Israeli capitulation exposes the lie behind Biden's Gaza policy | Mondoweiss |

For months the Biden administration has insisted there's little it can do to impact Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza. The events of the last 24 hours have shown that this is a lie.

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Franklin Foer's book details conversations between Biden and Netanyahu that occurred during Israel's 2021 assault on Gaza.

Biden "held his tongue" after Israel bombed a 12-story building that served as a home base for journalists in Gaza City, and the attacks continued. However, later in the campaign, Biden instructed the Prime Minister to wrap things up. Netanyahu insisted he needed more time to bomb, but Biden reportedly told him, "Hey, man, we are out of runway here. It's over."

• US Joe Biden Partners with Israel in Gaza Carnage | 17 May 2021 |

Netanyahu "begrudgingly" agreed to a ceasefire days later.

Again, none of this is especially surprising. However, for months the Biden administration has insisted there's very little it can do to alter policy in the region and acted as though Israel's policy decisions are unconnected to the United States, the country that gives them more than $4 billion a year in military aid.

This narrative is consistently pushed during press briefings.

Here's a typical example from February 27, in which State Department spokesman Matthew Miller was asked about the tools it has to influence Israel.

"So one thing I will say about that that people often tend to forget is that Israel, like other countries in the region, is a sovereign country that makes its own decisions," claimed Miller. "The United States does not dictate to Israel what it must do, just as we don't dictate to any country what it must do."

Miller made a similar statement the following month, when he was asked about Israel invading Rafah.

"We can't dictate to them," he told reporters.