“The people wanting a “pause” or a “cease fire” only want that because Israel is winning. That’s been made obvious.”

Blinken ‘Frantically’ Fails to Find Support for ‘Pause’ in Gaza

If you were keeping an eye on the news over the weekend, you probably noticed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was popping up all over the place. He was dispatched on unannounced “surprise” trips to Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Cyprus, and elsewhere, all in an effort to find some support for the Biden administration’s position on the war in Gaza. Biden is trying to walk a narrow path between supporting Israel’s right to defend itself and providing humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. But as the Associated Press reports, his “frantic” efforts largely fell on deaf ears. Most of these largely Arab nations hate Israel and they have no interest in a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting. They want a ceasefire and the chance for Hamas to regroup. So it appears that the conflict in Gaza is now costing Joe Biden both at home and abroad, at least politically.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was wrapping up a grueling Middle East diplomatic tour on Monday in Turkey after only limited success in his furious efforts to forge a regional consensus on how best to ease civilian suffering in Gaza as Israel intensifies its war against Hamas.

Blinken met in the Turkish capital of Ankara with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan after a frantic weekend of travel that took him from Israel to Jordan, the occupied West Bank, Cyprus and Iraq to build support for the Biden administration’s proposal for “humanitarian pauses” to Israel’s relentless military campaign in Gaza.

Blinken’s shuttle diplomacy came as troops are expected to enter the city Monday or Tuesday, and are likely to face militants fighting street by street using a vast network of tunnels.

Blinken’s trip to Turkey was met with a particularly harsh reception. President Erdogan wouldn’t even meet with him, instead sending his Foreign Minister to do the honors. Protesters showed up ahead of the meeting waving Palestinian flags. Some chanted curses at the Secretary of State, calling him a “murderer” and demanding he “get out of Turkey.”

The U.S.-Turkish Incirlik military air base was also the target of protests that threatened to turn violent. The military had to be called in and they fired tear gas and water cannons at the crowds that were attempting to breach the compound. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara was also the target of hundreds of protesters. This has been yet another example of why Turkey shouldn’t be in NATO (as I’ve been saying here for years) and they definitely don’t belong in the European Union. Their values are simply too different and Erdogan is a tyrant.

Jordan and Turkey have both recalled their ambassadors to Israel. Egypt’s Foreign Minister appeared at a press conference with Blinken in Jorand this weekend. Rather than supporting America’s efforts, he condemned Israel’s actions and called for an immediate ceasefire, declaring that Israel’s actions had “gone beyond self-defense” and could no longer be justified.

Blinken is now on his way to Asia where he will hold meetings in Japan, South Korea, and India. He may have better luck in the first two nations than he did in the Middle East, but India is more closely aligned with Russia these days and has stayed largely silent on the situation in Gaza. India’s Prime Minister initially condemned the October 7 Hamas massacre as a “terror attack,” but later voted “present” on a UN resolution condemning Hamas.

All in all, Blinken’s trip has thus far failed to produce much in the way of results, but that’s really not his fault (for a change). It was always going to be a huge lift to convince more countries to throw their unambiguous support behind Israel. The world is increasingly divided over this issue, with almost all of Israel’s support coming from North America and Western Europe. Most of the other countries are either backing the Palestinians or they don’t want to get their hands dirty in this mess. And the world was already divided along similar lines over the situation in Ukraine. If this winds up turning into a wider regional war or even a world war, you’ll be able to look back at this moment and see where the wheels really began coming off the wagon.