The Netanyahu administration is responsible for the historic rift in the Israel-US alliance

Israel has withdrawn most of its troops from southern Gaza amid talks over the release of more than 100 hostages held by Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people. It also opened previously closed food and water supply facilities to prevent Palestinian civilians from starving after Israeli counterattacks destroyed much of their infrastructure and killed more than 33,000 people in the six-month war. The entrance has been reopened.

Although these are positive developments, there is little room for jubilation given the level of death and destruction in Gaza.

Following the Hamas attack, Israel received support and sympathy from many people around the world. However, the continued intensity of the actions in Gaza quickly and completely undermined that goodwill, with even President Biden expressing increasing levels of disappointment with the actions and attitude of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden said in December that indiscriminate bombing was costing Israel international support.

After prepared remarks at a press conference in February, he called Israel's military response “overreach.”

Mr. Biden was rightly particularly critical of the inability of humanitarian relief workers to provide food and water to the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million residents, many of whom face starvation.

In March, the United States abstained for the first time, refusing to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire.

The situation may have reached a tipping point on April 1, with an Israeli attack that killed seven aid workers in a World Central Kitchen convoy. They are among more than 200 aid workers who have lost their lives in the war.

As detailed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Mr. Biden met with Prime Minister Netanyahu last Thursday to take measurable steps to “address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.” I asked for it. Blinken said the president told Israeli leaders that “U.S. policy on Gaza will be determined by an assessment of Israel's immediate action on these measures.”

This falls short of calls by some lawmakers to make continued U.S. military aid conditional on changes in Israel's war efforts. But it's coming.

The most positive development now would be for a cessation of fighting to lead to the release of hostages and a permanent cease-fire. But if not, there will come a time when Biden will follow up on his warning to Prime Minister Netanyahu and finally demand that Israel meet the same standards as other countries receiving U.S. military aid.

This includes transparency and tracking to ensure that weapons are used “only for internal security purposes and in legitimate self-defense” and that recipients do not commit serious human rights violations.

The movement to force Israel to adhere to these standards was underway long before the current conflict broke out. The Biden administration, like past U.S. administrations, deflected these efforts and continued to honor traditional exceptions for Israel.

Israel's special status in U.S. arms policy means that Israel is a rare democracy in a region with authoritarian and sometimes hostile states, and that (despite its treatment) It has been justified by the argument that it is a close ally of the United States with shared values. The number of Palestinians has decreased in the West Bank due to Israeli settlers and in Gaza due to Israel's blockade policy).

Now, some Americans are questioning this relationship due to some of the values ​​expressed by the most right-wing government in Israel's history. Prime Minister Netanyahu has pushed ahead with plans to reduce the judiciary's ability to rein in government power. And statements by the prime minister and other members of the government suggest post-war plans to permanently subjugate Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel manufactures and exports its own weapons, raising questions about why the United States needs to continue supplying them. Hamas continues to hold the hostages brutally abducted in the October attack and continue the war. However, Israel's retaliatory actions in the Gaza Strip may be prompting the United States to reconsider the relationship between the two countries.