The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration

Writes Jamal Kanj . . .

President Joe Biden, flanked by his Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Vice President Kamala Harris, announced the cease-fire in Gaza [last] week with an air of accomplishment, framing it as a crowning achievement of his administration’s diplomatic efforts. However, this assertion is profoundly misleading. While the cease-fire was presented as a diplomatic victory, the truth reveals a far darker reality. For many, the Biden administration will not be remembered for brokering peace but for enabling and facilitating policies that allowed Israel’s genocide to continue unabated.

Far from a legacy of peace, the Biden administration, through its supply of the tool of genocide and to shield Israeli war crimes from international accountability, bears direct responsibility in the Israeli carnage. In announcing the cease-fire deal, President Biden claimed it was the result of eight months of diligent diplomatic efforts by his administration. In fact, it was eighth months of normalizing Israeli war crimes as self-defense. Under the leadership of America’s most Israel-first Secretary of State, the cease-fire is a symbolic gesture that conceals the deeper moral and political failings of an administration that has proven servile to Israel.

This failure is also an emblematic of a broader issue within U.S. foreign policy: prioritizing parochial or political expediency over moral and ethical imperatives. By allowing Benjamin Netanyahu to act with impunity, President Biden not only compromised America’s standing in the world but also perpetuated, unchecked, Israeli genocide in Gaza. In doing so, the administration became a complicit partner in war crimes, further undermining the United States supposed standing as a defender of human rights and international law.

Biden and Blinken’s legacy will be marked not by a cease-fire but by their role in providing and enabling Israel to drop 85,000 tons of bombs on Gaza – an amount that surpasses the combined bombings of Dresden, Hamburg, and London during World War II. Their tenure will be remembered for presiding over the murdering or injuring 10% of Gaza’s population and the destruction of 86% of all building structures.

When students in Gaza eventually return to school after 15 months of devastation, they will face the grim effect of what the American-made bombs have wrought: 123 universities and schools reduced to rubble, murdering 750 academics, and the loss of 130 scholars and university professors who once inspired hope and knowledge.

As aid trucks will be allowed to slowly roll into Gaza, the people will not forget the 300 humanitarian workers deliberately killed by Israel, nor the 160 journalists and media workers who risked – and lost – their lives attempting to broadcast the cries of a besieged population, only to have their voices fall on deaf ears and a world of dead conscience.

Amid the ruins of over 654 healthcare facilities, the memory of 1,000 selfless healthcare workers and some of Palestine’s finest medical doctors who perished in their efforts to save lives will remain seared into the collective consciousness. For the people of Gaza, this is not just a story of destruction but a testament to the world’s indifference and complicity in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe of unimaginable scale.

The current cease-fire agreement could have been secured months earlier. In May, President Biden proposed a similar framework that the Palestinians accepted. However, Netanyahu rejected it as a “non-starter,” prioritizing his political survival over ending genocide. Instead of holding Israel accountable or insisting on compliance with international humanitarian law, the Biden administration – led by the genocide facilitator, Secretary of State Blinken – chose to appease and embolden Netanyahu in his crimes.

– Jamal Kanj
Excerpted from “Cease-Fire in Gaza:
A Tale of Trump’s Illusion and Biden’s Failure”
Common Dreams
January 18, 2025

– Image: Carlos Latuff

Above: A protester interrupts Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025 (Picture: Luis M Alvarez / AP Photo)

Related Off-site Links:
My Community Will Remember the Biden Administration for One Thing: Genocide – Maryam Hassanein (Common Dreams, January 19, 2025).
Gaza Will Forever Haunt Joe Biden – Sumaya Awad (Jacobin, January 19, 2025).
“Bye, Genocide Joe”: Social Media Reflects on Biden’s Legacy on Gaza – Maysa Mustafa (Middle East Eye, January 17, 2025).
Biden Worked “Tirelessly Around the Clock” – to Prevent a Ceasefire – Trita Parsi (Responsible Statecraft, January 16, 2025).
Journalists Berate Blinken Over Gaza Policy at His Final Press Conference – Daphne Psaledakis, Humeyra Pamuk and Doina Chiacu (Reuters, January 16, 2025).
Good Riddance, Antony Blinken – A. J. Caschetta (National Review, January 19, 2025).
Gaza Atrocities Vill “Haunt” Antony Blinken, Says Former U.S. Diplomat – Ali Harb (Aljazeera, January 17, 2025).
“Damning” New Poll Shows Price Kamala Harris Paid for Backing Israeli Genocide in Gaza – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, January 15, 2025).
“Dark Chapter”: Sen. Bernie Sanders Says American People Must “Grapple” With Complicity in Gaza’s Destruction – Eloise Goldsmith (Common Dreams, January 15, 2025).
Gaza Cease-Fire Takes Effect After Deadly Three-Hour Delay – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, January 19, 2025).
Israeli Cabinet OKs Cease-Fire “46,000 Lives Too Late” While Continuing to Bomb Gaza – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, January 18, 2025).
Israeli Attacks Kill 70+ as Netanyahu Delays Cabinet Vote on Ceasefire Deal – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, January 16, 2025).
Report from Gaza: Ceasefire Announcement Raises Hopes, But Israel Kills 81 in New Attacks – Democracy Now! (January 16, 2025).
Details of Historic Gaza Ceasefire Deal – Aseel Saleh (ScheerPost, January 16, 2025).
A Ceasefire Won’t Stop Israel’s Genocidal Agenda – Tariq Kenney-Shawa (+972 Magazine, January 16, 2025).
How U.S. Media Hide Truths About the Gaza War – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, January 15, 2025).
Israel’s Co-Pilot for Genocide: The U.S. Government – Stan Cox (Common Dreams, January 14, 2025).

See also the following chronologically-ordered Wild Reed posts:
• “Nothing About Today is ‘Unprovoked’”
• Phyllis Bennis: “If We Are Serious About Ending This Spiraling Violence, We Need to Look at Root Causes”
• In the Midst of the “Great Unraveling,” a Visit to the Prayer Tree
• Eric Levitz: Quote of the Day – October 11, 2023
• Something to Think About – October 12, 2023
• Prayer of the Week – October 16, 2023
• Voices of Reason and Compassion on the Crisis in Israel and Gaza
• More Voices of Reason and Compassion on the Crisis in Israel and Gaza
• Ta-Nehisi Coates: Quote of the Day – November 2, 2023
• Jehad Abusalim: Quote of the Day – December 8, 2023
• Christmas 2023 – Reflections, Activism, Art, and Celebrations
• Sabrina Salvati: Quote of the Day – January 2, 2024
• Michael Fakhri: Quote of the Day – February 27, 2024
• Phyllis Bennis: Quote of the Day – March 28, 2024
• Josh Paul: Quote of the Day – March 28, 2024
• “A Genocide Has Been Normalized”
• “This Is a Genocidal Project”
• Outrage and Despair
• Naomi Klein’s Powerful Words on Israel’s and the West’s Ongoing Gaza Genocide
• Judith Butler on the Ongoing Student Protests Against the Gaza Genocide
• Kyle Kulinski: Quote of the Day – May 23, 2024
• Something to Think About – June 28, 2024
• Nina Turner: Quote of the Day – July 24, 2024
• Phyllis Bennis: “We Can Never Give Up Hope”
• John Cusack: Quote of the Day – July 26, 2024
• Progressive Perspectives on the Presidential Nomination of Kamala Harris
• Breaking Down Kamala Harris’s DNC Speech on Gaza
• Yousef Munayyer: Quote of the Day – August 30, 2024
• “It’s a Systematic Slaughter That We’re Funding”
• Protesting Weapons Manufacturer and Genocide Enabler General Dynamics
• Something to Think About – September 26, 2024
• “A Year of War Against Children”
• Anti-Genocide Presidential Candidate Jill Stein Reflects on the First Anniversary of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
• Liam Cosgrove Confronts U.S. State Department Spin Doctor Matthew Miller: “People Are Sick of the Bullshit”
• “This Is a Tragic, Heartbreaking Moment in the History of Humanity”
• Progressive Perspectives on Kamala Harris’ Faltering Presidential Campaign
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Presidential Election
• Hope and Courage – Christmas 2024
• Chris Hedges: “Israel Has No Intention of Halting Its Merry-Go-Round of Death”

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “The Mistreatment and Discrimination Against Palestinians Is Not Unprecedented. It’s Baked Into the Foundation of the Political System in Israel”
• Progressive Perspectives on the Ongoing Israeli-Palestinian “Nightmare” (2021)
• Something to Think About – July 29, 2018
• Noura Erakat: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2018
• For Some Jews, Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians is Yet Another Jewish Tragedy
• Remembering the Six-Day War and Its Ongoing Aftermath
• David Norris: Quote of the Day – August 12, 2014