After the Pier Disaster, Joe Biden Readies His Next Foreign Policy Failure in Gaza
After spending $320 million of American taxpayer money, on May 17th the Biden administration announced their floating Gaza pier was operational. Touted as a brilliant strategic move to facilitate "humanitarian aid," it was almost immediately shelled by Hamas fighters, and just 12 days later, it was shut down after being swamped by relatively moderate seas.
The ordeal was a microcosm of Joe Biden's career. For over five decades, across three major federal offices, he has managed to stake out his position as the worst foreign policy mind in history. Now, he's got a new plan for Gaza, and you can take a wild guess at how successful it will be.
The Biden administration, I’m told by U.S. and Arab officials, is coalescing around plans for an interim “Palestinian Council” to govern Gaza and a security coalition in which the U.S. military will play a major role...
...The Biden administration is building its current post-war plans around the idea that the U.S. will play a major role in a multi-national force largely made up of Arab forces, according to four U.S. officials familiar with Middle East policy and an Arab official familiar with the issue. But President Joe Biden is unlikely to allow any U.S. troops inside Gaza itself.
We'll get to the U.S. involvement in this because it smells like a disaster in the making, but the first question would be who these "Arab forces" would even be. Is Israel expected to welcome Turkish and Qatari troops into Gaza, two nations that have actively harbored and facilitated Hamas? No doubt, the Egyptians would play a role.
Those would be the same Egyptians who allowed Hamas to dig hundreds of tunnels into their country to smuggle arms across the border, and I can't imagine the Jordanians or Saudis want anything to do with this plan. The first time someone had to fire a weapon in anger at a "Palestinian" in Gaza, there'd be massive riots in the streets of their countries.
Of course, those concerns pale in comparison to those surrounding American troops being deployed, which is sure what it sounds like will happen. While Politico is quick to speculate that Biden likely wouldn't let them enter Gaza directly, they would absolutely be in harm's way. What happens when someone is killed because the president is too much of a coward to do what actually needs to be done?
Which brings me to the last point: All of this is completely unnecessary. Palestinians do not need a ruling "council" made up of the Palestinian Authority and others who celebrated the October 7th attacks. The Gaza Strip has forfeited its right to self-governance for the time being. Did the United States quickly usher the Taliban back into leadership roles after just eight months of war in Afghanistan? That would have been ludicrous, and this plan for Gaza is just as much so.
What needs to happen is exactly what already happens in the West Bank. Israeli forces need to maintain a presence to ensure security. The Arab nations will cry like they always do, and radicals in America will proclaim it an "occupation." So what? They were calling Gaza "occupied" prior to October 7th despite Israel not having a presence there in nearly two decades.
The only thing that should matter is a workable security plan that ensures Hamas or any similar groups never retake control. The guy who can't even build a pier properly probably shouldn't be dictating the terms
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