'A Moment of Truth for the Biden White House' | After Israel's Game-changing Killing of Nasrallah, What's Next for U.S. Policy? - U.S. News - Haaretz.com
WASHINGTON - Among the many outstanding questions triggered by Israel's game-changing killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is where U.S. policy may go from here.
U.S. President Joe Biden reacted to the killing by calling it "a measure of justice for his many victims," though called on Israel to close cease-fire deals in both Lebanon and Gaza in order to deescalate the conflicts through diplomacy.
Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris echoed the president's statement, saying that while Hezbollah leader was a "terrorist with American blood on his hands," diplomacy remains "the best path forward."
After days of rallying the international community to push for an immediate temporary cease-fire to open the door for long-term diplomatic efforts, U.S. officials were famously kept in the dark about the plans, with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant only updating Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin once Israeli jets were already in the air.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his top foreign policy aides all took pains to immediately distance themselves from the Israeli operation, stressing they had no involvement in the Beirut strike's planning or execution, while acknowledging, in Biden's words, that the assassination was "a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians." Now the question is how the administration will react in both the short and long term.
- Nasrallah's gamble failed, but Hezbollah is prepared for revenge attacks outside Israel
- Netanyahu sought to delay decision on killing Nasrallah until after UN trip
- Hassan Nasrallah, longtime Hezbollah leader, killed in Israeli strike in Beirut
Secretary Austin stressed that the United States is determined "to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict." He also conveyed President Biden's directive in the wake of the strike to ensure U.S. forces are prepared to defend both Israel and American interests.
"The Israeli strike that killed [Nasrallah] should prompt the U.S. to heighten its defenses and security against possible attacks in the region and also in the U.S.," said Brian Katulis, senior fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Middle East Institute.
"Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that has developed networks inside of the U.S. and these networks have engaged in plots in the past," he continued. "America needs to use its extensive military presence and contacts around the region to encourage deterrence and prevent a wider regional war."
Reaction among the hawkish pro-Israel community swiftly welcomed Nasrallah's killing, both welcoming the Hezbollah leader's demise and expressing optimism it would portend a significant change in U.S. Middle East policy - particularly relating to Hezbollah's patron Iran.
House Republican leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson, praised the killing of Nasrallah while urging the Biden administration to drop its cease-fire efforts.
"Hassan Nasrallah's reign of bloodshed, oppression, and terror has been brought to an end. A puppet of the Iranian regime, he was one of the most brutal terrorists on the planet, and a coward who hid behind women and children to carry out his attacks. Thanks to the brave men and women of the Israeli military, justice was delivered for Israeli victims of his heinous crimes, their families, and the United States. The world is better off without him," said Johnson along with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Whip Tom Emmer and Conference Chair Elise Stefanik.
"We call on the Biden-Harris Administration to end its counter-productive calls for a cease-fire and its ongoing diplomatic pressure campaign against Israel. Nasrallah's death is a major step forward for the Middle East, and today's victory for peace and security should be used to reassert America's ironclad support for Israel as it fights for its very right to exist," they added.
AIPAC similarly noted "Hassan Nasrallah was an arch terrorist who killed hundreds of Americans and Israelis. Our ally Israel took out our shared enemy. The world is a safer place without Hassan Nasrallah in it."
Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said "the U.S. should cheer the demise of a leader of a terrorist group with so much American blood on its hands."
"Looking forward, the killing of Nasrallah opens opportunities - both for re-imagining security arrangements along the Israel-Lebanon border that would bring civilians home on both sides and for working with local actors and international partners to re-fashion the political architecture of Lebanon," he continued.
Satloff insisted that the U.S. "needs also to warn Tehran against retaliatory efforts and, especially, against compensating for the loss of its Hezbollah deterrent by making a dash for a nuclear weapons capability. Taken together, there is a new agenda for America to pursue, beyond the achievement of a Gaza cease-fire."
"This is the moment of truth for the Biden White House," said Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
"The administration can either revert to the unidimensional strategy of diplomacy without leverage, or it can wield the dramatic shift in momentum to its advantage and force the Iranian regime to call off the dogs – its proxies – and end this crisis. An end of conflict agreement would necessitate a Hezbollah withdrawal to north of the Litani River and also require that Hamas release the remaining hostages," he continued. "The administration should push hard for nothing less."
"U.S. policy has been on the back foot. It has been reactive and has looked pretty ineffectual," said Michael Wahid Hanna, U.S. Program Director as the International Crisis Group. "Netanyahu has gone out of his way to publicly undermine the U.S. and the administration has been along for the ride."
In his view, much of what unfolds hinges on how aggressively Israel chooses to act or if they perceive a potential off-ramp from the recent strikes. "We've not seen anything to suggest that," he says. "Israel is emboldened. The U.S. has warned at various junctures about how things may go wrong, and they haven't. It becomes harder for the U.S. to push whatever point they may have."
While the U.S. has spearheaded the international effort to address the crisis with a 21-day ceasefire, the Biden administration has also underscored the importance of establishing a long-term solution, even in the aftermath of Nasrallah's assassination.
"Going back simply to October 6, in terms of the border between Lebanon and Israel is not sufficient," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said following the strike, during which he called the current moment "precarious."
"It's not simply a matter of having a cease-fire. That is Hezbollah firing into Israel and Israel responding in a tit-for-tat. What's necessary is to create the conditions – including moving forces back – so that people in both northern Israel and southern Lebanon have the confidence to return home," he said.
President Biden echoed the same sentiment, when he stated on Saturday that the ultimate aim of the United States is to "de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means."
Blinken offered a longer-term view of how the U.S. would like to see Israel-Lebanon relations: "It would be important, finally, to make [U.N. Resolution] 1701 real and not simply a piece of paper. It's never been effectively implemented. As part of Israel leaving Lebanon in 2000 after it had been bogged down there for 15 years, as part of that through 1701 the understanding was that any of the armed militia would put down their weapons. The state should have a monopoly on the use of force. Hezbollah never did that."