Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet.
Alon Pinkas/Haaretz:
The World Central Kitchen Debacle Happened in a World Already Suffering From ‘Israel Fatigue’
Even at a time like this, Biden understands that Israelis are scared too. But he just doesn’t seem to fully get that Netanyahu is using them to deceive him, and that the administration can’t possibly reconcile its harsh language with the business-as-usual arms sales to Israel
Any commission of inquiry that – as Israel has promised the United States – will “thoroughly investigate” the IDF’s killing of seven aid workers in Gaza won’t have to work too hard. The entire tragedy that befell World Central Kitchen can be summed up by the adage known as Hanlon’s razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
David Rothkopf/Daily Beast:
Biden Should Suspend Offensive Military Aid to Israel Immediately
Enough is enough. It’s time to undo the Biden administration’s disastrous Gaza miscalculation.
Shortly after the meeting, Israel did announce the opening of another crossing into Gaza to enable the flow of humanitarian aid. While positive, this is just one step among many needed to stop the mass tragedy in Gaza.
To achieve the big changes that are urgently needed, only additional concrete actions—that thus far the U.S. has been reluctant to take—will suffice. Specifically, only an acknowledgement that providing arms to a murderer is irresponsible—and has made the United States complicit in the mass murder of innocents in Gaza—will do that.
Hussein Ibish/The Atlantic:
The United States and Israel Are Coming Apart
The disagreements aren’t just over tactics. They’ve become fundamental.
How and when Israel proceeds into Rafah is a short-term, tactical dispute. In the medium term, Israel and the Biden administration have a strategic difference over the prospect of an Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah is probably one of the most potent nonstate fighting forces in human history and the most serious immediate military threat to Israel. Its estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles, many with precision guidance, are capable of striking any target in Israel and could probably overwhelm the Iron Dome anti-missile system.
Hawkish members of the Israeli war cabinet, most notably Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, have been pressing for a preemptive strike against Hezbollah since the first days after the October 7 Hamas-led attack. Daily skirmishes have caused fatalities on both sides, particularly among the Lebanese, but Hezbollah has made clear in word and deed that it does not want a broader war with Israel at the moment. Nonetheless, Israel appears to be preparing for a major ground offensive into Lebanon in the spring or early summer (at least, it is trying to convey that impression)….
An expanded war would certainly be bad for the United States, Hezbollah, and Iran, but it might be good for Israel, the country’s hawks surmise. By their logic, if a decisive victory is not achievable in Gaza, a war in Lebanon could yet restore Israeli deterrence, damage Iran’s deeper strategic interests, and possibly initiate a spiraling conflict that could lead the U.S. to strike Iran and its nuclear facilities. The Biden administration thus faces the vexing problem of having its most important policy goal regarding the Gaza crisis challenged and perhaps derailed by its primary regional partner.
Brian Beutler/”Off Message” on Substack:
Unmask Donald Trump
If President Biden knows Trump and his henchmen are sabotaging U.S. foreign policy for partisan gain, he should let the American public know before the election.
President Biden may have reached his wits end, however belatedly, with Benjamin Netanyahu. A readout of their most recent conversation suggests that, in the wake of the World Central Kitchen killings, and the subsequent flight-to-safety of humanitarian workers, U.S. aid will be conditioned going forward on a rapidly implemented ceasefire (of uncertain length) in order to meliorate the catastrophe on the ground.
But Biden’s larger picture goal—and perhaps the only way to lastingly tie this Israeli government’s hands—is a grand settlement, along the lines he’s been negotiating, that would sweeten the deal for Israel by normalizing its relations with Saudi Arabia.
He should thus be alarmed at the news (if it is indeed news to him) that Trump has held at least one undisclosed phone call with Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, in recent days.
…
What’s more likely: that Trump is Biden’s earnest partner seeking an end to the war in Gaza? Or that he would like to create that impression domestically, while working behind the scenes to prolong it? Biden shouldn’t just wonder if Trump and his lackeys are collectively up to no good. He should suspect it. And insofar as he has access to information that confirms his suspicion, he should reveal it to the American public.
House, Senate leaders nearing deal on landmark online privacy bill
The expected agreement vaults Congress closer to a historic deal lawmakers have sought for decades
The tentative deal is expected to broker a compromise between congressional Democrats and Republicans by preempting state data protection laws and creating a mechanism to let individuals sue companies that violate their privacy, the person said. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the chairs of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee, respectively, are expected to announce the deal next week.
Many Democrats Are Worried Trump Will Beat Biden. This One Isn’t.
Simon Rosenberg has spent the past two years telling Democrats they need to calm down. His Biden-will-win prediction is his next big test.
Simon Rosenberg was right about the congressional elections of 2022. All the conventional wisdom — the polls, the punditry, the fretting by fellow Democrats — revolved around the expectation of a big red wave and a Democratic wipeout.
He disagreed. Democrats would surprise everyone, he said again and again: There would be no red wave. He was correct, of course, as he is quick to remind anyone listening.
These days, Mr. Rosenberg, 60, a Democratic strategist and consultant who dates his first involvement in presidential campaigns to Michael Dukakis, the Democratic presidential candidate in 1988, is again pushing back against the polls and punditry and the Democratic doom and gloom. This time, he is predicting that President Biden will defeat Donald J. Trump in November.
Bob Cesca and Cliff Schecter: