There was an inevitability to the showdown between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Their perspectives on what long-term peace in the Middle East requires were always at odds. And their political interests are in sharp conflict. But Biden’s public declaration that the United States would not give military support to a full-on incursion into the city of Rafah in southern Gaza because it would raise an already ghastly civilian casualty toll is no less momentous for that. Dionne is on X: @EJDionneRead the full opinion at The Washington Post.

Source: Washington Post May 17, 2024 17:08 UTC