@alexanderhay@Lazarou I was honestly impressed by the administration's decision to build a humanitarian aid pier. That is a very clever hack to get around the political roadblock: it delivers concrete aid and, most importantly, it puts American skin in the game---both Israel and Hamas know that if they harm or kill one American soldier, the wrath of an unhinged God will come down on them and their families. They know how an angry America reacts.
Because that's the thing---Biden isn't a dictator. He can't just wave a wand and end the crisis, both because that's not really feasible (without killing a lot of people) and because he's actually legally barred from doing so (Congress makes the laws, and ages ago they made an awful one that the US is required to offer aid to Israel somewhat detached from what Israel is doing). And ultimately the American people are still torn on their opinion of the entire crisis. But they'll be a lot less torn if an American soldier catches a Skysniper or Qassam to the face.
Now, am I happy I am impressed by this? Fuck no. It's a half-measure. It's not the path a courageous country invested in its own convictions of freedom and peace should take. But that's the thing about Americans... We're cowards mostly. Not willing to risk skin in our convictions. And our Congress is way too divided to act with purpose, instead embroiled mostly in the art of doing as much nothing as possible to keep their (deeply-divided, gerrymandered) seats.
Prior to World War I, Woodrow Wilson knew the war was going badly for our allies. But Congress enacted neutrality laws that, ostensibly, tied his hands. In response, he used old anti-piracy law to arm trade ships by executive order, which ratcheted up the temperature of US involvement in the overseas conflict and was in obvious defiance of Congress's intent. He also positioned the navy so that if we entered the war it would be ready to go... Again in defiance of Congress. They were ratcheting up to impeach him in response.
... They didn't get the chance because the Germans responded by loosening the rules of engagement and sinking US ships with submarines, and we ended up in the war. Public opinion turned overnight.
That's the kind of bastard, awful, half-measure, weak-wristed action that makes for a good President in an era when Americans don't know what they want. Biden's actually quite good at it. Most Americans don't see it because they aren't scholars of their own history.