Biden’s Horrible Plan for Gaza Aid

Breaking news coming from a couple hours ago. The Biden administration is set to announce at the annual State of the Union an order in which the US military will lead the construction of a port along the coast of Gaza to help with aid to civilians.

On the surface, you may think that this is a good idea. After all, why shouldn’t give humanitarian aid to Gaza? Surely nothing could hurt us by doing this, right?

US Military Presence in Gaza

The use of the military to create a port in which humanitarian aid would be distributed would mean a US military presence in the Gaza Strip. Now let me be clear: the administration has assured us that this project will not require any US boots on the ground in Gaza.

This is complete hogwash. They can talk all day about how something like this may not require boots on the ground, but that is unrealistic. Sure, they might not be there immediately, but long-term, such a move would surely require a US military presence.

Given that this order is being given to the US military and not undertaken by a civilian NGO, a port being built, no matter the supposed aims of doing so, would most likely be seen by Hamas as an attempt by the US to gain a military foothold in the area. This wouldn’t be seen as the UN creating an aid camp, this would be seen as the US military creating a port which could potentially act as a base of operations should America formally join the war.

It doesn’t matter what the announced intentions of the plan are. What matters is how Hamas interprets the plan. If Hamas interprets this as a pretext for direct aggression against them by the United States, they will act accordingly. Remember, they still have many rockets in their arsenal. They have been launching them at Israel proper. They could easily turn those to this port.

So then what happens once this port, filled with US citizens and military personnel, is riddled with rockets, resulting in American casualties? You see where I am going with this? Boots on the ground will be unavoidable. If Biden really thinks that he can avoid a confrontation by doing this, he obviously has a huge lack of understanding of the politics of the region and the motives of Hamas. This lack of understanding could get Americans killed.

According to The Hill, a senior administration official said that the US worked closely with Israel in developing this initiative. Which country is engaging in military hostilities with Gaza? Israel, of course. I am sure that this was done purely under a humanitarian pretext with no military ulterior motives whatsoever.

You don’t have to be pro-Israel or pro-Palestine to notice a pretext for military operations when you see one. My stance, as it has always been, is for the US to bring our men and women in uniform out of danger zones around the world. We are not wanted there and we shouldn’t be there.

This new development just creates another situation in which our soldiers will once again be thrust into another Middle Eastern war that will last a decade.

Election Motivations

We all know why Biden is doing this. He received a large amount of uncommitted votes in states like Michigan and Minnesota, which have large Muslim populations. He most likely sees this in part as a way to help win back some of them.

I do not think this will work. They are not dumb, they probably see, like I do, the implications of creating a port in Gaza with the US military. The fact of the matter is that, whether you agree with it or not, Gaza is a redline issue for many people.

Given how much has happened since October, I do not believe that Biden could win these voters back unless he cuts off Israel entirely and demands the recognition for a Palestinian state. Of course, he would never do this. His goose is cooked on this issue.

Conclusion

Biden is set to announce this order tonight. We shall see how it goes, but I am not too optimistic. We have a coin toss here, either this will go smoothly, or it will end in disaster. There is no in between. I believe that if he really wanted to get aid to Gaza, he could have achieved it in a way that does not endanger the lives of American citizens and further throw gasoline on a region that is already in flames.