The United States backs Israel's incursion - but has it lost all influence over its ally?

An Israeli tank moves next to soldiers as they stand atop of armoured personnel carriers. Credit: AP

The United States government made clear overnight that it supports Israel’s ground assault into southern Lebanon.

That is a remarkable diplomatic display of support for Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu, and another sign of how the White House is giving a green light to a succession of escalatory actions by Israel.

Just a few days ago, President Joe Biden urged all sides to embrace a 21-day ceasefire. Now he is backing an expansion of the war and an invasion.

That’s quite the pivot.

In the words of the Pentagon overnight, the US reaffirms its support for “Israel's right to defend itself against Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and other Iran-backed terrorist organisations".

And if that wasn’t enough, according to the Pentagon statement, America backs “the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border".

That phrase “along the border” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Israel is also bombing Beirut and the Bekaa Valley.

The problem for Biden and Harris is that they appear to have no significant influence over Israeli actions.

Remember US opposition to an Israeli assault on Rafah in southern Gaza? That became support for a limited incursion.

In the end, Israel devastated a city choked with refugees, ignoring America’s pleas altogether. There were no consequences.

Now there has been an attack on Israel, Robert Moore has the latest on what the US response could be...

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Now we find ourselves in a similar situation. Washington reluctantly backs a limited invasion of Lebanon in the hope there will be Israeli restraint.

History suggests that Netanyahu will do whatever he wants. He sees Biden as a weak, lame-duck president he can safely ignore.

That’s quite the humiliation for a US leader who projects himself as a master of foreign policy.

Netanyahu is a consummate student of American domestic politics. He knows that with a month to go before the US presidential election, no candidate can be seen to be critical of Israel.

That gives Israel extraordinary leeway in the days ahead.

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