A vivid metaphor for American global geopolitical incompetence is about to float off into the sunset, as the White House is poised to give up on the $230 million Gaza aid pier it built to alleviate an Israel-imposed humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Disassembly could begin in July, officials told New York Times.
First announced as a White House aim in March during President Biden's State of the Union address, the pier required hundreds of millions of dollars and the work of some 1,000 service members to plan, assemble and operate. Now, the surrender on the pier idea comes after it was operational for just 10 days -- at $23 million each.
The pier will go down as one of history's costliest publicity stunts. The impetus for the pier was mounting political pressure on Biden -- particularly from his own party -- as Israel's response to the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion killed tens of thousands, displaced more than a million, and caused a territory-wide food and medical-supply crisis.
Biden's pier announcement came a week after the Michigan primary, in which 13% of Democrats -- more than 100,000 people -- voted "uncommitted" as a means of condemning Biden's performance on Gaza, among other issues.
Any second lieutenant could have foreseen this train wreck.
— (@LeighWolf)
Absolute humiliation for our troops all because Biden wanted a talking point in his re election campaign.
The pier fiasco is the latest demonstration of the US government's pathetic deference to Israel: Unable to persuade its perennial, multi-billion-dollar beneficiary to allow sufficient aid to pass through land crossings, the US government felt compelled to spend $230 million trying to bypass the blockade -- a blockade the same US government continued to facilitate via military and financial aid.
Pier was a failure. Shoulda pressed more to open already established border crossings instead of setting $300m+ on fire.
— RAJ 4 MVP (@donaldracuna13)
The pier opened for business on May 18, and got off to an inauspicious start: After desperate Palestinians mobbed and ransacked the first aid trucks before they could reach a distribution warehouse managed by the World Food Programme, the pier operation was paused for two days.
Then, just a week after it opened, rough seas and high winds broke up the pier, with four associated vessels running aground. That prompted another halt in operations, as components were taken away to be repaired at an Israeli port. The pier was reassembled, but, on Friday, US Central Command announced it would be towed to Israel as high seas were again moving in.
BREAKING: Waves swept away a section of the American floating pier installed to carry aid to Gaza, Israeli media reported Saturday.
— Larry (@InterStarMedia)
I would say this sums up Biden's efforts. Can't even build a structurally sound pier. pic.twitter.com/Blu78HmwXX
The pier's cost isn't measured only in money: In May, a US service member was critically injured on the pier. After first being medevacked to an Israeli hospital, he was later flown to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, still in critical condition.
On Sunday, Israel announced a daytime-only "tactical pause" along a road that supplies the southern Gaza city of Rafah, with a goal of allowing humanitarian aid to flow. The pause is to last until further notice, but Israel made no adjustments to other potential aid entry points in the 25-mile long strip.
Look for Donald Trump to throw some pier-fiasco jabs at Biden when the two square off in their first 2024 debate next Thursday at 9pm ET.