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The story in the Journal is quite long and detailed, I can only present a few sentences from it here and there; a full link is provided at the bottom for those who subscribe:

Inside the White House’s Frenetic Scramble to Avert a Full-Blown Middle East War
Over the course of 19 days, U.S. officials raced to contain escalating tensions between Israel and Iran

 WASHINGTON—President Biden and his national-security team watched with mounting alarm 
on April 13 as monitors in the White House Situation Room showed 30, then 60, then over 
100 Iranian ballistic missiles streaking toward Israel. 

Iranian cruise missiles and a swarm of drones were already in the air, timed to arrive 
at the same time as the missiles—a massive barrage that Biden and his aides feared 
could overwhelm the strengthened defenses they and Israel had spent more than a week 
preparing.

The scale of Tehran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel matched U.S. spy agencies’ 
worst-case scenarios, U.S. officials said later. It threatened not only a close U.S.
 ally, but Biden’s hopes of preventing a six-month Middle East crisis from widening 
into an all-out regional war. 

So this was precipitated by an Israeli attack on a previously uninvolved country (at least in this particular conflict) in Syria, killing Iranians who may or may not have been involved in the Gaza terrorism:

   Death in Damascus  

The crisis erupted on April 1, when Israeli weapons slammed into a building in Syria’s 
capital Damascus, killing senior Iranian military leaders, including Gen. Mohammad Reza 
Zahedi, an important figure who oversaw Iran’s paramilitary operations in Syria and 
Lebanon for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. 

,

The US coordinated with Israel to minimize casualties and try to keep a lid on hostilities so as to prevent the war from getting out of control:

A team of U.S. military personnel secretly went to Tel Aviv to work out of a missile 
defense operations center with their Israeli counterparts.

Anticipating Iran would employ drones, a bulked-up force of F-15E jet fighters arrived 
in the region to help shoot them down. Other F-16s based in the region also participated 
in the operation. Plans were made for Saudi and Jordanian planes to defend their airspace. 

Desperate to keep it from widening, following the successful shooting down of 99% of Iranian drones and missiles, Biden personally cajoled Netanyahu to “take the win” and resist the cries from his extreme right to widen the conflict. Bibi did, in fact, find a way to both “retaliate” to appease his political flank, and at the same time not provoke the Iranians further.

Using the cudgel of Israel’s mistaken killing of food aid workers and the increasing criticism by the world community over tactics in Gaza, Biden pushed Bibi to recalibrate and to craft a more finessed position for retaliation, which is what happened:

   Take the win’  

After Israel emerged almost unscathed, the White House shifted from defending its ally 
to restraining it. About 9 p.m. Washington time on April 13, Biden and Netanyahu held an 
intense call. 

Israel Defense began coordinating with the US, giving us time to consider options and lobby for a less truculent policy:

 Unlike the Damascus strike that started the crisis 19 days earlier, this time 
Israel gave the U.S. a few minutes’ advance notice of its limited attack. The White
 House had, at least for a time, avoided a wider war.  

Ah. I guess my headline was wrong. The Wall Street Journal, noted bastion of liberal thought, thinks Biden did a good job of keeping an already escalating Middle East problem from getting out of control.

Sorry for the confusion. My, my, the things you can learn when you read all the way to the end of the story.

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/white-house-...

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/bloomberg-reveal...

The Bloomberg television network revealed overnight into Saturday that in the attack attributed to Israel at the Iranian consulate in Syria, the entire command hierarchy responsible for the activities of the Revolutionary Guards in Syria and Lebanon was killed. According to the report, "the senior officers were pivotal for Hezbollah's activities in the region."

Ah. I guess my headline was wrong. The Wall Street Journal, noted bastion of liberal thought, thinks Biden did a good job of keeping an already escalating Middle East problem from getting out of control.

Yes, Biden appears to have been effective here. Another reason to "Thank You Joe Biden!" (in the words of Kerry Kennedy, younger sister of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.). See https://youtu.be/WFwgsztl60k?t=133

Ah. I guess my headline was wrong. The Wall Street Journal, noted bastion of liberal thought, thinks Biden did a good job of keeping an already escalating Middle East problem from getting out of control. - GH

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Alternate (vs WSJ) interpretation of time line....

For a year or more prior to April 1, Biden’s allows the Iranians through their Houthi proxies to set the pace of the conflict, Biden's usual non responses with an occasional proportionate response emboldens Iran.

April 1 Israel attack on embassy in Damascus. US was not forewarned by Israel, likely out of concern for a leak. Recall General Miley felt compelled to advise his adversary on impending attack. Anyway, the point is Israel did not seek Biden’s approval or provide prior notification.

April 13 Drone attack. Iran ignores Biden policy of “Don’t”. US and Jordan in joint operation with Israel shoot down “almost all” of the drones. Immediately, Biden starts lecturing Bibi to take the win and not retaliate. This is what Biden would do.

April 18 Israel retaliates with airstrikes in Iran. Bibi ignores Biden’s advice to take the win but apparently did take some of Biden advice to scale back the retaliatory response.

The WSJ apparently gives Biden credit for this creative non-retaliation. OK, but IMHO, it looks more like Israel acted on its own once again, ignoring Biden’s standard “don’t” advice and Biden once again had to react to events rather than control them.

So Goofy in conclusion, I think your headline about Biden’s “frenetic scramble” is entirely descriptive of Biden’s overall Middle East policy.

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