© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media previous to departure from Al Maktoum Worldwide Airport in Dubai, on December 1, 2023. America stays “intensely focused” on liberating hostages held in Gaza regardless of the resumpt
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By Steve Holland, Simon Lewis and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden is counting on a small group of veteran advisers to assist navigate the Israel-Hamas battle that has killed hundreds, break up Western allies and dangers spiraling right into a wider conflict.
ANTONY BLINKEN – SHUTTLE DIPLOMAT
A protracted-serving overseas coverage adviser to Biden, Blinken, 61, has traveled to the Center East thrice for the reason that battle erupted, together with six visits to Israel, juggling the necessity to present solidarity with Israel after the Hamas assaults with an effort to tamp down regional tensions.
Shuttling between Israel and neighboring majority-Muslim states, he has pushed again on requires a ceasefire, whereas additionally urgent Israel to permit humanitarian support into Gaza – notably throughout 9 hours of negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his conflict cupboard in October.
Typically seen as a coverage wonk, the soft-spoken Blinken invoked his Jewish heritage and held emotional encounters in Tel Aviv with survivors of the Oct. 7 assaults. A father of two younger youngsters, he has spoken repeatedly about being personally affected by pictures of youngsters struggling on each side of the battle.
JAKE SULLIVAN – THE LAST GUY IN THE ROOM
Biden typically turns to Sullivan, the White Home nationwide safety adviser, when he’s contemplating remaining choices and in search of recommendation and counsel.
“He develops and puts forward the policy options before the president for him to decide,” stated one U.S. official. “Jake is often that last guy in the room giving the president his advice and counsel and his recommendations on the way forward.”
Sullivan, 47, was nationwide safety adviser for Biden when he was vp and deputy chief of workers to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
He gathers coverage choices from throughout authorities companies and prepares them for Biden to think about, the standard function of the nationwide safety adviser.
“He’s really kind of the conductor of a very vast and fast-moving orchestra,” the official stated.
BRETT MCGURK – THE NEGOTIATOR
When Biden wanted an envoy to assist negotiate the discharge of hostages seized by Hamas militants throughout their lethal rampage via cities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, he despatched Brett McGurk, the 50-year-old Nationwide Safety Council coordinator for the Center East and North Africa.
McGurk, who held nationwide safety roles for presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, is thought for diving into the small print with high officers throughout the Center East.
Earlier than the Israel-Hamas battle, McGurk led negotiations to strike a deal for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel in alternate for stronger protection commitments for the Saudis from the US. The Hamas conflict froze that effort.
When Israel and Hamas agreed to a hostage swap in a deal mediated by Qatar on Nov. 21, McGurk was in Doha assembly with the Qatari prime minister to work out the deal’s construction, U.S. officers stated.
McGurk depends on a wide selection of contacts inside and outdoors governments within the area.
“The president and Jake (Sullivan) rely heavily on Brett’s expertise and his ability to pick up the phone to talk to whoever he needs to, to move things along,” stated the U.S. official.
BILL BURNS – THE INVISIBLE MAN
Lengthy earlier than he turned the US’ chief spymaster, CIA Director Invoice Burns dealt with among the most delicate U.S. nationwide safety points, together with the key talks that led to the Iran nuclear deal, as a profession diplomat.
It is a function that Burns, 67, nonetheless performs for Biden, most not too long ago touring to Qatar to satisfy the pinnacle of Israel’s Mossad spy company and the Qatari prime minister to debate methods to free the hostages seized by Hamas.
Since his 2021 swearing-in as CIA director, Burns has made a minimum of 4 dozen overseas journeys, the overwhelming majority in secret, stated a supply aware of the matter. These have included Moscow in 2021 earlier than Russia invaded Ukraine and Ankara in 2022 to warn Russia’s intelligence chief towards utilizing nuclear weapons towards Ukraine.
The CIA declined touch upon Burns’ journey.
Burns is introduced in “when things need to get done quietly,” stated a U.S. official, describing his strategy as “more subtle, more driven toward issues of intelligence and what we know and what we don’t know and how do we make up the difference.”
LLOYD AUSTIN – STARK WARNINGS
By the point U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault, he had already spoken along with his Israeli counterpart on a minimum of 4 events in simply six days. That heavy tempo has saved up ever since.
The calls with Yoav Gallant, 24 of which have been publicly disclosed by the Pentagon, can typically final anyplace from half-hour to an hour, a senior U.S. protection official stated.
In Israel, Austin, 70, in contrast Hamas to the Islamic State militants he helped fight as a U.S. Military common earlier than retiring. Hamas, like ISIS, supplied nothing however “but zealotry and bigotry and death,” he stated.
He has additionally warned Israel in regards to the failure to guard civilians in Gaza and the dangers of radicalization. “If you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat,” he stated.
KAMALA HARRIS – POST-CONFLICT PLANS
Vice President Kamala Harris, who not too long ago met with a number of Arab leaders on the sidelines of the COP28 local weather convention, has targeted her consideration extensively on the thorny concern of post-conflict planning.
In Dubai, Harris pressured three parts for a post-conflict Gaza: reconstruction, safety and governance.
“No forcible displacement, no reoccupation, no siege or blockade, no reduction in territory and no use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism,” she said.
Palestinian Authority security forces must be strengthened to assume security responsibilities in Gaza and the West Bank, she said. “We need to see a unified Gaza and West Financial institution underneath the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Palestinian voices and aspirations should be on the middle of this work,” she said.
JON FINER – ASKING QUESTIONS
Sullivan relies heavily on his deputy national security adviser, Jon Finer. Finer, 47, previously served as special adviser for the Middle East and North Africa and foreign policy speechwriter for Biden when he was Obama’s vice president.
“He … is incessantly the man within the room who says ‘Hey this does not make sense, have we considered doing it this manner?'” the official stated.
As Sullivan’s deputy, Finer additionally helps coordinate amongst U.S. authorities companies and helps develop and form coverage choices.
He was John Kerry’s chief of workers when Kerry was Obama’s secretary of state, and was a overseas correspondent for the Washington Submit, together with from the Center East.
