The Biden administration has chosen a disastrous policy with respect to the Israel-Hamas war. The decision to back Israeli military policy in Gaza almost without restriction, to veto the U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire, and to use emergency powers to send $105 million of tank ammunition to the Israel Defense Forces are not only inhumane but geopolitically unwise.

How does the administration think the United States can continue to exert influence in the Middle East when practically all of the Arab nations there, as well as many nations around the world, have condemned our actions? As Palestinian Authority President Mohammed Abbas said on Dec. 9, after the U.S. veto of the Security Council resolution, it was “a mark of shame that will follow the United States for many years.”

One also has to agree with the foreign minister of Oman, who said the veto is a “shameful insult to humanitarian norms.” There is little doubt that this brutal war, motivated by revenge, will set back peace efforts in the Middle East for a generation and cripple our ability to have a positive influence there.

Unfortunately, because of the cowardice of the Biden administration, the U.S. is now tarred with the same brush as the right-wing Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu. I used to think that one of Joe Biden’s strengths was foreign policy. Unfortunately, recent events have erased that opinion.

Harold McWilliams
Rockport

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