Joe Biden: What is the meaning of “ironclad”?

President Joe Biden is facing a kobayashi maru problem, which Star Trek fans recognize as a choice with only bad outcomes.

On the one hand, he has made Israel “ironclad” promises of support. This is because Israel is a long, valued ally, now fighting Hamas, a terrorist organization pledged to Israel’s destruction.

Biden has said America’s position is that Hamas must be removed.

On the other hand, Biden has paused delivery to Israel of 1,000- and 500-pound bombs, as well as artillery shells, he told CNN Wednesday night. Other reporting says he also is denying Israel “smart bomb” technology.

Last week, Biden said the U.S. would not approve of an attack on Rafah, Hamas’ remaining stronghold in Gaza, without an Israeli plan to evacuate civilians. Now the U.S. position seems to have shifted to oppose any attack on Rafah. (This is subject to change at any moment.)  

As it stands, Biden has created a paradox: Israel can’t achieve the goal of removing Hamas — which the U.S. wants — without attacking Rafah, which the U.S. doesn’t want. This has confused everyone, including Israeli Prime Minister Benyahim Netanyahu, who says Israel will go it alone if it must. He has noted before that when the chips are down, Jews can depend on no one but themselves.

Biden has been pro-Israel his entire life, but he is going wobbly because he is being called “Genocide Joe” by students who don’t know the legal definition of the term, and because of the small but perhaps decisive Arab vote in Michigan and Minnesota.

He has tried straddling the line, hoping to placate both sides.

It has not worked. He has pissed off both sides. 

And now he appears to be slithering away from his “ironclad” promise.

Almost 60% of Americans support Israel’s right to attack Hamas, although many, including myself, are disturbed by the civilian deaths, in a late April Pew poll.

The deaths are the single greatest cause of world opinion turning against Israel, which has not been as scrupulous as it has in past wars in protecting civilians. The Oct. 7 massacre radicalized them.

Here’s an eternal truth: The longer a war goes on, the less popular it becomes. This requires that military operations should be executed as quickly as possible.

Before the remaining battle of Rafah, Israel must allow civilians to escape. It also should allow humanitarian relief to arrive.

What Joe Biden must do is state without equivocation that the United States stands with Israel’s military’s effort to grind Hamas into the dust. Only victory will eliminate the threat of Hamas to Israel, and will lead to the return of hostages, however many remain alive.

The students won’t like it, but once the war ends, they will melt away. Biden’s far-left progressive base won’t like it, but so what?

Will they vote for Donald J. Trump?

Never.

Worm brain Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.? Possibly, but RFK matters only in a few states.

Stay home? And elect Trump?

No matter how distasteful Biden might be to progressives, they won’t “bring an end to democracy” by staying home.

As much as Democrats hate Trump, his candidacy has drawn record numbers of pro- and anti-Trump voters to the polls.

Biden needs a “Sister Souljah moment” to put the unruly students and unrealistic far left members in short pants. 

It’s binary, Biden. Pick a side, and stick with it, with no equivocation. That is how to solve the Catch 22 of  kobayashi maru.