A look at the internal rifts over Biden’s handling of Gaza-Israel

that if Hamas is “willing or able to release additional hostages, then there will be an extended pause” in combat. Hamas said on

The big idea

A look at the internal rifts over Biden’s handling of Gaza-Israel

The Israel-Gaza war, arguably the worst foreign policy crisis President Biden has faced, has torn at the fabric of his administration unlike any other event, turning aides against colleagues and sometimes against the commander in chief’s own approach to the conflict.

That’s a tidy summary of a deeply reported Sunday piece by our colleagues Yasmeen Abutaleb and John Hudson about internal administration divisions over the conflict.

It’s well worth reading in full, so here’s a free link . But here at The Daily 202, we wanted to highlight four elements that stood out to us — other than the dissension and the ways Team Biden has tried to manage it, both inside the White House and among Democrats nationwide.

We’re going to present them here in the order in which they appear in the piece.

Israel’s shift from besieged to empowered

Yasmeen and John highlighted Biden’s lifelong affinity for Israel as a key factor in his policy response. They flagged his 1973 meeting with Prime Minister Golda Meir, at the end of which, Biden says often , she told him “we Israelis have a secret weapon: We have nowhere else to go.”

“At the time, Israel was 25 years old, a left-leaning nation and a military underdog, struggling to find its way in the aftermath of the Holocaust,” they wrote.

“Now Israel is a military powerhouse led by a far-right coalition, and the Biden administration has become identified with a military campaign that has killed more than 13,000 Palestinians, displaced hundreds of thousands of others, created a humanitarian disaster and damaged America’s moral authority in much of the world.”

Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing rule, which led to public clashes with President Barack Obama.

Polls have shown Democratic sympathies have shifted over time from Israel to the Palestinians . One factor is surely Israeli Prime Minister’s right-wing rule, which led to public clashes with President Barack Obama.

But our colleagues’ reporting hints at another dynamic: Young people for whom Israel has always been that “powerhouse” and never that “underdog” fighting for its life, and who may never have had contacts with relatives who remember World War II.

Supporting Israel vs. supporting Netanyahu

For weeks, Biden and his aides have insisted they are moderating public criticisms of Israel’s response in order to affect the strategy behind the scenes, asking “tough questions” about the strategy, cautioning against overreach and pressing for humanitarian aid to get into Gaza.

But “some in Biden’s circle worry that he does not distinguish between an idealistic image of the state of Israel and the reality of the Netanyahu government, which includes several representatives from the far right,” Yasmeen and John reported.

Students in International Relations 101 learn the adage that “nations act in their perceived self-interest.” It matters greatly who is doing the perceiving and therefore who is deciding what to do.

Our colleagues quote an ally of the administration as saying Biden’s “personal historical commitment to Israel was not modulated by the reality that this Israel happens to have a government that is the worst government it’s ever had.”

“Biden has underestimated the degree to which you have to separate how Israel reacts to this and how a Netanyahu government reacts to this,” that person told our colleagues.

Bibi’s political problems

It’s no secret Netanyahu was in political hot water before Hamas unleashed its Oct. 7 attack, killing 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and dragging scores of hostages back to Gaza. And even he has acknowledged he faces a political reckoning after the fighting stops.

What struck us was our colleagues’ description of how the Biden administration perceives the political pressure on Netanyahu — from the far right — shapes Israel’s strategy.

“He’s always looking over his shoulder at the political ramifications of everything,” Yasmeen and John quoted one U.S. official as saying. “So at the time when you need someone to make the right decisions on letting fuel go in so people have water, or reining in West Bank settler violence, he keeps looking over his shoulder at the far-right voices in his cabinet who could balk and collapse his government.”

Will the conflict last through the 2024 campaign?

Biden seems to be alienating younger Democrats and Arab American voters, who could provide the winning margin in crucial battleground states like Michigan. Yasmeen and John reported on a White House meeting that left some activists determined to sit out 2024.

But “U.S. officials remain hopeful that the conflict will not stretch into the heart of the 2024 campaign, because of the speed of the Israeli incursion and an assessment that it does not have the resources to sustain an operation for that long,” they reported.

The implication is this would reduce the pressure on Biden. But it plainly wouldn’t, because there would still be hard questions about vast human suffering in Gaza, who should govern that territory if Hamas is displaced and how to rebuild. And that’s to say nothing of the impact on American politics of Israel running out of materiel. Who’s Israel’s chief purveyor of arms? The Biden administration.

Politics-but-not

What’s happening now

George Santos predicts he’ll be expelled from Congress in upcoming vote

“Embattled Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is predicting he will be expelled from Congress as early as this week following the release of a scathing report from the House Ethics Committee, which found ‘substantial evidence’ that he knowingly violated ethics guidelines, House rulesand criminal laws,” Mariana Alfaro reports .

“Santos, who described himself in the conversation as the Republican ‘It Girl’ as well as the ‘Mary Magdalene of the United States Congress,’ defiantly declared: ‘I’m not leaving.’”

Lunchtime reads from The Post

Antagonisms flare as red states try to dictate how blue cities are run

“Despite long advocating small government and local control, Republican governors and legislators across a significant swath of the country are increasingly overriding the actions of Democratic cities — removing elected district attorneys or threatening to strip them of power, taking over election offices and otherwise limiting local independence,” Molly Hennessy-Fiske reports .

State lawmakers proposed nearly 700 bills this year to circumscribe what cities and counties can do, according to Katie Belanger, lead consultant for the

according tolead consultant for the Local Solutions Support Center , a national organization focused in part on ending the overreach it calls ‘abusive state preemption.’”

This lawsuit could disrupt the U.S. tax system. Key facts are in dispute.

“The fate of an obscure provision of President Donald Trump’s 2017tax package, which will be reviewed by the Supreme Court next week, has many experts panicked over the potential to destabilize the nation’s tax system. In addition, some say the outcome could preemptively block Congress from creating a wealth tax,” Ann E. Marimow and Julie Zauzmer Weil report .

“But the case has also exposed questions about the accuracy of the personal story a Washington state couple presented to the court in making their constitutional challenge to the tax, a one-time levy on offshore earnings.”

... and beyond

Irregular meals, benches as beds. As freed hostages return to Israel, details of captivity emerge.

“Plastic chairs as beds. Meals of bread and rice. Hours spent waiting for the bathroom. As former hostages return to Israel after seven weeks of Hamas captivity, information about the conditions of their confinement has emerged. The 58 hostages freed under a cease-fire deal over the past three days have largely stayed out of the public eye, with most still in hospitals,” the Associated Press’s Julia Frankel reports .

China says multiple pathogens are behind spike in respiratory illnesses

“China’s health commission said a combination of pathogens is causing a surge in acute respiratory infections across the country, reiterating previous comments aimed at easing concerns a novel virus may be the source,” Bloomberg News reports .

Influenza is one of the main causes of the spike in cases, National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng said at a press conference on Sunday. Rhinovirus, mycoplasma pneumoniae and respiratory syncytial virus are also circulating, he said. The country should guarantee medicine supply and open more areas for medical treatment, Feng said.”

, he said. The country should guarantee medicine supply and open more areas for medical treatment, Feng said.”

The Biden agenda

Biden to skip world leaders’ summit at COP28 climate talks in Dubai

“Biden will not attend a world leaders’ summit Friday and Saturday at the outset of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai, according to the official White House schedule released Sunday,” Maxine Joselow reports .

“It was not immediately clear Sunday why the president had decided to skip the gathering this year. Biden has attended the past two annual U.N. climate conferences, and the U.S. climate envoy and other top officials are scheduled to attend this one in the United Arab Emirates.”

Biden plans to use Cold War-era law in attempt to lower U.S. prices

“The White House has announced it plans to use a [Cold War-era] law to ease supply chain issues that the [administration] argues are contributing to higher inflation — a key electoral challenge to Joe Biden’s re-election chances next year as polling consistently suggests voters are not buying his Bidenomics pitch,” the ’s Edward Helmore reports .

In a statement , the White House said Biden will use the Defense Production Act to improve the domestic manufacturing of medicines deemed crucial for national security and will convene the first meeting of the president’s supply chain resilience council to announce other measures tied to the production and shipment of goods.”

and will convene the first meeting of the president’s supply chain resilience council to announce other measures tied to the production and shipment of goods.”

The fate of new college grads, visualized

“Despite a surprisingly robust job market, recent college graduates have been having a harder time finding work than the rest of the population since the pandemic. This marks a sharpreversal from long-held norms, when a newly minted college degree all but guaranteed a better shot at employment.Since 1990, the unemployment rate for recent grads almost always has been lower than for the general population,” Abha Bhattarai reports .

Hot on the left

Democratic presidential candidate Phillips announces he won’t run for reelection in House

“Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) — who launched a long-shot presidential primary bid against President Biden last month — announced Friday he wouldn’t run for reelection to the House in 2024,” Azi Paybarah reports .

Phillips told the Minnesota news organization it would be ‘irresponsible to continue to string both my constituents along and the other candidates who both have entered the race and who might be interested in entering the race.’”

“‘It’s time to pass the torch, it’s time for change, and our best days are yet to come!’ Phillips wrote in an X post on Friday that linked to a Star Tribune story where he first announced his decision.

Hot on the right

Donations to GOP drop as worries mount about the party’s finances

“The Republican Party’s finances are increasingly worrisome to party members, advisers to former president Donald Trump, and other operatives involved in the 2024 election effort, according to 10 people familiar with the matter,” Isaac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey report .

“The Republican National Committee disclosed that it had $9.1 million in cash on hand as of Oct. 30, the lowest amount for the RNC in any Federal Election Commission report since February 2015. That compares with about $20 million at the same point in the 2016 election cycle and about $61 million four years ago, when Trump was in the White House.”

Today in Washington

At 2 p.m., Biden will deliver remarks “on new actions to strengthen supply chains.”

In closing

C is for cookie

What’s the deal with Cookie Monster’s cookies?

“Years ago, a reader wrote probing for details on a mystery that had vexed him: What’s the deal with the cookies that Cookie Monster eats? The email said nothing else. I chuckled and filed the note in the cupboard of my brain where such things go. Until I realized something: Me want cookies. And me want answers,” Sopan Deb writes for the New York Times

Don’t miss this deep dive into the sort-of real cookies our beloved blue monster has been gobbling for years.

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.