One of those objectives is equal treatment under the law for all ethnicities and demographic groups. As some voices in Congress have asked, if Black lives matter, then how many Palestinians have to die for their lives to matter too? The parallel extends even to how Israel has long applied the Derek Chauvin technique to Palestinians. 

Another domestic objective involves the spending on human and physical investment that Biden has been pushing. But might a better use of the money that currently is helping to pay for airstrikes on Gaza—which already in this round of fighting have killed dozens of Palestinian children—be to spend it instead on nationwide pre-kindergarten education for American children? 

Outcomes after such a change in U.S. policy would rest on the Israeli government’s decisions, but regardless of those decisions, the United States and Biden would be winners. If the Israelis continued to follow the route of Jabotinsky, then that would mean more billions of dollars for pre-K education or other needs at home in the United States. If the Israelis were to respond by changing to a more constructive course, then Biden would have done more for Middle East peace than any of his predecessors at least since Jimmy Carter.

Paul R. Pillar is a contributing editor at the National Interest and the author of Why America Misunderstands the World.

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