2023-10-19 01:11:34
by Davide Frattini
The US president embraces Prime Minister Netanyahu and the survivors of the massacre carried out by Hamas on 7 October. The Jewish state unblocks the passage of aid to Gaza
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
TEL AVIV – Coming down the steps of Air Force One, he hugs Benjamin Netanyahu. He came to embrace an entire country, he came to look closely at the photos of the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists at dawn twelve days ago. After the massacre at the hospital in the south of the Strip, Joe Biden asks his Israeli allies to also show him the information collected so far.
From the president’s first words it seems clear that American intelligence has already analyzed the satellite images, the videos that appeared on social media, and provided him with conclusions. It is Biden who immediately says: “From what I could see it was the others, not you.” Thus the tones remain the same as those of almost two weeks of war, the heartfelt support that has entered the hearts of Israelis, has taken the place of Donald Trump even in many of those who fight on the right: «Hamas is worse than the Islamic State» . “I cry with you.” “I’m here to show which side we’re on.”
It is the first visit by an American president while Israel is fighting, a young senator at his debut came there in July 1973, a few months later the Yom Kippur war broke out, perhaps the most cited by local analysts, the most compared – so to speak which this time is worse — to the disaster of the invasion perpetrated by Hamas terrorists. The leader recognizes this, he turns it into horror mathematics: “The assault on October 7th is equivalent to fifteen attacks on September 11th.” He who was born in 1942 and will be six years older than the Jewish State in a month’s time, takes the liberty of advising himself not to let himself be “consumed by anger”: “He must not influence strategies as happened to us. We got justice, but we made mistakes.” He reminds us that Hamas does not represent all Palestinians. He meets the survivors of the massacre – at least 1,400 dead – and assures their families that the priority is the return of the 199 hostages held in the Strip.
He offers material solidarity: “Next week I will ask Congress to vote on an unprecedented military aid package.” In exchange he wants – and obtains – that Prime Minister Netanyahu allows the passage of food, water and medicines from the Egyptian Rafah crossing for the Palestinian population. He warns: «If Hamas steals or diverts this humanitarian assistance, it will demonstrate once again that it has no interest in the well-being of the people. On a practical level it will cause this intervention by the international community to stop.”
How much Abdel Fattah Al Sisi will collaborate still seems to be defined: the Egyptian president accuses the Israelis of having bombed the transit point on the border and of having forced him to close the gates. He warns: “If the plan is to forcibly transfer the inhabitants of Gaza to our Sinai territories and move them from the West Bank to Jordan, I will incite millions of Egyptians to take to the streets.”
Egypt was the first Arab nation to sign an agreement with Israel in 1979, the Hashemite kingdom got there fifteen years later. He understood that Biden would want to strengthen with the summit in Amman canceled after the deaths in Gaza on Tuesday evening. He believes that they are shaky to the point of pushing Tor Wennesland, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, to sound the alarm: «We are on the brink of a deep and dangerous abyss. The risk of this conflict expanding is very real.”
Biden leaves again in the afternoon, the war continues at its deadly pace, punctuated by rocket launches against Israeli cities as far as Tel Aviv – three times shortly after the president took off – and Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip.
October 18, 2023 (modified October 18, 2023 | 9:55 pm)
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