would not pardon his son. He has emphasized this repeatedly and so have his spokespeople. Now Biden reverses course. The issue here isn’t paternal feelings. The issue here is the president’s credibility, his word, on anything. Such as the following two things:
I.
The first is Biden’s — and his spokespeople’s — statements, also repeated again and again, that he has not withheld weapons from Israel, and has not threatened to withhold weapons from Israel. The lesser of the issues here is Biden’s integrity, which he himself has now compromised. The greater of the issues is the horrific consequences of his weapons-pressure on Israel — and on Lebanon and Gaza.
Start with Lebanon: the pressure on Israel from Biden and his administration to agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon — pressure expressed in Biden’s delay in the delivery of arms. Delays that Biden denies. Denials that may not be credible. Otherwise, we wonder whether PM Netanyahu would have been so blunt in announcing his decision to agree to the ceasefire:
“I say it openly, it is no secret that there have been big delays in weapons and munitions deliveries. These delays will be resolved soon. We will receive supplies of advanced weaponry that will keep our soldiers safe and give us more strike force to complete our mission.”
Biden’s pressure in the Hezbollah context go back to last September when Israel ignored them and struck a major, unpredicted, amazing blow for peace by decapitating Hezbollah’s leadership, by destroying some 80% of Hezbollah’s missiles, and thus radically reducing Iran’s influence in the region.
However, with Israel’s weaponry running low, Israel has had to cease its wildly successful battle to destroy Hezbollah. The destruction of 80% of Hezbollah’s stockpile of missiles still left Hezbollah with ample weaponry to continue to fire rockets into Israel. Hezbollah is not finished as a fighting force. Biden did not allow Israel to finish the job.
This was shortsighted, as if Hezbollah will not attempt to regroup and murder Israelis once more. Even now, Hezbollah declares victory, which is ridiculous on its face but which nonetheless sustains Hezbollah to keep fighting. The last time Hezbollah lost, in 2006, it also claimed victory and came back stronger and more wicked than ever.
Go back to Gaza: the pressure on Israel from Biden and his administration not to enter Rafah, southern Gaza.
For some six to eight weeks last spring Israel succumbed to this pressure. This extended the war in Gaza needlessly, enabling Hamas to regroup and exacting a price in human lives as the Hamas battalions continued to hide among Palestinian civilians and sacrifice their lives. Eventually, Israel defied Biden and went into Rafah, with these positive results:
Israel’s destruction of Hamas’ final battalions, Israel’s conquest of Hamas’ key weapons-smuggling tunnels (the “Philadelphi Corridor”), and Israel’s killing of the planner of Oct. 7, Yahya Sinwar.
II.
The second thing that comes to mind in light of Biden’s volte face on his son’s pardon is the ammunition he has handed to the very forces of cynicism about our government that he has railed against.
In defending his pardon, President Biden said that the only reason Hunter Biden was prosecuted was because of his last name. This is incorrect — for his tax crimes, Hunter was cut slack —but leave that aside. Biden has validated the parallel charge that the only reason Trump was prosecuted was because of his last name. But leave that aside, too. The overriding issue here was put perfectly by Biden himself after the 2020 election when he said that you can’t say an election is fair only if you win. Earth to Biden:
You can’t say that the justice system is fair only if you win.
By casting aspersions on the American justice system — saying his son was prosecuted only because of his last name — President Biden has undermined much of what he has stood for. He has done what he accuses Trump of doing: undermining democracy.
The main loser here is not Biden’s legacy. The main loser is the United States of America.
© IJN 2024
