‘Don’t start a war with Israel’: Top Biden aide’s lesson from Oct. 7 and its aftermath
Brief reply by Brett McGurk, who helped craft January hostage deal, indicates his rejection of efforts to scrutinize Israel’s Gaza offensive more than the Hamas attack that provoked it
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
ABU DHABI — “Don’t start a war with Israel.”
That is the lesson of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught and the Gaza conflict that has ensued, according to former US president Joe Biden’s Mideast czar Brett McGurk.
McGurk gave the succinct response on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi when asked by The Times of Israel what historical lessons might be drawn from the past 18 months in Gaza.
“Don’t start a war with Israel. It won’t work out well for you. That’s the lesson,” the former Middle East and North Africa Coordinator of the White House National Security Council asserted.
“Ask Sinwar, Nasrallah or Khamenei how they’re doing today compared to October 6,” he added, referring to the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah who were killed by Israel last year, along with the supreme leader of Iran, which has sustained significant blows over the 18 months.
McGurk was one of the architects of the ceasefire and hostage release deal that was inked in January between Israel and Hamas. The agreement fell apart after two months, but US President Donald Trump — who helped finalize the accord before entering office — is working to revive it.
While only speaking briefly in between panels at the Middle East-America Dialogue (MEAD) summit, the senior Biden aide’s answer indicated his rejection of efforts to scrutinize Israel’s offensive in Gaza more than the attack that provoked it.
Roughly 1,200 people were killed and another 251 were taken hostage in the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel. Over 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in the IDF counter-offensive, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, whose figures have not been verified and don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
US President Joe Biden’s administration did at times break with Israel over the latter’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, speaking out over repeated dips in the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Strip and peaks in the number of civilian casualties.
However, Biden also dispatched aircraft carriers to the Middle East in order to deter Iran and its proxies; sent billions of dollars in military assistance to Israel; helped thwart a pair of Iranian missile attacks; blocked a host of anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations; and refused to single out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the main obstacle in the hostage talks, insisting that Hamas was the main source of blame amid months of stagnation.
McGurk was arguably the most important figure in shaping Biden’s policy in the war, which withstood pressure from US progressives who wanted to take a harder line against Israel.
He was also one of the main hostage negotiators on behalf of the US and joined forces with Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff after last November’s US presidential election in order to bring the January deal over the finish line.
After holding senior national security roles in successive administrations since former president George W. Bush — including a brief stint during Trump’s first term — McGurk left government in January, taking positions at Harvard’s Kennedy School and the Lux venture capital firm.
The Times of Israel Community.