Is that it? Is that the best western leaders can do as the midnight hour approaches? Kindly Joe Biden doled out sympathy and dollars in a seven-hour visit to Israel. Tiny amounts of aid are dribbling into Gaza. Two hostages out of 200 have been released. But there is no ceasefire, no “humanitarian pause” or safe zone, no end to the bombing, no long-term plan. Fears of a widening conflagration grow.
Instead there is reluctant, nonetheless shaming western acquiescence in the imminent, full-scale Israeli military onslaught on Gaza – with its understandable but unachievable aim: the permanent eradication of Hamas. With more than 4,000 Palestinians lying dead, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “team”, to use Biden’s jarring term, should be on a red card. It has just received a green light.
