EDITORIAL: Biden plays into the hands of Hamas terrorists

President Joe Biden continues to dangerously play it both ways regarding Israel. His misguided public comments rouse Hamas terrorists and cost more lives.

Mr. Biden remains terrified of getting sideways with progressive activists in the United States who have cozied up to those calling for Israel’s destruction. Many of them are in his own administration. In what will likely be a close November election, he can’t afford to lose the support.

Concerns for his political survival have led the president to dissemble and posture over Israel’s effort to protect itself in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre. Over the weekend, Mr. Biden proclaimed that he would “never leave Israel,” yet then went on to upbraid the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for tolerating too many civilian casualties. He added that Mr. Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel.”

This is an outrageous characterization that misreads diplomatic reality while sending precisely the wrong message to Hamas.

The terror group uses the deaths of its own civilians to pursue its murderous agenda. It routinely and intentionally puts innocent women and children in harm’s way and relishes the humanitarian issues its attacks on Israel unleash. It is counting on increased international pressure to help it keep the Israeli defense forces at bay and to force a cease-fire that will allow it to kill another day and carry out more deadly, indiscriminate attacks on Jewish targets.

Mr. Biden’s public rebukes of Mr. Netanyahu imply a softness in American support for the Jewish state and play directly into the hands of fanatics dedicated to wiping Israel off the map. They also embolden Iran, who is using surrogates such as Hamas to light a fuse in the tense Middle East.

For his part, Mr. Netanyahu has held his ground.

The Biden administration “pressure tactics have allowed Mr. Netanyahu to rally even his rivals around his positions on Rafah and against unilateral U.S. recognition of a Palestinian state, an idea that Israelis find criminally insane right now,” Elliot Kaufman of the Wall Street Journal noted this week. “The prime minister’s chief opponent, Benny Gantz, has publicly agreed with him on both.”

Mr. Biden should make it clear to Hamas officials that American support for Israel is unwavering — and if they seek an end to the war they started, they must lay down their arms, free the civilian hostages they hold, disavow terror and recognize Israel’s right to exist. Instead, the president publicly hectors Israel every week in order to appease the far left. The word pathetic comes to mind.