Biden Shouldn't Give Israel a Blank Check

An extremely aggressive military response to Hamas’ attack will backfire at the same time that it inflicts collective punishment on the population of Gaza.

Walter Russell Mead gets into full warmongering mode:

The world will now see what Mr. Biden is made of. Will he stand up against terrorists seeking to derail what could otherwise be his greatest diplomatic accomplishment? Will he offer Jerusalem his full military and diplomatic support when and if it is ready to show Iran the price of supporting mass murder in Israel? Or will he abandon America’s closest Middle East partners in their hour of greatest need?

Biden would be foolish to encourage an Israeli attack on Iran under any circumstances, and doing it now would be especially reckless. I doubt that Biden would stand in the way of an attack at this point, but he shouldn’t assist it in any way. The U.S. is not obliged to support a client’s war of choice, and it certainly shouldn’t join in.

On top of that, Biden shouldn’t be giving Israel a blank check in how it responds to a heinous attack. The best friends that the U.S. had twenty years ago were the allies that counseled caution and prudence when Washington wanted to lash out in anger, and the worst ones were the yes-men that cheered every move that the Bush administration made. If Biden wants to be a true friend to Israel, he shouldn’t be a yes-man. As Solzhenitsyn once said, “the yes-man is your enemy, a but friend will argue with you.”