Biden’s ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Administration’ Shields, Skewers Israel in Lame-Duck Stretch
Is it International Groundhog Day? The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday voted 14-to-1 in favor of an anti-Israel resolution, with the only “no” vote coming from the U.S., which holds permanent veto power. If you’re experiencing déjà vu right now, that’s because exactly the same scenario has played out dozens of times.
The twist is that this latest resolution demanded “an immediate, unconditional and permanent cease-fire [in Gaza] to be respected by all parties.” It separately called for “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages” but did not make this a condition of the ceasefire. Because Israel is clearly winning its war, and because only Israel would respect a ceasefire, it is widely understood that a ceasefire in Gaza would only benefit Hamas, giving them time to regroup and rearm.
“I was very gratified to see that the Biden administration did, in fact, veto it,” reflected Jewish News Syndicate contributing editor Caroline Glick on “Washington Watch” Wednesday. “It was touch and go for a while, and that was disturbing. But at least they came through in the end.”
The ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ Administration
In March, the Biden administration broke decades of U.S. precedent by declining to veto an anti-Semitic resolution in the U.N. Security Council that called for an immediate ceasefire conditioned upon the release of hostages. The Biden administration “worked for weeks” to insert similar language into the latest resolution, according to U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood.
“We made clear throughout negotiations we could not support an unconditional cease-fire that failed to release the hostages,” said Wood. “Hamas would have seen it as a vindication of its cynical strategy to hope and pray the international community forgets about the fate of more than 100 hostages from more than 20 member states who have been held for 410 days.”
“I agree it was good news to see the Biden administration cast this veto vote in the U.N. today,” responded Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, “but when I look at the Biden-Harris administration, it looks like the ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ administration.”
“It’s very alarming,” Glick agreed. “You’re having this constant back-and-forth where they say one thing, and then they do another. … This entire four years, there’s been this gaslighting effect where Biden embraces us with this bear hug and says, ‘Oh, I’m for Israel’ … [while] implementing these incredibly hostile policies that protect Hamas, protect Iran, protect Hezbollah, protect the Houthis.”
For instance, “Since October 7th, the United States government under the Biden-Harris administration has poured $2 billion into the Palestinian coffers,” said Glick. Meanwhile, the administration is “forcing Israel … to allow the constant resupply of Hamas in Gaza under pain of an arms embargo. So, if we don’t feed and clothe and water and provide medicines for Hamas — because they control all of this — then the Americans impose an embargo on critical weapon supplies … to constrain our military actions.”
The Biden administration also continues to resurrect its dream of a two-state solution — a dream that Hamas’s October 7 attack shot in the back of the head. Their current scheme is to reinvigorate the ailing Palestinian Authority, which oversees Judea and Samaria, in hopes of creating a functional body that can govern the nonexistent state. Glick noted that this policy is “rejected by upwards of 85% of Israelis.”
“The Palestinian Authority, of course, funds terror, sponsors terror,” Glick remarked. “They pay salaries to terrorists who are in Israeli prisons and annuities to the families of terrorists who are dead.” Last Friday, the Biden administration released an additional $230 million to the Palestinian Authority.
Biden Sanctions Israelis
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has sanctioned ordinary Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria “who are not indicted for anything,” she added. “They’ve never been investigated for anything. They’re not under arrest for anything under Israeli law. They’ve committed no crime under American law. … They’re being sanctioned because they are viewed as [a] danger to America’s policy of establishing a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria.”
On Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department placed financial sanctions on Amana, “a real estate company … that lawfully builds homes for Israelis inside of lawful Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria,” Glick explained. “Those sanctions are supposed to be geared against terrorists … narcotics kingpins, cartels.”
These sanctions can have “debilitating” personal consequences. “These people are banned from the international banking system because Israel’s banking system is attached to the U.S. banking system,” said Glick. “They can’t pay their mortgages. They can’t pay for gas. They can’t pay for their children’s after-school activities. They can’t pay for groceries. They don’t have access to credit cards. … They can’t operate in a modern society where everything is digital.” The U.S. government inflicted this punishment without due process.
“It’s what we’ve been experiencing here in the United States with the weaponization of the federal government,” where “they’ve gone after pro-lifers that have been outside praying in front of abortion clinics,” Perkins responded. “You have Jewish communities being attacked. You have suicide vehicles attacking IDF soldiers that are in the area,” yet “here we have unprecedented sanctions against Israeli citizens living in those areas” over what “appears to be nothing more than political disagreements.”
“The problem with this is it’s unprecedented. It sets a new standard and unfortunately will be used again in the future,” Perkins added. “This has to be, I think, uncategorically … repudiated and denounced as a misuse of authority and power.”
“It’s really alarming,” reiterated Glick. “Israel is the first U.S. ally that’s ever been sanctioned by the U.S. We’re the first democracy that’s ever been sanctioned by the U.S. And there are currently more Israelis under U.S. sanctions than there are North Koreans.”
On the other side of Israel, the Biden administration is “also pouring money into Gaza” and “giving all of this food and water, medicine, etc., to Hamas to distribute, and that maintains their iron grip on power,” said Glick. “The [Biden] administration’s policy is to block Israel’s efforts to be in charge of the distribution of humanitarian aid. … So, it’s acting to undermine Israel’s war goal of destroying Hamas as a military organization and as a political entity.”
There again, the Biden administration slapped financial sanctions on Israeli citizens. “This woman called for volunteers to come and block the aid convoys to Gaza, because they were all going to resupply the enemies in times of war,” Glick explained. “There was this outcry in the public, and people started just going at 3:00 in the morning to block the trucks,” and now the Biden administration has sanctioned her.
“She is married to an American citizen. So, he’s also under U.S. sanctions,” Glick narrated. “This is an American citizen [sanctioned] with no due process, who has committed no crime. And his wife committed no crime. … They’ve been debanked. Their whole life is just in ruins because the [Biden] administration decided that they don’t like the fact that Israelis are trying to block the transfer of material aid to the enemy in times of war.”
This is another example of a weaponized government, Perkins responded. “We see what they’re doing over here in this country. … They don’t touch those that are on the Left doing similar demonstrations.”
Hyde tonight, Jekyll tomorrow, and who knows which face of the Biden-Harris administration will show itself for the rest of Biden’s lame-duck presidency. When they’re not debanking ordinary Israeli citizens, the administration will sometimes stand alone at the U.N. as Israel’s defender. James wrote truly when he called the double-minded man “unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8).
International Threats Continue
Even in international diplomacy, Israel can hardly breathe easily. Although the Biden administration “vetoed this deeply, deeply hostile resolution,” observed Glick, there are “two more that are in the pipeline, that are supposed to go forward in the next few weeks.” First, a General Assembly resolution sponsored by Palestine would oust Israel from the U.N. General Assembly. “They have an automatic majority for that if they go through with a vote, as they have for every anti-Israel resolution that they put forward,” said Glick. A second resolution would “sanction Israel if we conduct any construction activities not only in Judea and Samaria, but in Jerusalem and in the Golan Heights.”
“So we’re facing an all-out onslaught against Israel at the U.N.,” Glick summarized, “which just shows how deeply, deeply demented that organization is, that they are siding with mass murderers against a democracy that’s fighting for its survival and fighting these just forces of evil in the Middle East.”
The U.N. is not the only international body showing irrational prejudice against Israel. On Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. This international body of “justice” has determined — perhaps “predetermined” is more accurate — that Israel is the true villain in a war started by a terrorist group that seeks their annihilation. Neither the U.S. nor Israel recognizes the court’s jurisdiction, but it could prevent Netanyahu from traveling to countries that do, like many in Europe.
In many respects, this is nothing new. Many international organizations have been promising to find Israel after class since the country’s modern creation. The relatively recent change is that Israel’s large and intimidating friend hinted to the bullies that it might be willing to stand aloof for once. It didn’t take long after October 7 for Israel to realize it needed a better friend in the White House.
Israel Celebrates Trump’s Victory
This is why “Israelis are exhilarated about the results of the election. The Israelis overwhelmingly supported Trump” over Harris by a lopsided 70% to 12%, said Glick. Trump also received “unprecedented levels [for a Republican] of American Jewish support at the polls in critical districts.”
“The great aspect of the Trump presidency isn’t even the amazing things that he did” while in office, gushed Glick. Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moved the U.S. embassy there, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, sunk the Iran nuclear deal, and helped Israel normalize relations with four Arab countries. But, more than all that, Glick appreciates that Trump doesn’t try to micromanage Israel’s every decision.
“He just stands by Israel, and he says, ‘Look, you guys figure out what you need. Explain it to me. And if you convince me, then I’ll support you because we’re allies,’” she elaborated. “We’re going to actually get an American administration coming into office, which is going to stand with us for real, not just by lip service.”
As a harbinger of what may come, Trump selected Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as Ambassador to the United Nations in one of his first post-election picks. As a member of the New York delegation, Stefanik is hardly the most conservative member of Congress, having voted not only for the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022 but even the radical Equality Act in 2019. However, Stefanik did distinguish herself in a December 2023 hearing where she pressured Harvard University President Claudine Gay to resign over her failure to restrain anti-Semitic threats and violence (she eventually resigned in early January). If Trump was seeking a bulldog to take on international anti-Semitism, he will likely find it in Stefanik.
“What we’re being given here is not salvation. It’s a chance for us to secure our future,” clarified Glick. And Israel intends to take the generational opportunity. She hopes the incoming administration will not support Palestinian statehood, allow Israel to neutralize Hezbollah in Lebanon, and help them prevent a nuclear Iran — three objectives that are critical to Israel’s security. Oh, and a little diplomatic cover in international organizations would be nice, too, to restore those organizations to their repetitive status quo. Welcome to Groundhog Day!
Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.