An open letter to Netanyahu: Heed Biden's warnings - comment

• Published date: 12 April 2024
• Author: TAMAR URIEL-BEERI
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Suffice it to say that you and I have not always seen eye to eye

Setting aside issues such as the haredi draft law, support for ultra-Orthodox parties' policies, judicial reform, support for the LGBTQ+ community, or treatment of the Arab-Israeli community, your approach to the Israel-Hamas war has been rotten from the start.

I can understand your genuine motivation at first. It was a necessity to attack, injure and weaken Hamas so that nothing like October 7 would ever happen again. But what now?

What is the next move for Israel?

It is beyond clear that the IDF is not going to rescue all of the remaining hostages. Hamas has been irreversibly damaged.

The operation, at this point, only further stretches Israel's justification, making it thinner and thinner until it will no longer be deemed permissible on the international stage.

I spoke on this week's JPost Podcast about the Doctrine of Double Effect (DoDE), a principle taken from international political thought described by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as "the permissibility of an action that causes a serious harm, such as the death of a human being, as a side effect of promoting some good end."

This is the principle that, until now, allowed Israel to continue in this operation, despite Palestinians unrelated to the conflict – those Gazans unaffiliated with terrorist organizations who are being impacted on the ground by the humanitarian crisis – being killed as sort of a "side effect" of the operation intended to eliminate Hamas.

However, one criterion for implementing this doctrine is proportionality. You have skirted around this issue, which is bringing about international scrutiny. If we continue on this trajectory, it will lead to our moral failings, not to mention the loss of crucial connections around the world.

Do you wonder why the US is turning against us? Look closer.

US PRESIDENT Joe Biden, in a joint press conference at the White House with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday, told Hamas that they must accept the hostage proposal crafted in Cairo earlier this week.

Biden is speaking to a known terrorist organization, urging it to align itself with Israel's demands. He is doing that for Israel.

Last week, the president urged the leaders of Egypt and Qatar to pressure Hamas terrorists to agree to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal ahead of a fresh round of talks this weekend in Cairo.

His support for Israel has been ongoing for a long, long time – and you know this...