It cannot be a coincidence that on the eve of the arrival in Israel of the United States president, Joe Biden, the supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, has warned that if Benjamin Netanyahu does not end the attacks on Gaza, there will be no way of stopping a powerful reaction from Muslims around the world. Khamenei's words, spoken during a televised address, should be taken for what they are, only a hair's breadth from a full-blown threat. As was already predictable, the terrorist attacks of October 7th carried out by Hamas in Israel and which caused hundreds of deaths, were the beginning of an unprecedented military escalation in the region and a contention between the United States and Iran at a time when the latter see themselves as strong enough to arm a response bloc against Israel.
Biden arrives in Jerusalem in what represents a return to the historic American role in the region, as is explained very well in the latest chronicle published in ElNacional.cat by the journalist Henrique Cymerman, undoubtedly one of those who knows most about the conflict, with a more than significant network of contacts among actors on both sides. The aircraft carriers USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, two of the biggest war machines on the planet, are waiting in the eastern Mediterranean, ready for any eventuality. This second carrier, the Eisenhower, is a sophisticated nuclear-powered vessel that has participated in American operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Although, until now, neither the US nor any other country has ever participated directly in the ten wars that Israel has fought, officials quoted by The Wall Street Journal has just stated that the Pentagon has selected about 2,000 soldiers to prepare for a deployment of assistance to Israel which, according to the authorities, would not mean carrying out combat functions, but rather, medical support or advice. A clear sign that Washington is ready to help Israeli troops in the event of a ground invasion of Gaza. On Tuesday evening, the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, located in the centre of the city, was bombed, in an attack that left hundreds dead and wounded, according to Al-Jazeera reports which quoted Gaza's health minister.
This is the scenario that will appear before Biden, who is gambling a lot on this visit, since, in addition to the various meetings he has in Jerusalem, he is [at the time of writing] to attend a summit in Amman, where he will meet with the Jordanian monarch, the Egyptian president and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Fundamentally, to demonstrate that he continues to have the capacity to unite very different sensibilities and reach consensuses that can only be achieved from a position of leadership and maximum strength. With China, Russia and, above all, Iran waiting to find a point of entry allowing them to step in and show their strength, the US administration will have to temper its moves very carefully to show that it can help Israel and at the same time protect the lives of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. And in this enormously complex quadrilateral, it seeks to do all this while trying to give personal help in the mediation in order to bring home alive the hostages which are now in the hands of Hamas.