US President Joe Biden has been warned that “no one takes him seriously” as a military operation in the US collapses due to the withdrawal of European countries from its command structure.
France, Spain, and Italy all announced their withdrawal from the US Command Structure for Operation Prosperity Guardian, adding that they will only conduct further Maritime Operations under the Command of NATO and or the European Union – not the United States.
Operation Prosperity Guardian is a military operation in the Red Sea started earlier this month to respond to attacks on shipping carried out by Houthi rebels, a Yemeni group backed by Iran.
The Houthis say their attacks are being carried out in response to Israel’s attacks on Gaza following Hamas’ killing of 1,200 civilians in the country on October 7.
Responding to the news on X, one commenter said: “Biden is a weak president. No one takes him seriously.”
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President Biden has supported Israel’s campaign to “destroy Hamas” in Gaza, despite international concern that the Israeli response, which has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians, could be disproportionate.
However, Mr Biden did warn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his country is losing the support of the international community.
He said last week that Israel “has the European Union, it has Europe, it has most of the world supporting them, but they’re starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place”.
Recent polling has now shown that Mr Biden’s hopes of being reelected may have been impacted by his stance on the conflict in the Middle East.
A recent poll from The New York Times and Siena College found that only one-third of registered voters approve of President Biden’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The survey also showed that 37 percent of registered voters approve of Mr Biden as a president overall.
Of voters younger than 30, a key demographic for the Democrats, Mr Biden’s approval rating is just 26 percent overall 20 percent on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Overall, 19 percent of registered voters say both that they disapprove of Biden on the conflict and that it’s because he’s too supportive of Israel, rising to 45 percent among voters younger than 30.
