Air strike puts focus on US foreign aid Bill

• Published date: 15 April 2024
• Author: KEITH DUGGAN
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

By mid-afternoon on Saturday, US president Joe Biden had abandoned plans for a sunny weekend watching the Masters tournament at his Delaware beach house and flown hastily back to the Situation Room in the White House to monitor information of Iran’s imminent air attack on military facilities in Israel

By evening, he once again found himself on a phone call with Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu. Little over a week ago, he delivered a warning to Netanyahu in relation to the devastating humanitarian consequences of its attacks on Hamas in Gaza. This time, he was there to reaffirm “America’s ironclad commitment to the security of Israel” while stressing the importance of de-escalating the tensions and averting a generalised conflict in the region.

The barrage of weapons included more than 30 cruise missiles and 120 ballistic missiles, all of which were neutralised and taken down by a combination of US and Israeli missile defence destroyers.

The Biden administration had moved aircraft and ballistic missile defence destroyers over the past week at the president’s direction and the attacks caused little damage, prompting Biden to urge Netanyahu to treat the engagement as an effective victory.

A senior White House official was reported as saying that Biden told Netanyahu, “You got a win. Take the win”, which, in the formal language of the White House statement translated as: “I told him that Israel demonstrated a remarkable capacity to defend against and defeat even unprecedented attacks – sending a clear message to its foes that they cannot effectively threaten the security of Israel.”

Latest flashpoint

For Biden, this latest flashpoint in the region will provide another indication of how much weight Netanyahu places on his words. While the US president engaged fellow G7 leaders to formulate a cohesive diplomatic response to the Iranian aggression, persuading Israel from a response that would further destabilise the region is key.

The president’s foreign policy record was...