{"id":36698,"date":"2024-10-05T12:32:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T19:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=36698"},"modified":"2024-10-05T12:32:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-05T19:32:13","slug":"a-history-of-u-s-presidents-drawing-red-lines-with-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/05\/a-history-of-u-s-presidents-drawing-red-lines-with-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"A history of U.S. presidents drawing red lines with Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.axios.com%2F6SnWNc5YuczmWXpN4lpFOUPL5uY%3D%2F666x0%3A3864x3198%2F52x0%2F2022%2F06%2F17%2F1655483109947.jpg&amp;w=320&amp;q=75\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/authors\/isaric\">Ivana Saric<\/a> (axios.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/2Hi92tgWrjcpyQ7kWAy5dlevBwE=\/0x268:4871x3008\/1920x1080\/2024\/05\/09\/1715290707210.jpg?w=1920\" alt=\"Biden and Netanyahu\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>President Joe Biden with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv in Oct. 2023. Photo: Miriam Alster\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>President Biden made waves last week by threatening to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/05\/08\/israel-rafah-us-weapons-biden\">withhold military aid<\/a>&nbsp;to Israel if it invades Rafah, but he&#8217;s not the first American president to set boundaries regarding assistance to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why it matters:&nbsp;<\/strong>Biden&#8217;s warning was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/05\/09\/israel-biden-rafah-netenyahu-response\">met with defiance<\/a>&nbsp;from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in yet another sign of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/03\/12\/biden-netanyahu-clash-us-intelligence-report\">deteriorating relationship<\/a>&nbsp;between the two leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>The potential invasion of Rafah has been the biggest&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/03\/12\/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war-red-lines\">source of tension<\/a>, with U.S. officials concerned about the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/04\/24\/israel-gaza-rafah-operation-egypt\">humanitarian impact<\/a>&nbsp;it could have.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The big picture:<\/strong>&nbsp;Biden first brought up the prospect of a &#8220;red line&#8221; with Israel in regard to the Rafah operation&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/03\/10\/biden-red-line-gaza-palestinians\">back in March<\/a>. Netanyahu&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/03\/12\/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war-red-lines\">responded by saying<\/a>&nbsp;that his own red line was preventing a repeat of Hamas&#8217; Oct. 7 attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Last week Israeli forces took over the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/05\/07\/israel-rafah-gaza-aid-deliveries\">Rafah border crossing&nbsp;<\/a>between Egypt and Gaza \u2014 one of the main delivery routes for humanitarian aid into the enclave.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, the White House doesn&#8217;t yet believe that Israel&#8217;s actions have crossed Biden&#8217;s red line, which would warrant a change in U.S. policy,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/05\/07\/us-israel-rafah-red-line\">Axios&#8217; Barak Ravid reports.<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Secretary of State Tony Blinken&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/05\/12\/israel-us-blinken-gaza-civilians\">said Sunday<\/a>&nbsp;the U.S. hasn&#8217;t seen a plan from Israel for protecting civilians in Gaza ahead of the Rafah operation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>State of play:&nbsp;<\/strong>&#8220;If they go into Rafah, I&#8217;m not supplying the weapons,&#8221; Biden said last week in an interview with CNN. His words were met with anger from a number of Republicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Biden has been the &#8220;greatest friend&#8221; to Hamas and Hezbollah &#8220;that there is on planet Earth,&#8221; Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said at a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenTedCruz\/status\/1788640789343420875\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press conference<\/a>&nbsp;Thursday.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;This is a disgraceful betrayal of our ally for political reasons,&#8221; Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TomCottonAR\/status\/1788588676651311464\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote on X<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Former Vice President Mike Pence&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mike_Pence\/status\/1788341075817492686\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dubbed<\/a>&nbsp;Biden&#8217;s pledge &#8220;totally unacceptable.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The other side: Biden&#8217;s move was cheered by a number of progressive Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;President Biden is right \u2013 the United States cannot continue to provide more bombs and artillery shells to support Netanyahu&#8217;s disastrous and inhumane war policies,&#8221; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenSanders\/status\/1788659837221376431\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AOC\/status\/1788358280743460950\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called<\/a>&nbsp;Biden&#8217;s enforcing of conditions on Israel aid the &#8220;responsible, secure, and just thing to do.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other U.S. presidents<\/strong>&nbsp;have also threatened to withhold aid from Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dwight Eisenhower<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>During the Suez Crisis of the 1950s, then-President Dwight Eisenhower leveraged the threat of sanctions to convince Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula, per&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/israel-weapons-shipment-us-eed365ebef0477ba74bf9848cacae4f4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AP<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>In 1953, the Eisenhower administration also&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2003\/10\/29\/opinion\/IHT-1953-aid-restored-to-israel-in-our-pages-100-75-and-50-years-ago.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">temporarily delayed<\/a>&nbsp;$26 million in funding to Israel over its construction of a hydroelectric project on the Jordan River.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ronald Reagan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Back in 1981, former President Ronald Reagan indefinitely&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1981\/07\/21\/world\/reagan-delays-jets-israel-us-6-allies-urge-all-side-middleast-cease-reprisals.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">delayed two shipments<\/a>&nbsp;of F-16 fighter jets to Israel over the &#8221;escalating level of violence&#8221; in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>The following year, the Reagan administration warned Congress that Israel might have violated its arms agreement with the U.S. by using American-made weapons during its invasion of Lebanon, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1982\/07\/16\/world\/reagan-plans-to-tell-congress-israel-may-have-violated-arms-restrictions.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New York Times<\/a>&nbsp;reported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 1983, Reagan reaffirmed that he would not send F-16 jets to Israel until Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;While these forces are in the position of occupying another country that now has asked them to leave, we are forbidden by law to release those planes,&#8217; he&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reaganlibrary.gov\/archives\/speech\/remarks-and-question-and-answer-session-los-angeles-world-affairs-council-luncheon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">George H.W. Bush<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1992, the Bush administration threatened to withhold the delivery of $10 billion in loan guarantees to Israel if it continued building settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/archive\/politics\/1992\/02\/25\/baker-bars-israeli-loan-aid-unless-settlements-are-halted\/e7311eea-e6d3-493b-8880-a3b98e0830a1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Washington Post<\/a>&nbsp;reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Go deeper:&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/05\/07\/house-democrats-israel-rafah-gaza\">Rafah assault threatens to be Israel breaking point for Democrats<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Biden made waves last week by threatening to&nbsp;withhold military aid&nbsp;to Israel if it invades Rafah, but he&#8217;s not the first American president to set boundaries regarding assistance to the country. Why it matters:&nbsp;Biden&#8217;s warning was&nbsp;met with defiance&nbsp;from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in yet another sign of the&nbsp;deteriorating relationship&nbsp;between&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/05\/a-history-of-u-s-presidents-drawing-red-lines-with-israel\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36699,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36698\/revisions\/36699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}