When President Biden lands in France on Wednesday, he will rally European leaders to his side and show the resolve he has helped foster on behalf of Ukraine.
But it will also challenge the same leaders and stand virtually alone among Western democracies that still firmly support Israel as it wages war in Gaza.
When Biden arrives in France for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, it will be his first time in Europe since the Hamas-led October 7 terrorist attack, which killed 1,200 people in Israel and triggered a military retaliation that has killed about 36,000 people in Gaza. Next week he will return to Europe for a summit in Italy with the leaders of the Group of 7 countries, and three weeks later he will host the 75th anniversary summit of NATO nations in Washington.
The series of meetings will put Biden in a position he has not experienced since taking office: He will be simultaneously embraced and isolated by the same group of allies he has courted for nearly four years. For a president who has emphasized his support for America’s traditional alliances, it represents a challenge that will test his diplomatic skills in unknown ways.
“Gaza undermines the moral clarity of the argument they want to make about Ukraine,” said Peter Beinart, a professor of journalism and politics at the City University of New York and a veteran analyst of Middle East affairs who has been critical of Israel’s government. “The Gaza war makes that story much less compelling for a lot of people.”
Ivo Daalder, who was ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama, acknowledged the tension in Biden’s approach.
“Yes, it seems a little contradictory to make one argument about Russia and another argument about Israel,” said Daalder, who now serves as president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “But the situations are different. One was attacked and the other was the one who attacked. “It’s pretty big.”
European allies, with a couple of notable exceptions, have been strongly aligned with Washington for more than two years in the multinational campaign to defeat Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, broadly matching American investments in the war with their own commitments to kyiv. But Europeans have become increasingly critical of the way Israel is conducting its operation in Gaza over the past nine months, even as the Biden administration has rejected efforts by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to seek warrants. of arrest for Israeli leaders accused of war crimes. .
The disparate priorities will manifest in an event intended to showcase Western unity and resolve. The D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944 will be celebrated as the climax of the alliance that defeated Nazi Germany. President Emmanuel Macron of France will host leaders of World War II partner countries, including King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, representing the two nations that joined the United States in staging the climactic amphibious invasion.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will also attend, representing the defeated enemy, in a show of European reconciliation. However, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will not be present, despite the Soviet Union’s alliance with the West during the war. Macron’s government initially invited lower-level Russian representatives to participate, but rescinded the offer after objections stemming from Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine. By contrast, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will attend the ceremony, an opportunity to pressure Western leaders for more aid.
White House spokesman John F. Kirby said President Biden knew that not all nations agree with his policies. “Disagreements with allies and partners are not new to President Biden,” Kirby said, “nor is the unity, cooperation and collaboration, which he also encourages on a variety of issues.”
The meetings between Biden and allies come at a critical time in both Europe and the Middle East. Ukraine is trying to defend itself from a growing Russian offensive that threatens to breach its eastern defenses decisively after two years of intense fighting. Hundreds of miles apart, Israel and Hamas are under pressure to reach a ceasefire agreement that could be the last chance to open a path to more sustainable peace in the region.
On Friday, Biden outlined a ceasefire agreement that would eventually lead to the release of all hostages held by Hamas, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a “permanent” end to the war. By promoting a deal that Europeans can support, the president may have found a way to minimize differences when he arrives in Paris.
The Group of Seven countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, issued a statement on Monday backing the deal Biden outlined and calling on Hamas to accept it.
At the same time, Biden addressed another difficult issue before the trip by authorizing Ukraine for the first time to use U.S.-provided weapons against targets inside Russia for self-defense in limited circumstances, something that France, Britain, Germany, Poland and others countries The allies had already embraced.
“The only way out of that dilemma is to move forward with both issues: help Ukraine improve or win and put Israel on the path to peace,” said Dan Fried, a retired diplomat now working at the Atlantic Council in Washington. “Hence the decision to lift some restrictions on the use of American weapons by Ukraine and to promote a complex and ambitious peace plan” in Gaza.
Still, the differences remain real and marked. Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognized an independent Palestinian state last week, just days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its military offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Most European governments have backed war crimes action against Israel at the International Criminal Court. “France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
France has not moved to recognize a Palestinian state, but voted at the United Nations in May to include Palestine as a full member of the organization. Britain, which is no longer part of the European Union, abstained from that vote.
Biden’s critics said he has no one to blame for his diplomatic challenges in Europe except himself for his inconsistent approach to international crises.
“I think the contradiction is in American policy,” said Peter Rough, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Europe and Eurasia and a former aide to President George W. Bush. “In Ukraine, he is backing Ukraine against the Russian-Iranian alliance, while in Gaza he is managing Israel, and even limiting it, while facing an Iranian proxy.”
On the other side of the spectrum, some foreign policy veterans said Biden has brought trouble on himself by supporting Israel too much.
“I’m not entirely sure that Biden has made the right decisions regarding Israel-Gaza, although I recognize that he is in a difficult situation, as is our country,” said Eric Rubin, a veteran US diplomat and former president of the European Union. Foreign Service Association. “Israel has lost the sympathy of most other countries and their citizens, and I fear we will not regain it in our lifetimes.”
But at the end of the day, some diplomats said, France and the other allies ultimately defer to the United States when it comes to such issues. And although you’ll find them on different pages, Biden enjoys a constructive relationship with his peers, unlike his predecessor and possible successor, Donald J. Trump, who berated European allies for their disagreements and left them fearing his possible return to office. .
“The United States still plays the indispensable role,” Daalder said. “Everyone expects us to figure out how we deal with Russia, how we deal with China and, frankly, even how we deal with Israel. Our friends and adversaries still consider us to be the ones who will determine the outcome.”