On July 30, Israel launched military operations in Lebanon and Iran that significantly escalated regional tensions by killing Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr and Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh.
While U.S. officials claimed distance from the attacks and insisted that talks for a Gaza ceasefire would continue, many expect that any hope of negotiations were significantly set back by the killings. “[Haniyeh] was someone who saw the value of a deal and was instrumental to getting certain breakthroughs in the talks,” a source close to the negotiations told CNN. Meanwhile, across social media, many drew attention to the fact that Israel has worked to undermine a ceasefire, and is looking to expand its brutal war, with the full support of the Biden administration.
Official U.S. responses
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with the leaders of Qatar and Jordan after Haniyeh’s death, where he reportedly stressed the need for talks to continue.
“The Secretary discussed the urgency of efforts to reach a ceasefire to the conflict in Gaza that would secure the release of hostages, allow a surge of humanitarian assistance, and create the conditions for broader stability,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. “He reiterated the importance of preventing further escalation of the conflict. Secretary Blinken also thanked Jordan for its leadership in providing life-saving humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.”
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby would not confirm or deny the assassinations but acknowledged that such killings would not help “the temperature going down” in the region.
“I’m not going to be Pollyannish about it — we’re obviously concerned about escalation,” Kirby told reporters. “All of this adds to the complicated nature of what we’re trying to get done.”
Kirby also said that the President had been briefed on the apparent strikes.
At a State Department briefing spokesman Vedant Patel said “The United States of course will take every possible measure to appropriately and accurately protect our personnel, our interests, in the region and beyond, should we need to.”
Blinken and Patel both denied that the United States was involved in the strikes. However, United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reiterated his “unwavering commitment” to Israel if the escalation led to attacks on the country.
On the right-wing platform Truth Social, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump claimed that many world conflicts would not exist if he were president. He also curiously claimed that Iran had invaded Israel.
“RUSSIA NEVER INVADED UKRAINE UNDER TRUMP!,” wrote the former president. “IRAN NEVER INVADED ISRAEL UNDER TRUMP! NOBODY INVADED ANYBODY UNDER TRUMP! CHINA NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF INVADING TAIWAN UNDER TRUMP! BIGGEST EVER EMBARRASSMENT IN AFGHANISTAN WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED UNDER TRUMP! THERE WAS NO INFLATION UNDER TRUMP! WHAT A DIFFERENT WORLD IT WOULD BE UNDER TRUMP!!!”
Social media responds
“Haniyeh was not just a ‘top Hamas leader’,” wrote IfNotNow co-founder Yonah Lieberman. “He was the lead negotiator in ceasefire talks. This assassination is spitting in the face of diplomacy. Israel doesn’t want a ceasefire. They want to continue to kill Palestinians with impunity, take their land, and enforce apartheid.”
“In 2012, Israel & Hamas held truce talks,” pointed out historian Zachary Foster. “Israel assassinated Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari hours after he received a draft of the truce. In 2024, Israel & Hamas held truce talks. Israel assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the primarily negotiator in the truce talks.”
“In the last 24 hours, Israel has apparently killed Hamas & Hezbollah leaders, and thus: -Killed off a Gaza ceasefire -Risked dragging the US into regional war -Ended hopes of improved US-Iran ties,” posted the think-tank Quincy Institute. “Washington: stop enabling this recklessness. Stop sending weapons to Israel NOW.”
“Assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, a key negotiator for a long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza, reflects how far Israel is willing to go to nip in the bud any attempts to restore peace and stop the bloodshed of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians,” said human rights activist Maha Hussaini.
“Is this what Kamala signed off on in her meeting with Netanyahu?,” wondered professor and author Eman Abdelhadi. “Attacks on a Beirut suburb and a strike in Iran on Hamas’s main negotiator? When Harris said get the deal done, did she mean regional war?”
Many called on the administration to deescalate in response to the killings.
“It is obvious to everyone except President Biden that war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu is deliberately trying to torpedo chances of a Gaza ceasefire deal, spark an all-out regional war with Iran, and draw the United States into that conflict, all to maintain his own power,” said the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in a statement.
“Unless President Biden takes swift concrete action to stop this march to war, including freezing military aid to the out-of-control Israeli government, it appears Netanyahu will soon get his wish and that the American taxpayer will pay the price,” it continued.
I wish the U.S. would actually react to any of Israel’s violation of human rights. This U.N. report appeared a few days ago –
UN report: Palestinian detainees held arbitrarily and secretly, subjected to torture and mistreatment…
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/un-report-palestinian-detainees-held-arbitrarily-and-secretly-subjected
I doubt it. It was almost certainly Netanyahu showing Kamal Harris who’s boss.
Noteworthy Biden was stung by Netanyahu’s not giving him the respect of a head up. He’s probably angry. Hopefully, he’ll push harder his ceasefire down Netanyahu’s throat now that he’s been insulted.