EDITORIAL: Israel wonders: Whose side is President Biden on?

Hamas officials on Monday rejected the latest cease-fire proposal with Israel. And why not, when the terrorists have friends in high places?

The Biden administration has grown increasingly hostile to America’s most important Middle Eastern ally. In recent months, President Joe Biden and his foreign policy brain trust have publicly rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu time and again for daring to defend his nation’s right to exist in the face of terrorists who seek to wipe it off the map.

The White House escalated its misguided diplomacy this week when the United States opted to abstain on rather than veto a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate truce. Notably, the resolution — backed by Russia and China — contained nary a word about Hamas atrocities and the barbaric Oct. 7 attack that precipitated the Israeli offensive.

Mr. Biden also dispatched Vice President Kamala Harris to tell ABC News over the weekend that there could be “consequences” for the Jewish state if it carried out a military campaign in Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold.

All of this comes just a week after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — no doubt with the blessing of the White House — delivered a remarkable speech on the floor of the upper chamber personally attacking Mr. Netanyahu and advocating for his removal.

So this Democratic administration now openly signals to the terrorists that their campaign of death and destruction — their indifference to civilian casualties — has paid dividends. Hamas officials have made it no secret that they hope to create enough international pressure to cow Israel into standing down, thus allowing the terror group to rearm and regroup for future attacks. The president at one time said he supported Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas, but he now resolves to leave the nation on an island as it sits on the cusp of finishing off the terrorists.

This endangers Israel, encourages Hamas and fosters more violence and killing in the long run.

Such incoherence arises from the left’s political animosity for Mr. Netanyahu’s conservative government and Mr. Biden’s fealty to the radical activists within his own party who chant blather about “settler colonialism” as they disparage Israel and give comfort to those who murder in the name of its destruction. The president — petrified of losing progressive votes in swing states such as Michigan — places his own re-election ambitions above the best interests of a steadfast ally that has paid a steep price in blood and treasure. Instead of leading his party, Mr. Biden meekly follows.

At one point, the Afghanistan debacle represented this president’s foreign policy nadir. But Mr. Biden has hit a new low with his administration’s decision to undermine Israel as a means of self-preservation.