President Joe Biden¡¯s balancing act with Israel became increasingly difficult this week with the country¡¯s deadly attack on an aid convoy in the Gaza Strip and an airstrike on Iran¡¯s embassy compound in Damascus.
Both episodes tested the limits of Biden¡¯s strategy, which has seen the U.S. president support Israel¡¯s war against Hamas while criticizing the way it¡¯s being conducted. They also drew new scrutiny to the question of U.S. leverage ¡ª how much Biden has over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and whether he¡¯s willing to exert it.
¡°It¡¯s not so much that the U.S. is losing leverage over Israel as it is that Washington has rightly been reluctant to use its leverage because it¡¯s on big-ticket items¡± such as supplying advanced weapons and defending Israel at the United Nations, said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Atlantic Council¡¯s Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative.
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